Frustrated and disappointed

[FCMgeorgia]

I have been an agency nurse for 16 years. I moved to another state 5 years ago and I’m finding it difficult to comprehend how nursing is done here. One would think it’s similar with some changes but I’ve stepped into a whole other universe. I got out of agency 3 months ago into a small LTC facility. Here the parents run things. Staff is disorganized and everyone is doing their own thing. For example. Let’s give medication that the doctor did not order Or lets not give it at all. When I arrived to my new unit of 37 patients with at least 5 drug seekers. Ever 4 hours they have pain rated a 10 and want you to stop passing the large amount of medication that are scheduled to give prns which sets me back. When I go to management all they say is get the meds out on time. Cool. Only problem is it’s hard to do that when you are searching for residents, answering phone calls, talking to family member and management when they get a complaint that the meds are late. So after talking to another nurse who works In a sister home she tells me that all residents must be in their room when getting their medication. It cuts down on searching not only inside the building but outside. I was told that that was the way it was and how she does it when she comes to my building. After talking to my ADON and other nurses that work my floor I find out that they don’t give medications if they are outside of their room. Also that they are not to sit infront of the nurses station listening to change of shift report. So what do I do. I follow suit. Only problem is I have that one patient that loves trouble and drama. He gets what he wants when he wants it. He rolls out and informs me that I can’t refuse him meds. He continues on as I politely ignore him because I’m passing medication. This resident also tells me that he can sit where he wants. It’s so bad we go outside to give report in a secluded area. Anyway. When I go into work today I’m told that I have a grievance out against me because I was trying to start a fight with my resident. There was no questions asked on my part and I was moved to another floor. Before I was moved the resident, his sister and myself discussed the situation. The resident stated that I singled him out. I did point out that his room mate came In to the room saying that he had to go in there for his medication. He also stated that he didn’t like to be told what to do. As for him sitting at the nurses station I was told that it was his right. That we needed to whisper our report. If he heard patient information it was basically ok.

[Crash_Cart]

12 hours ago, FCMgeorgia said:

After talking to my ADON and other nurses that work my floor I find out that they don’t give medications if they are outside of their room. Also that they are not to sit infront of the nurses station listening to change of shift report. So what do I do. I follow suit.

Take the grievance to your ADON and ask them to:

#1 Have the ADON reinforce and support the policy rendering the grievance as frivolous.

#2 If the ADON wants to uphold the grievance, the ADON needs to change the current policy.

There's no "in the middle" option. Point out that when it comes to policies, it's unethical to exempt one patient over another and therefore every patient has the right to be treated equally according to policies.

Treated equally means the patient has to follow the same policies like every other patient does.

If the ADON permits this patient to sit in front of the nursing station during report, then the policy needs to reflect that ALL the patients have the right to sit in front of the nursing station during report.

Again, equal and fair treatment for all patients is a matter of policy and it's the ADON's responsibility to ensure this is occurring with all the patients on the unit.

[JKL33]

Life is too short for any of this. Seriously.

You don't mention anything that supports your association of this mess with an entire new state that you moved to; it sounds more like this particular LTC is run in a dysfunctional manner.

So get out of there. Unless you really want to spend your life arguing and worrying about the fall-out related to patients who have nothing to do but try to make your life miserable and the administrators that entertain this behavior. Find a new job.