Conflicted

[GrnHonu99, RN]

Tell me all you peds nurses out there, what else could I have done in this situation? I feel terribly guilty. First off I'm new. Actually, i'm not even a nurse yet. Im precepting at a childrens hospital. I had an abuse case last week. Trying not to give out to much info, this was a 4 mo old with lots of broken bones. Broken bones that 4 mo olds don't usually get. Social service was involved but the child was d/c back to the grandfather of the abuser. I was concerned that after they were d/c'd the grandfather would let the abuser take illegal custody of the child. I asked my nurse manager and she said the policy used to be that if the abuser didnt confess, that the child could not be d/c'd back into the care of a family memeber, they were placed in foster care. No one confessed in this case. I tried advocating for my pt. and talking to my nurse manager, our social worker and the county social worker, our docs and the private. All wanted to place the child in temp foster care xcept the county social work. I had to d/c the client back to the grandfather and suspected abusers who were allowed to be with him if the grandfather was present. I feel like I failed my pt. and I should have done more for him. What do you guys do in this situation. Does your hospital have a policy? Maybe I just need to know more about the social service system. Sorry for the vent.

[sanctuary, BSN, MSN, RN]

How hard. Every state and county has a set of Administrative Rules, or laws that determine what must happen. Look it up, then hold the SW feet to the fire. In most states, RNs are mandated reporters, so you can call with your concerns PRN.