Free Standing ER Patient Abandonment

[Bekardi]

I currently live and work in Texas at a free-standing Emergency Room. The management is so horrible most of the Nurses are leaving if not gone already, including the DON (director of nursing). We are using a lot of agency nurses at this time. One day on shift I was not relieved by an agency nurse for the night shift, I contacted the Medical director as we do not have a DON to cover us. I was basically intimated by the Medical director that if I left I could be legally liable as I was the only nurse on duty. At the time I did not have any patients under my care, I have never been in this situation in 9 years of nursing. Being caught off guard I had to stay until a replacement was found. Does anyone have any experience or been in a similar situation like this? Thank you

[Closed Account 12345]

42 minutes ago, AnnaFender said:

So what if a patient were to arrive after you left and before the relief nurse clocked in? What definition would you give that ?

She does not have an established nurse-patient duty to accept assignments and care for every community member who potentially needs help at a future time. A patient presenting to an unstaffed medical facility should be properly routed to a staffed ER- no different really than when hospital ERs go on diversion for any number of reasons.

[MunoRN, RN]

3 hours ago, AnnaFender said:

So what if a patient were to arrive after you left and before the relief nurse clocked in? What definition would you give that ?

I'd call that someone arriving at a closed clinic. "Free standing ER" is typically just a fancy sounding name for a clinic. Clinics are under no obligation to be open for a particular duration of time, if there's no staff to staff the clinic then the clinic is closed.