Elder Abuse/ Neglect

[juliepag]

Hello everyone,

I need advice badly. There's a situation at the nursing home I work at. Here's a letter I wrote to my mentor to fill you folks in on what happened, what I am faced with. AND do I need to report this to the health board/elder abuse?

Over the weekend a disturbing thing happened on my floor at work. A resident that is not a match for our facility for obvious reasons had a BM, smeared it over his entire room, apparently crawled into the room across from his and sat on the bed leaving a poop smear. It's no ones fault but The facility itself. Understaffed as always, all us LNAs were in other rooms doing our first checks on the shift. Four of us ladies tried so hard to clean up and then supper time was upon us. The entire floor wreaked of BM. In the end it took 5.5 hours to clean up so that the room APPEARED clean but it still stunk. There was chaos on our floor that day and understandably so. I said to a nurse, "Where are the ganitors?" She said, "They are off on the weekend." I must have looked at her like she had three heads. I said, "But that's like having a fire station not respond because they have the weekend off!" I was stunned. I have lost a lot of sleep over this. This place is rich in idiocy! I'm telling you the hazmat team should have had a call on this one ********. We LNAs were terribly contaminated and served meals. Yes, we can wash our hands but to be in a room with feces everywhere and having to clean it ourselves was downright wrong.

There's always problems that stem from one event to another. Because of that situation and the timely clean up involved, everyone of us hurt in getting our documentation done. Management comes down hard when that happens. They have no idea what we go through and I fear this will result in a negative report that will end up in my file. When they claim that it's unacceptable I say it's unacceptable to put everyone in harms way by not having the proper hygienic protocols to manage these types of crises. Everything ends up on our backs and we become ******* ******** scapegoats.

I really look to you as my professional advocate because I really want to make a career in the health profession. So I want you to be apprised of the issues that are negatively affecting my career goals. I had no intention of staying here as an LNA long term as you know. But I do want to leave with the best record of performance. Will you please take this under advisement, because I expect that you will continue to guide me through my professional journey.

Thank you,

[monkeybug]

If that's the real name of the facility, you might consider editing it out.

[juliepag]

Thanks...just did it!

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

I still see a name on there, last sentence, second to last paragraph.

I'd write up an incident report. This is certainly the kind of incident your corporate risk manager will be interested in hearing about. Really. The agency you report it to is the state agency that regulates nursing homes; you can find them online.

And it's "reeked" and "janitor."

[ComeTogether, LPN]

I'm not sure what you mean by the resident was not fit for your facility. Do you work in long term care? I think that is not something you should comment on, because it isn't your job to decide who belongs there and who doesn't.

Yes, its unfortunate that the patients smeared his BM everywhere. If that ever happens again you put on gowns and gloves and get to work. Its everyone's job to clean it up as crappy as a situation it is. The fact is that the janitors weren't there, and that certainly needs to be brought to someones attention, although Its usually housekeeping that would be called.

I would never tell my employer I have no intention in staying with them for a long time. Or perhaps your mentor is just a co-worker....I don't understand what she can do if that is the case.

I think your letter would be better as a conversation and kept short and simple.

"We had a patient who got BM everywhere and there was no staff to help us clean it up"

I've always kind of thought it was gross for CNA's to pass dinner trays due to the nature of their work. Next time put a gown on, either a disposable or a washable hospital gown to protect your clothes.

I'd also recommended keeping a spare uniform in your locker.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

I don't see how this has anything to do with elder abuse/ neglect... It sounds like many LTC facilities. None if them that I worked for has housekeeping on the weekends or 2nd/3rd shift.

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

Yikes! I was able to figure out where you work. You left the name in your post, and in previous posts you've mentioned the state you work in. And if that's your real name and picture, double yikes! Looks like you have a 45 minute commute to work?

Just sayin...

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Yikes! I was able to figure out where you work. You left the name in your post, and in previous posts you've mentioned the state you work in. And if that's your real name and picture, double yikes! Looks like you have a 45 minute commute to work?

Just sayin...

Hmmmm, that commute might not be a problem for long.... At least the name of the place is gone today.

[JDZ344]

I don't see how this has anything to do with elder abuse/ neglect... It sounds like many LTC facilities. None if them that I worked for has housekeeping on the weekends or 2nd/3rd shift.

We don't have a housekeeping service; we have to clean most stuff up ourselves.

[ComeTogether, LPN]

In the UK, we don't have a housekeeping service; we have to wash and make up beds for admissions, do the majority of the cleaning on the ward, clean up messes as described above, etc. We do have people who mop the floors etc but they won't touch bodily fluids.

Where I worked also. We would have had to clean all of the BM and then they would come shampoo the carpet/change the curtains etc.

[ComeTogether, LPN]

Just to be clear.....are you saying it took 4 of you 5/5 hours to clean this mans BM? That just sounds insane to me.

The more Im thinking about it the more I feel like even though y'all are understaffed, you should probably all take turns checking on this guy at least once an hour. Also, they do have jumpsuits that zip in the back we used to put some of our pts in who were chronic strippers and ambulatory....some states consider this a restraint but its worth looking into.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Sorry you went through that but...welcome to the all too common Code Brown! It happens sometimes, especially with dementia or psych pts. All you can do is suck it up and clean the mess. A person fouling themselves and their environment doesn't even come close to elder abuse or neglect.