hello to everyone, last week another aide and i were in a pt.'s room changing him, and his room mate came in. he is about early 70's and the only problem he has ,is beginning stages of dementa, w/short term memory loss. he likes to keep the over head light on, which keeps the other pt. awake all night(he has told the nurse this) so, for the last couple of weeks , we have been turning the bathroom light on, and leaving the bathroom door open, and drawing the other guys curtains. he has been fine with this. well on this night we again,explain to him(like we always do, well, he just flipped out!!! i was standing over the other guys bed and this man came up behind me and put his hands around my neck and started choking me, the other girl was rolling his head up, and she jumed up and said 'you can't be doing that' ,then he turned and went after her, hitting her in the face and upper body, well, i got up and got between them two ,blocking his blows, we were not close enough to the call bell(i was going to yank it out of the wall) so i just kept going in the direction of the door, all along yelling, he just kept hitting us both, and all we could do was block his blows, we got at the door, and i was yelling help,help. he got a hold of my left arm and grabed it and twisted it behind my back and pulled up on it really hard, it stopped me dead in my tracks, it hurt so bad. thats when the nurse came running down the hall, telling us to walk away, she said just walk away, of course, i couldn't move. i was in so much pain. he saw her, and turned around and walked back in his room.
i was already on light duty ,from a earlier work-related injury. i have 2 bulging disc in my lower back, l4-5 and l5-s1 plus, one in my neck c6-7 (so, i'm sure that really made the one in my neck better!)
we both filled out an incident report, i ended up going to the er the next day, thank god nothing was broke, just sprained, they put my arm in a sling. which really helped with the pain.
we were both really scared to come back to work the next day, the other girl ended up leaving early b/c she was crying pretty bad, they gave us a hard time, telling us it was part of the job. we are use to getting smacked, hit, spit on, cussed at, but never have we been beat up, this was totally different. it took 2 days for them to even call the doctor, they put him on zprexia(sp) which takes awhile to even get in the system.
they did call the doc back (after i threw a fit) and he has 1/2 mg for ativan prn. he's a pretty tall man, about 170-180lbs a half of mg hasn't even phase him. all they are going to do is watch him. we are not allowed to refuse to work with him. the next day, he went up to the other girl and asked her if she was one of the little devils that beat him up (short term memory??ya, right! ) he also came up to me and said he was sorry for what he did to my arm, i said ok, and then he said "but, you know you brought it on yourself" i said no, mr. *** i didn't. i got in trouble for saying that to him. all we want is, for him to be out of there. we are a nursing home. he takes care of himself. he does everything for himself, he gets a pension, and of course, i;m sure it's turned over to the nh. so they are getting all his money, and we do nothing for him.he needs to be in assisted living facility. what's wrong with this picture??
i live in virginia, can anyone tell me what are our rights as a cna?? we both feel like we are not being supported by our employer. it's just not fair. i have been searching the net for any info(that's how i found this wonderful board) i need some help, and just don't know where to go. i'm afraid they may fire me if i push this, but we did not do anything wrong here. sorry this is so long, but it felt good getting it out, you wouldn't belive how much stress this has caused us both. please, can someone help me. please pm me. thank you for listening!
soonstudent, good question, are you talking about my situation, or just in general? in my experience, it's ok for the aide to get hurt, but lord forbid if the resident did, i would say, probably get fired, and be charged with abuse. doesn't seem fair, does it?
purple_angel24092
what would happen if there was an altercation, and during the incident the resident was hurt. maybe from you trying to walk away, and the resident fell or something. or how about if you were truly afraid and the resident was injured from you trying to subdue them?
thanks everyone for their input on this, the next day after this happened, the resident went up to the other aide and asked her if she was one of the little devils that beat him up. (he is suppose to have short term memory problems) well she was so upset, she told the adon( that was standing right there and heard him), that she really needed to go home, the adon just kinda of chuckled and said, 'oh, you just need to ignore him. she went into the staff bathroom after that and was crying hysterically, and the adon comes in there and asks her if she was going to stay in there all night, that she had patients to take care of, i spoke up and said 'how do you all think we can work like this, (by this time , i was crying too) they don't care !!
