Falsely accused of verbal abuse

Nursing Students CNA/MA

Published

I work at a short-term nursing facility. While at work, I repeatedly went into this patient's room to turn off his alarm and sit him back up in his chair because he kept trying to slide down in his chair. He did this all day. ANd I cant put him in the hallway because he'll start acting up even more.

A couple hours later the unit manager told me I'm going to be put under investigation for verbal abuse and that I have to go clock out and leave. The DON said it was because I yelled out "damn". Are they serious? And I think the "witness" (the one who reported the incident) was a speech therapist. loser got nothing better to do. How do they know it wasnt the patient who said that? He is demented and always yells, curses, and fights with the nursing staff, including me. he it every time I walked into his room to help.

What Do you think probably will happen? will I'll get fired? Did you ever hear of something like this ever happening to someone? what was the outcome? The DON even said the state (DPH) might have suspend or revoke my certification. h0w long can they suspend it?

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If the witness believed you were being verbally abusive towards the patient s/he is legally obligated to report it. Your statement "loser got nothing better to do" made me laugh.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
If the witness believed you were being verbally abusive towards the patient s/he is legally obligated to report it. Your statement "loser got nothing better to do" made me laugh.

His "loser" statement made me raise my eyebrow...just sayin'.

As I posted in your other post; if you are in a union facility, make sure you are represented to defend the accusation.

This is pretty serious-I'm sure you know that; I concerned that when you said "loser had nothing to so with it", you are not realizing that if anyone hears anything suspicious, they are obligated to report it; as already posted.

If this goes all the way up to the board that certified you, I behoove you to seek legal council, since we can't-it's against TOS.

Best wishes.

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Because of the word "damn"?! Wow.

I hope everything works out for you.

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Not sure what the outcome will be, there's obviously no way for us to know what exactly transpired, but just in posting you come across short tempered. Calling the speech pathologist a loser certainly doesn't help.

As for whether it was you or the resident who yelled damn, obviously YOU know which one it was, and I didn't see you deny it was you, only that the witness couldn't have known(If they're a speech pathologist, they can probably tell whose voice it was).

Being a CNA in LTC is tough, you are expected to take verbal and physical abuse on a continuous basis but you cant ever give it back, regardless of the circumstances. And if you are a male CNA you have to tread extra lightly.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

I didn't see in your post that you denied saying "Damn!". The speech pathologist may have recognized your voice, or the patient's. Your post comes across as somewhat abusive ("loser got nothing better to do"), so maybe you did say it. I have no idea what the outcome will be, but I'd encourage you to think of some response to the accusation a little more constructive than "loser got nothing better to do."

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Specializes in hospice.

Your attitude about the speech therapist is not helping you here and won't help you in any investigation. A CNA calling someone with at least a Master's degree a "loser with nothing better to do" is probably not going to get far.

So which of you said "damn?" You, or the patient? If it actually was you and it was overheard, I'm pretty sure you're out of luck. If it was the patient, defend yourself with the truth, but do not namecall or blame anyone else while doing so.

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Geezz; what if your confused resident started telling you "don't choke me", even if you did not choke her/him, and someone heard it and reported you to the supervisor? :angrybird9:

I am starting to realize that this career is not worth our hard work, let alone the small salary, but degrading work, and CNA's are always put down. You don't have to be a CNA in order to make a difference in the lives of others.:sarcastic: Don't risk your life; start finding another field or career which is less stressful, but rewarding.

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Be positive, take time to reflect on your duties as a CNA, have you been fair in your duties? Take this period for sober reflection, what you are doing right, what you need to improve on. Document everything that happened carefully and save it somewhere, make sure you have a copy of everything you sign henceforth. To me its a trivial matter that should have been settled immediately but dont panic unnecessarily, state board will not suspend or just revoke your license like that, it takes a long time with investigation and if a pattern can not be established, its thrown out. Good luck

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Specializes in nursing education.

Anytime I've ever reported, I did "have nothing better to do" to ensure safe care.

TPTB then will investigate as thoroughly as need be.

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Oh and I walked out. I didn't get fired. I utterly walked o out from a good position. It was disgusting to see how insane and unhealthy the management was

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I feel your pain, it is very stressful working in long term care. I got turned in to the BON for saying sh__. I'm scared to death I will loose my nursing license. Calm down and take a deep breath. Best of luck.

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