Can I file a complaint against a facility

[bixbie]

Hi everyone,

Need advice. I recently went back to bedside and started working for an agency. I've worked at several nursing facilities with no issues. Today, I got a text message from a facility stating -"we will need you to come back in and chart on a patient or we won't be hiring you for anymore shifts." Brief background and I'm sure everyone here knows how it works at facilities. You go in, get report and that's about it. No orientation, no folder being handed to you stating these are the expectations that you need to complete. So going back to my story, I was not told to chart on this particular resident so I didn't. I did, however, chart on the ones that had a change in condition that day. Being new to bedside again, I am still very unfamiliar with policies including who are we charting on that day and that shift etc etc. I guess my point is, I did not need to be threatened and talked to in such a manner just so I would return and chart. All I needed was a friendly text stating that I missed a chart and I needed to return. Why is there a need for a threat? Why be rude and unprofessional? It just leaves a bad taste. Who wants to go back to a facility if you're going to be treated in such a way? So going to my question...I would like to file a complaint but don't know where to start. Thoughts? Advice? Thank you so much!

[Davey Do]

It's best to follow the chain of command before going outside of a facility. Although each employee is a representative of that institution, it does not necessarily mean the facility condones such inappropriate behavior.

If no objectively perceived patient or staff abuse occurred, it's difficult to have an outside entity- JC, DPH, OSHA, or any other bulldog agency to act on the complaint.

In one of my experiences, when guidelines or state laws and statutes were not followed, I followed the chain of command in an attempt to rectify the concerns. When nothing was done, I reported to the outside agencies mentioned above, and again, nothing was done.  Even though I cited rules, guidelines, codes of conduct, state laws and statutes and objectively reported the situations, not one agency acted.

In the end, I was terminated over trumped up charges, yet won my adjudication case with the Dept. of Employment Services.

Some hospitals and medical centers are necessary evils, in that they serve a population no other local institution wants with which to deal. Such could be the case here.

Good luck in your endeavors, bixbie, but sometimes we just have to shake the dust from our shoes of an annoying institution and move it on down the road.

[bixbie]

Thank you so much. It makes me sad that bedside nurses are treated this way and then they wonder why they can't get nurses to stay. Good luck to you as well.

[JKL33]

bixbie said:

I would like to file a complaint but don't know where to start.

With whom and for what? Your complaint is essentially that people can be rude and also not too smart. There is no agency responsible for any oversight that will care.

Yes it is sad that nurses are treated this way. Completely unnecessary. And you're right, there is zero mystery whatsoever about why people don't want to stay around places like this.

Did you ask why they felt the need to threaten you instead of sending a professional reminder? I probably would have, just cause curiosity gets the best of me sometimes.

[Tomascz, ASN, RN]

"If you didn't chart it, it didn't happen". So if nothing happened, how do I chart that? You make a pointless, but factually true entry and sign it.
This is another example of why hospitals and other care facilities don't have the nursing staff they need. It may have happened for any number of reasons including the fact you're a temp and census has dropped below X number of patients for 24 hours and some bean counter...
They don't have to love you but they do have to pay you. If they expected you to come back in for free, take it up with your agency. We always had 24 hours to make a "late entry". The threat and the return trip may have been a violation of your contract.

[thisnurse123]

It's called charting by exemption. Most SNF's are focusing on the skilled patients for charting and vitals. Outside of this when I give report I don't add extra fluff. If a patient has a coc I call write an SBAR and report. Never give report about something unless it's charted. It causes problems and gossip.