Being setup?

[RedHeadedBrat]

Hey yall. Newbie nurse of 8 months here. Im looking for advice on a few issues.

Background: My husband got into meth, opiods, you name it, he did it. He has been clean 2 years now and gets drug tested monthly. I had PTSD from it all, the mental abuse and abandonment suffered. I also have severe social anxiety. I did not work. But when my husband did the above And dissapeard I was left alone with the kids. I got on state aid, a grant and went to LPN school. It was hell. My anxiety went to panic mode. I had to get on medications under a psyciatrist's care. The book part was ok, I was Valavictorian. Even though I still cant spell ?. The constant clinical site changes, new people, skills check offs. Omg.. But I made it. Got the job I wanted. 7 minutes from my house, LTC. Love my resies. Lots of "gramps" and "grans". They tell me Im their favorite nurse. The turn over for nurses at my facility is high. In the begining several resies always would say, plz dont quit, plz come back tomorrow. And I did quit, twice, then started back 2 days later ?It was the anxiety. I changed shifts to nights. That helped tons.

Problem: I have horrible migraines. Have for years. Ive had to call in 4 times in 8 months due to them. My boss is upset over my call ins and thinks Im faking probably. I will get the FMLA when I hit year mark, if I hit it.

Ive seen my admin do things that are illegal. Ive seen her get my day nurse do things that are illegal. They know I will not.

I have a resie scratching, scratching, scratching, months ago dr said dry skin, keep him lotioned, me and cnas been keeping him lotioned. He has new dr. New dr said treat with permethrian for scabies as a precaution. I did the dr order, sent order to pharmacy. Called family. Family so happy he is gonna b treated. Then I go off for my 3 days.

I come back, order cancelled by day nurse, after a few days of figuring out what happened. My admin called Dr and told him res fam didnt want him treated for scabies and had day nurse tell me Dr cancelled order bc I gave wrong SBAR since he has diagnosis of dermatitis. That night I had to do a skin assessment on same ressi and he was scratching, scratching. I put about 10 places, Scabs from "unspecified dermatitis from unknown cause". (His exact diagnosis) And I took a few pictures of close up of scabs to send to DON, admin, and Dr. I did not feel this violated hippa as it was close up of wounds/scabs/scratchs, no ppi, no tatoos, no background. My admin contacted me next day telling me to not chart ever again on that residents skin, scabs, that I dont know what I am doing and need to talk to a seasoned nurse. I told her ok, and sent her pictures and asked how do I chart this for my assigned skin assessment ??‍♀️. She went off about how I violated that resident in so many ways by taking his picture and have broken hippa. But never told me how to chart it. I had to call his Dr about another one of his resi later and then just point blank asked him about why he canceled the order and he told me they blamed it on me ?. That his family didnt want it and its not that bad...I told the Dr that is so not correct and Ill prob be fired over this and laughed. He was not happy. We talked like 30 minutes.

Boom, migraine hit. I took my prescription of Klonopin, didnt touch it, I vomitted. I took my prescription of Zofran. Continued to vomitt. I took my prescription of muscle relaxer for my neck. No help. I iced my forhead and neck. It continued to escalate. I text my admin and DON that I needed relief, someone to come get keys so I could go to ER. This was approx 8:30pm. I work 6p-6a. I knew this migrain was contributed to being pinned as a scape goat and lied about, sent my anxiety skyrocketting. Im pushing the big toolbox cart. Dizzy, blackspots, blurred vision, head pounding, running to toilets to vommit. Called DON, no answer. He always answers. Finally got him at 1am. Told him I needed to go to ER for migraine, he said he was so sry and would try to get me relief. 2:30am Im calling my teachers from school who told me to call if I needed anything. They said quit asap! Called my lawyer but got voicemail. My cnas ran interference for me, I slept in and out an hour 2:30-3:30 at nurses station. Thats the "dead hour". Started med pass wearing sunshades and hoodie jacket like some mafia person. Slow as heck on med pass. My resies all freaked out telling me to leave and go to ER. But give them their meds first ??. Next shift gets there at 6am. I had 5 more resie out of 33 to do, simple ones, fingersticks and 1 pill. Asked if she could please please do so I can go to ER. They are 6am meds so she legally can. She refused, called and complained to DON and he told her she didnt have to. So i stayed, and finished bc even though I felt like the walking dead. It is super important to me my resi get their meds.

I left and went straight to ER. Got an IM booty shot. 30 minutes later all better. ???

Now I have cna's texting and calling me all weekend since its my 3 days off saying they hearing I stole narcs, worked on clock high, etc etc and admin is going after my nursing license. ? Only thing I can think I may of done wrong was taking the klonopin of mine but it does not impair me at all. It didnt even help. Admin knows I take it. I had my psyciatrist print out my med list and gave to them. Im not worried. I prob should be. I prob should quit. But dang. I love my actual job. Thoughts? Plan of action? O and am I violating hippa with this post and with those pictures? Im a no BS type of person if yall cant tell btw. Im a LPN planning to do RN this fall. Am I crazy or is this resi abuse/neglect that could be reported to state about the scratches and employee abuse that coukd be reported to BB/BON? But... Again. I really like my job and dont want to leave. ??

[bluegeegoo2, LPN]

Umm, I don't know what to say other than you could benefit from professional help.

Good luck.

[Persephone Paige, ADN]

Honey, you did a damn fine job! Keep your head up and your documentation going, document everyone you spoke to, what you did, etc... LTC administrators are known for being complete ********, which is why they can't keep staff.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

There's a lot going on in your OP. I'm just going to focus on a couple of them.

In regards to HIPAA: were the photos taken on a personal device or one that is utilized to enter photographs into a medical record? When you sent them to the DON was it done in an encrypted fashion? It is indeed possible that you have run afoul of HIPAA depending on this information.

In regards to the DON/day nurse cancelling orders: That would be practicing medicine without a license, which should be taken up the chain of command.

In regards to loving your job: Some jobs simply aren't worth it. Quite frankly, it sounds like your workplace is a sinking ship. It would probably be better for you to jump in the life boat instead of going down with the ship.

[Golden_RN, MSN]

Don't ever take pictures, text or email about residents on a device that is not property of your employer. The messages must also be encrypted. I would recommend NOT texting with CNAs about supposed allegations. It is probably contributing to your anxiety, and you could accidentally make a HIPAA violation. Also, you don't want your supervisors to think you're a gossip.

I also recommend NOT voluntarily discussing your medical/psychiatric conditions with your employer.

I'm not sure what calling a lawyer or old instructor in the middle of the night would accomplish.

Something is definitely very wrong if you're truly sick and your coworkers can't help you out by passing a few meds, and instead calling the DON. This should have a simple solution that shouldn't result in calling management. It sounds like they don't trust you or there is a history of not getting along with you.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

All the advice above is very sound. I won't comment on the legal ramifications as that is not allowed per TOS. Still the medications you took that night do not appear to be part of an evidence based standard of care for migraine headache and may have contributed to your problem and anxiety. Not advice but a simple suggestion that you get a neurological work-up for your migraines as they are a physical problem not a psych problem.

Also I would suggest that you quit talking about this here or anywhere else including texts to co-workers. If in fact your license is in jeopardy you are only hurting yourself by posting on a public forum. If you need help finding an attorney experienced in license defense start here https://www.taana.org/

Good luck

Hppy