the next day, he came up to me and said to me 'i just want to say i'm sorry, i said ok, and then he said, but you know as well as i do, you brought it on your self, i said no, i didn't, i got in trouble for saying that to him. i just don't get it. why is admin. treating us like we did something wrong???
our regular nurse has charted and documented on him all his behaviors, , it has been coming, it was just a matter of time, and nobody has done anything about it. from my experience, documentation does no good, nothing gets done.
like i said , he is in the early stage of dementia ,so he does know what he's doing. it's not just us, if anyone tries to redirect him, he will act out and go off in the same way. he just doesn't like to be told what to do, (even his duaghter said that) they won't get rid of him, because they want the money he gives them.
it's bad enough to go through what we went through, but it really makes matters worse, when the facility doesn't back us up, and we are made to 'feel' like we did something wrong.
there was an incident a couple of weeks ago, he threatned to hit somone, i feel , if they did had done something about it then(it was documented ) then maybe this would have never happened. i do blame the facility, because all the signs and warnings were there, and they ignored them. i feel he did know what he was doing. someone with dementa would not remember that he even did it. i guess you would have to know him to see that. and to make matters worse, his daughter also works there as an lpn , (limbo). she won't even speak to me now. so , the care plan is, he will be monitored untill oct, and we are to back off when he starts, so basicly, he is allowed to do whatever he wants, and no one can say anything to him. that sure does send him a good message, and all the other residents that know what's going on(which is alot of them).. i feel that if had been one of them(admin) he would have been gone already, but we are just cna's, so we aren't worth it(sorry, that's the way we are made to feel like)
i read somewhere, i think it was the osha website, that any time someone gets hurt, that the facility has to report it, can anyone tell me if that's true? i haven't done anything, like calling state, or osha, b/c i'm really afraid they will fire me. (i know they can't, but we all know how they can get around that). sorry this is so long, and thanks again for everyones support.
god bess,
purple_angel24521
1) stand up for yourself. call state and report the attack.
2) document everything... every conversation with administration. have other staff document, date, and sign their conversations. get a copy. some of these people will not back you up later, but they will if you have their documentaion.
2) start looking for another job. there are 50+ states, lots of jobs, life is way too short!!!!
i have been documenting everything , since all this has happened! what he has said, and how admin has treated me,and the conversations that have taken place. and as far as looking for a job, i've been looking. i am tired of working for a company that doesn't stand behind their staff, and if i do report it to state, i will have no choice but to look for another job !! thanks for the info !!
purple
1) stand up for yourself. call state and report the attack.
2) document everything... every conversation with administration. have other staff document, date, and sign their conversations. get a copy. some of these people will not back you up later, but they will if you have their documentaion.
2) start looking for another job. there are 50+ states, lots of jobs, life is way too short!!!!
The next time this happens go immediately to the Emergency Room. Do not wait until the next day. If you have to call the police yourself do it. Granted, all CNA's are going to get hit on one time or another. It goes with the territory. It does not mean you have to be hurt and just sit there and take it. I would recommend going in everyday. Doing my job like nothing happened. I would not discuss it with the resident. IF it happens again I would do the same thing. Go to ER. Call the police. Have ER call the police if you have to. Behave in a professional manner. The DON will get ahold of the residents Dr only so many times before they get the medicine dosage correct and or move him out of this facility. Mr Tempers family may have to have a talk with Dad and make him understand his temper tantrums won't work in LTC.
Ditto to nycegyrl's advice: call the police. If your facility discourages you from doing so, that's all the more reason to do it. Call the police, and press charges. The charges may not stick, but you have to show the facility and this nasty jerk that you are serious.
