Emergency situation at work

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So I work at an assisted living. I am a new nurse as of December. Tonight I was on duty along with one other nurse who is very experienced. We were having issues with our fire panel. The experienced nurse told me to go down to the residents room and pop off the sprinkler and replace it. I did as she said because she has spoke with the owner on the phone and she said those were his instruction. I went down and did that and of course the sprinkler system went off along with fire alarms. I'm very familiar with our policy on fires and what to do. However, there wasn't a fire to my understanding. The sprinkler started to go off and so did the alarms. So I quickly got the resident out of her room and notified for help. The experience nurse when to shut off the water main. I did what I knew and started assigning aides to move residents near the room away since there was a lot of water coming out of the room. I then proceeded to call the owner and notify him and called 911 so they could help with the water shut off. As I was up front waiting for the fire dept to arrive I tired to assign an aide to go help move people out and she yelled at me and continued to say no, I'm staying here. I was very stern and gave her direction. The owner arrived at the same time and yelled at me for not having things organized and defended the girl.

I'm getting frustrated because I feel like the people who work under me don't listen to me. My boss favors the same aide that refused to follow commands. I'm trying to keep everyone safe and do what I know to do. Everyone was ok and the fire dept was able to shut off the main water but I'm coming out of this feeling like an incompetent superior. I'm pretty young, only 22. I'm trying my best as a new nurse and I feel I handled the emergent situation well. I just don't see how I can handle an emergent situation when aides won't follow commands and my boss defends them. Should I look for a new place of work? I'm starting to regret being a nurse.

Sorry this is so long.

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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?

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
As I was up front waiting for the fire dept to arrive I tired to assign an aide to go help move people out and she yelled at me and continued to say no, I'm staying here. I was very stern and gave her direction. The owner arrived at the same time and yelled at me for not having things organized and defended the girl.

In identifying with your situation, I had a somewhat similar situation about 25 years ago when I worked at a LTC facility on a MN shift, Emily.

A CNA approached me and said she couldn't do VS because her ear hurt. "Okay, then", I said, "Go do other tasks."

Then the CNA came to me and said she was not going to apply the skin barrier cream on residents because it was a medication. I said that barrier cream was not a prescribed med and that all the other CNAs applied the barrier cream without problem. She continued to refuse to apply the barrier cream.

"Okay", I said, ""You may as well go home if you're not going to work."

The DON came in the next night, we discussed the situation in front of the other staff, and the DON ruled that I was in the wrong.

"Okay", I said, "If you can't support me in my decision, then I can't work under you" and left her to finish my shift.

So, Emily, please allow my story to stand for what I believe.

Good luck, and the very best to you!

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.

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.

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Specializes in Case manager, float pool, and more.

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.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

Excellent advice above! Secondly, you're a nurse. Not a fire alarm technician or sprinkler system expert, or plumber, or electrician. Don't mess with stuff, let the experts. Next time tell the "experienced," nurse, YOU TOUCH IT IF YOU WANT TO. Not me!

Sorry you got dragged into this cluster you know what.

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Specializes in Adult and Pediatric Vascular Access, Paramedic.

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

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