Got a nurse aide fired... did I do the right thing?

[Live.Love.Nurse.♡]

Hi everyone, I'll just get right into it. I work as a LPN in a group home with a few individuals with intellectual disabilities. We also have a nurse aide who comes and helps out during daylight hours. This specific nurse aide has given the nurses multiple problems since she was hired. Essentially her job as the nurse aide is to make sure the house is kept clean, cook, laundry, plan activities with the residents, take them on outings, simple tasks. The job is fairly laid back, however the residents must be closely monitored by all staff due to behaviors. For weeks, this nurse aide has done nothing but lay on our couch and watch netflix for her entire shift. Does not clean, cook, and barely says a word to the residents. Me and a few other nurses have complained about her, but we were basically blown off with nothing done about it. Today I walked in for my shift to find her asleep on the couch and snoring. I had a hunch that she was sleeping on a few other shifts but never caught her until now. I immediately took a picture and sent it to my supervisor for proof. Long story short, the nurse aide was immediately fired for neglect. Sleeping is not tolerated. However, when I reported it to HR, they gave me the impression that I should have spoke to the nurse aide about it or simply woke her up instead of reporting it. So now, I am second guessing what I did. My intention was not for her to get fired, I just wanted the management to see what she was doing and possibly re-train her. I didn't like her, but I would never want anyone to lose their job. What would you have done?

[caliotter3]

The title of your thread states that you got the CNA fired, no, she got herself fired with her continued behavior. Give credit where credit is due.

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

... to find her asleep on the couch and snoring. I immediately took a picture and sent it to my supervisor for proof. Long story short, the nurse aide was immediately fired for neglect. I didn't like her, but I would never want anyone to lose their job. What would you have done?

You did not decide to fire her, your supervisor did.

She made a choice to neglect her patients and her job...on the clock.

It definitely should have been reported, but not in that manner. Taking a picture of her is not something you can feel proud of, even though you were frustrated, and might cause you to feel guilty.

[Katillac, RN]

I'm curious, OP: what kind of "retraining" would be effective to get her to understand there's an expectation that a worker actually performs work?

You didn't get her fired, you helped free her to find employment with a place that doesn't make the outrageous demand that staff are awake for their shifts.

At my ripe old age, it's both a curse and a blessing that I can see this from all sides. The aide saw an opportunity to get at least a few weeks pay for sleeping. Who knows what her story is? Maybe she must have multiple jobs to make ends meet and this was her only time to sleep. Maybe she goes from job to job to find the position at which she is required to do the least, and doesn't mind being fired. That shouldn't have come to be your problem.

It sounds like your supervisor was doing some magical thinking, hoping the problem would just go away. It's work to address performance issues, and maybe she is unmotivated, or maybe she has much bigger fish to fry, or doesn't have the political capital in the agency to effectively advocate. That shouldn't be your problem either.

As to HR, they recognize that staff taking photos of other staff sleeping on the job represents a serious disturbance in the force as they say in Star Wars. They wish you hadn't done it because of what it says about your organization. Not your problem.

And then there's you, demoralized and annoyed that you and your motivated colleagues have been tacitly required to accept that this person gets paid for sleeping, while you work. You sound like the kind of person that has higher standards than that anyway, but it's so frustrating when management, who is supposed to ensure upholding the values in the mission statement on your website and glossy PR materials let the work of upholding those standards fall on the backs of a few line employees.

Bottom line, she was a poor fit for the job. It's unfortunate your management put you in the position - by not doing their jobs - to take the steps necessary to put the reality of the poor fit into action. But unless you think she didn't know she wasn't going to indefinitely get paid to sleep, and would have had a light bulb moment if told that, she got herself fired with her performance.

[SafetyNurse1968, ADN, BSN, MSN, PhD]

You ask what I would have done? We are taught to speak directly to the person we are concerned about first, but that is so much easier to say than do. We are poorly prepared in life for direct confrontation, and the consequences can be truly uncomfortable. It sounds like you have a lot of conflict about what happened, and I think that is normal. It is hard to know the right thing to do, and having a good nurse mentor to talk to is a good first step. Perhaps to prevent future issues, start looking for someone you can trust to talk to about these issues before acting. I am always happy to lend a supporting ear!

In addition, for future questions of wrongdoing, there is a great tool - The North Carolina Board of Nursing Complaint Evaluation Tool. It can be used for evaluating "blameworthy" behavior vs. human error for anyone, not just nurses.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

A grown adult should NOT need to be counseled against sleeping on the job. This is neither new information, nor information which only licensed personnel are aware of. Getting fired was her own fault.

[djh123]

I think you did the right thing. You said you and other nurses had complained about her previously and nothing was done.

I'm not Mr. Workaholic by any means, but that kind of **** can't be tolerated. Where I work, some of us frequently talk about the people who don't do their share.

[TriciaJ, RN]

This aide was owed nothing. You did all the right things. If it took a photo to finally put management's feet to the fire, so be it. No, I would not have awakened her at that point. What for? She didn't know it was wrong?

I wouldn't have done anything differently. It was not an issue of her being too tired from her other jobs, because then you would have seen at least an attempt to do the work. Netflix all day with NO work being done? This person was milking it. You were able to finally get her punted. The residents of the home deserve better. The aide doesn't.

[DeeAngel]

You didn't do anything wrong and you didn't get her fired, she got herself fired. Don't you dare accept one bit of the blame for her losing her job.

[Alex_RN, BSN]

Why are you even still thinking about this? You did the right thing for her, for the patients, and for yourself. The CNA got herself fired. You and your coworkers were too patient for too long.

[Live.Love.Nurse.♡]

Thank you everyone for being honest & offering your opinions! I have since realized that I was extremely frustrated on the day this happened and therefore, probably didn't handle it in the best way. Taking a picture may not have been my best decision, but in the frustration of the moment, I felt that it was the only way I would be taken seriously by management. I feel that reporting her was the right thing to do though. She had been told by multiple nurses that she needed to work harder and not just sit on the couch all day, but she never improved. Sure I could've poked her and said "you might want to wake up if you don't want me to report you" but at that point, I was too frustrated to even want to speak with her. I just wanted something done. Thank you for all your comments!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Yes, it was addressed many times previously. Me and a few of the other nurses have spoken to her about what her duties are but she chose to ignore. She also is aware we are not allowed to sleep on shift, but chose to anyway. We also recently went to the supervisor about it who said she would address the behavior but never did. So it was tolerated for weeks because we were expecting something would be done about it. Today was just the last straw for me. I sent the picture so that the supervisor would have proof and not just my words.

If you've addressed the issues directly with the aide, then you've done your part. As for what the supervisor did or didn't do -- you have no idea. A good supervisor keeps disciplinary matters confidential. It could be that she was documenting the aide's behavior in the HR-prescribed way and your photo gave her the final piece of documentation she needed before a firing decision could be made.

In any case, YOU didn't get the aide fired. SHE did that all by herself by refusing to do her job.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

The nurse aides actions got her fired or in this case lack of action