what a day last wednesday.

[pretty70]

At 7:05am I was receiving report from 11-7 shift when a CNA yelling for help. A resident with advanced dementia who wander around the unit had the string from the blind around his neck. Fortunately, his vs were ok and no ill effects from the incident. Immediately I contacted his MD to made him aware. I tried to contact the DON several times but she was not in the facility. I filled out an Incident report and wittness statement obtained. At 8:05 am I made the last attemp to call the DON. At 8:10 am the nurse manager showed up and she attempted to call to the DON but she was not in the building. I was running late with the med pass. Staff was serving breakfast, resident was eating well. The administrator came to the unit to bring something from the kitchen and he learned about the incident. He called the DON. At 8:30 am the DON came to me running and yelled at me because I did not call her. She told me thet I had to call her to her cell phone. I did not know that her cell phone # was in the nursing station behind of the directory of the facility. When I wrote the nurses note I wrote the initials of the CNA who found the resident and released him from the string along with the initials of the staff presents at the time of the incident. The nurse manager criticized me. The nurse manager is an experienced LPN, I am a RN with less exp. in LTC. Can somebody clarify this for me please? Thanks

[Drysolong]

I understand calling the DON's cell #. Why didn't the nurse manager know to call the DON's cell? All of this information should have been included in your orientation as clear-cut policies. They dropped the ball, but the blame is put on you. That's the clarification.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Just so you know, if initials or anything else are in the nurse's note those people are "discoverable" by an attorney should it ever go to court. Put as little as possible about anyone other than the patient in the note - it goes in the incident report.

[cloister]

Sounds like someone was covering her rear end. Sheesh, you tried to call her, and the nurse manager apparently didn't know the cell # either. On top of all that, the guy was fine. Why was the nurse manager criticizing you? Over the note? The incident? Why didn't the nurse manager know how to contact the DON?

I agree with Drysolong. Sounds like Ms. DON needs to make sure she can be reached by her staff.

[achot chavi]

Just so you know, if initials or anything else are in the nurse's note those people are "discoverable" by an attorney should it ever go to court. Put as little as possible about anyone other than the patient in the note - it goes in the incident report.

Took the words outta my mouth. Names of staff go into the internal incident report which is not an integral part of the pt chart. NEVER write a staff name on the chart, better to write, found by the staff with,,,

What a story- will go down in your autobiography. Sounds more like the DNS was just dumping on you, you did the right thing and now are smarter because of it, that is how we learn. She should have dumped on the more seasoned members of the team, sounds like she wanted to make an impression so u will take it to heart.

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

Had a DON who only wanted to be contacted by cell phone, of course, she would turn the thing off at 2100pm and any emergency was handled by us, the staff by the seat of our pants, and then we were always given critical feedback, no praise whatsoever. In my book, in most cases DON=Danged Offensive Nurse most days. LOL!