heartless DON or reality check?

[sarafina]

One of the CNAs got a call at work and was informed that her niece had died. The death was very unexpected, and she basically started crying (sniffling mostly with no loud and dramatic shows of emotion). The DON was informed of the situation and she told the CNA to get her act together and clean herself up because she was upsetting the residents.

She was given a couple of minutes to go to the bathroom to fix her face, but could not take a 15 coz she had already been on her allowed 15.

My question is this,,,,,,what is everyone's opinion? Was the DON right to tell her to get it together and reserve her emotions for when she got off work,

Should she have been allowed to take a 15 heck,,,even a 30 if needed to allow time to absorb the info and get back her composure?

I cry when my residents pass because it's the emotion that occurs to me at that time,,,are we not allowed to get emotional any more??

Anyways...this just kinda upset me on Friday and wanted to hear what others thought.

[tencat]

Not knowing the full story re the DON's decision, it's difficult to give an opinion. BUT hypothetically let's say the

DON had given the situation a good consideration. First, was there a back up for this person going home? PRN's

have to be available in order to come on the spare of the moment (PERHAPS PRN'S NEED AN ON-CALL STATUS

FOR SO MANY DAYS A MONTH). Second, an her work be absorbed by another current staff member. Third, was this a family member who was under the care of the staff member? Fourth, was this a pattern for this particular staff member? The longer you stay in nursing the more you will see certain staff making a pattern for themselves when it comes to taking time off. All these things MUST come into play when the DON makes her decision. It's nice if all that went into her/his making the decision, but don' count on it. Most DON's feel they have the weight of the world on their shoulders.....just ask one. Some days are better than some days, but not every day.

A FAMILY MEMBER DIED. What kind of 'consideration' does that situation need??? If there was no 'back up for this person going home' then the evil DON should have gotten her happy behind OUT of her office and taken the shift HERSELF. Workers are NOT robots, or pawns to be shuffled around to fill staffing needs. An act of compassion by a boss goes A LONG way toward retaining staff and boosting morale. And if you have the staff behind you, maybe the 'weight of the world' will be lessened....just saying....