DON asking me to correct her disciplinary action

[bymysoul2squeeze]

Ok so DON wanted to write some up. She wrote the actual disciplinary action and made a mistake when describing the conduct (wrote the wrong name of the medication that the nurse gave) DON also signed the disciplinary action and handed it to the supervisor to pass onto me (ADON). She called the supervisor and told the supervisor to tell me I should error out the medication name, write the correct one and initial it and then go to the nurse and present her with it.

1. there needs to be two people to deliver the disciplinary action as per policy

2. DON already signed and dated the paper, how can I be the witness for it if she is not here?

3. I don't feel comfortable writing over her documentation with my initial and correction.

Would you do it?

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

Why can't the DON just rewrite it?

[caliotter3]

My DON one time removed a "guest" nurse's documentation (this nurse infrequently subbed when a regular employee called off) and wrote the nurse's note the way she wanted it to read. Even though she acknowledged at the start of the note that she was rewriting the note, I think it was wrong to remove what the first note wrote. That nurse should have been called in to redo the note herself; at least, that is the way that sort of thing had always been handled in other places where I worked. I would feel awkward in your circumstance too.

[oldpsychnurse]

The DON wrote the disciplinary action, passed it to the supervisor, and ultimately it wound up with you to give to the employee. What kind of crazy chain of command do they have there? It seems to me that the employee's supervisor should be the one writing the disciplinary action to begin with. Do any of you ever talk to each other? I'm not criticizing you by any means, but it sounds like there are a lot more things wrong here than just a documentation error. Also, as litigious as people are now, I'd make sure that disciplinary action I gave an employee was something that had every "i" dotted and every "t" crossed. I think I'd ask the DON to correct her own mistake, after politely explaining that you want to make sure your facility doesn't wind up in court.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

If I have filled out the discipline form, I'll sit with the employee. We usually have a witness to any write up so everyone is clear as to what was said by whom. I wouldn't ask someone to fix something I had done. I would NEVER change someone else's documentation....I don't look good in stripes and I believe that could be considered Medicare fraud.

[bymysoul2squeeze]

thanks everyone for your replies, i dont think it comes as a surprise that I dont work there anymore. I could not come to work without a major anxiety attack thanks to that awful DON. In the past 2-3 years they had 9 (!!) ADONs . This woman was the most abusive, condescending, belittling person I have ever had the displeasure of working with.

[caliotter3]

Good that you are out of there.