Wow:eek: I am so sorry this has happened to you. If administration is not willing to listen to your concerns, then that is not a safe place for you to work. Are there corporate offices you can call?? Make sure you maintain your own personal documentation (although I wouldn't keep personal information such as a patient name at your house). If you are feeling any pain or residual effects from this incident, continue to follow up until all of your medical concerns are resolved. i would not let this issue drop and continue working there.
whenever you are attacked by anyone, regardless of that person's mental status, a crime has been committed and the police should be notified. The perpetrator may not end up in jail, but at the very least a record of incidents should be publically documented so that appropriate authorities can take action. Keeping it a secret inside the facility does not promote awareness or cause management to take preventive measures seriously. Incidentally, you might have grounds for a lawsuit against your employer for not making your workplace safe. NO ONE should accept violence as "part of the job".
whenever you are attacked by anyone, regardless of that person's mental status, a crime has been committed and the police should be notified. The perpetrator may not end up in jail, but at the very least a record of incidents should be publically documented so that appropriate authorities can take action. Keeping it a secret inside the facility does not promote awareness or cause management to take preventive measures seriously. Incidentally, you might have grounds for a lawsuit against your employer for not making your workplace safe. NO ONE should accept violence as "part of the job".
My sentiments, exactly!! At our facility, residents who are like this - with extreme behaviors - can and will end up with a 30 day discharge because of their behaviors. So...in 30 days, they are discharged from the facility. And in most cases, will not be re-admitted to our nursing home. I must say our staff does very well in listening to the cna's and nurses, and behaviors are charted q shift and as they happen.
Is this guy like this to other residents as well? If so and it isn't addressed it will lead to a huge problem especially if another resident is hurt. There are facilities out there that specialize in residents with behavioral problems such as your resident. Does your facility do involuntary discharges to psych unit/hospital? I know its very time consuming but if he is a danger to others it might be worth looking into. Just my opinion. I hope you and your coworker get some resolution to this. Its scary to work with people like that. I had one of those fellows that would just snap. after he went to another facility he shoved someone and they died from this. the facility was fined 20,000 for failure to protect residents.
I haven't noticed him showing this behavior to the resdidents, (but.) . This man , imo does not belong in a nursing home, he does everything for himself. I think he belongs in ALF. The facility is getting big bucks, for no one having to take care of him. Like I have said , I'm documenting everything, I guess it's going to have to come down to him going off on a resident, which is probably a matter of time(we have some very vocal ones!). He is always buying another resident sodas, when he has been told not to(it interfers with her meds) he does it anyway, he takes residents outside without us knowing it, amind knows all of this, but nothing is ever done about it. He does what he wants, when he wants, and gets away with it. We have a courtyard that a family member planted all these plants , flowers, and a few veggies, well he goes out and waters it , and now he thinks it's his, he jumped on the the that did the planting one day, asking her if she pulled up one of his tomato plants, like I said, it's just a matter of time. Then what is admin. going to do?
purple_angel24521
Is this guy like this to other residents as well? If so and it isn't addressed it will lead to a huge problem especially if another resident is hurt. There are facilities out there that specialize in residents with behavioral problems such as your resident. Does your facility do involuntary discharges to psych unit/hospital? I know its very time consuming but if he is a danger to others it might be worth looking into. Just my opinion. I hope you and your coworker get some resolution to this. Its scary to work with people like that. I had one of those fellows that would just snap. after he went to another facility he shoved someone and they died from this. the facility was fined 20,000 for failure to protect residents.
I have been beaten regularly for some time but never with the severity that you have described. This whole situation stinks. I had a 102 year old man try to knock the dog slobber out of me Sunday because I threw his walker (HELLO, I am about to drop you and then fall right on top of you because you have the walker holding it in the air! I couldn't move for it). I had to block several punches and duck when he spit at me. I had to be switched to another unit because we were short that day. They also made me explain to his family why "dad was so upset". I almost cried.
purple_angel24521
9 Posts
soonstudent, good question, are you talking about my situation, or just in general? in my experience, it's ok for the aide to get hurt, but lord forbid if the resident did, i would say, probably get fired, and be charged with abuse. doesn't seem fair, does it?
purple_angel24092