For a few months now the quality of care has been drastically declining at the facility that I work at due to the administration trying to cut back on spending.
The staffing ratio was never good to begin with and now it's terrible. Meanwhile the acuity of the average resident has increased significantly. Our DNS has flat out told us that she is here to save the facility money and she thinks we have it to easy on the floors so no help is going to come from her. We are lacking in basic supplies for wound care and stock medications. The ratio of total care, psych, and rehab patients vs. regular geriatric patients has increased dramatically but instead of giving us more resources we are being given less! There are issues with narcotics, polypharmacia, and the use of anti-psych meds that have black box warning labels and yet are being Rx for the elderly like they are candy.
I am really close with a co-worker and we are both disgusted by what is going on in the facility. Since we are a union facility I thought that maybe these issues should be addressed with them but the person advised me against it. Basically I was told that it would come back to me and that there could be a lot of repercussions. I was told that I could be blackballed in the future and that maybe they could find something to use against me that would affect my license.
I want to see something happen but I have to be realistic....I have family to take care of...but my damn conscious would never let me say oh well I only have a few months till I can quit. I'm thinking of contacting the state but I'd like to remain anonymous...has anyone ever done anything like this? What happened? Did conditions improve at the facility afterward...were you able to remain incognito?