Emergency situation at work

I guess my problem is that along of the unlicensed personnel at my LTC facility don't listen to me and think they know more and my DON doesn't seem to care. Is this a normal part of nursing?

This is a problem in nursing. Often we supervise people but have no authority to discipline them. It's unacceptable. I would start looking for another job.

You can always do a formal write up explaining your stance and how it affected patient safety. Even if your DON does not support you, you now would have a paper trail in the event this continues. ( I have done this, then reported a situation above my manager ) Once a "prevelent" problem is identified then most will do something. Sadly, this is not always the case. I really don't like that your boss did not support you. That is more troubling than the staff member not doing what you asked. Be aware that writing things up & going above your manager can have reprecussions too.

If you are going to stay where you are, maybe re-approach that CNA and find out her/his reason for not doing what you asked. It could be a misunderstanding or maybe they were following an old protocol for said situation (I am not defending or condoning their actions at all). But via communications, you will have to continue to work with this person and boundaries must be set. It sounds like you did things right though. Maintain your stand on this. Having the communication and trying to find out their reasons is NOT saying you condon them not listening though. That is never ok. And it is worse when the boss is not supporting you.

Whether you stay or decide to leave, I wish you the best. You did fine.

First of all DON"T EVER EVER EVER screw with a fire alarm or sprinkler system in public building, even if the owner tells you too. Tell him or her if they want to play with it they can come down and do it themselves!!

1) if there was a real fire, like in a wall or in the ceiling space where you cannot see it but the fire alarm is detecting the heat, and people died because you disarmed it you could be in legal trouble! Just because you cannot see a fire, doesn't mean there isn't one!

2) If the alarm went off because the system was in trouble the fire department needs to know this so they can communicate it with the alarm company! Sometimes this can happen if there is a water leak from a pipe, including the pipe leading to the sprinkler head which needs repair! The alarm will go into trouble, and may activate if the system senses low pressure in a sprinkler pipe.

3) If you hadn't called the fire department and the alarm, or the sprinkler head you broke failed to work when there was an actual fire, or when the fire department/alarm company does an inspection they will be looking for who did it!

4) Sprinklers generally have a glass tube full of fluid that expands when exposed to heat, guess what happens if you dislodge it while you are fooling with it?!

Please for the safety of everyone in your building do not touch any of the fire alarms or sprinklers, get the residents out that need to be evacuated and let the FD handle this stuff!! As far as people not listening to you it sounds like you need to have a company meeting to review this incident and give them an understanding of what needs to be done.

This is a perfect example of why fire alarms and sprinkler systems need to be left to the experts. Think of how much property damage just occurred because someone who didn't know what they were doing messed with a sprinkler head!

Annie