HELP!!!!!Advice

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hello all ,

Although my name says i am a student I am newly licensed 5months . I have a situation at work and need some direction/input.

I have a resident with a suprapubic tube. The other day her private duty CNA approached me and stated her output was low for the day . I was charting and said I would be there in a moment. The private duty CNA went on break.Me and my CNA went in the room and we emptied the bag to discover 200cc of output adding to the 100cc from the morning. When her private duty CNA came up I told her our findings she called me a liar. She stated the last time I worked I docmented 280cc for my shift and it that I was a liar!stating the resident did not have that much output. I immediately got my Supervisor and this CNA continually screamed at me for about 5 minutes in my supervisors office with the door open and the entire staff plus the MD listening a couple of feeet away. The CNA then left the room. I calmly explained the situation to my supervisor stating I did not realize she had prior issues with my pt care. Who does this CNA think she is! Making false accusation.

My DNS was not in the building that day and today is a holiday so i could not get a hold of her. I need advice on how on handle this!!!

Thanks!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Need to document everything and present it in calm manner to DNS on Friday or Monday. If CNA continues to be disrespectful to you, need to call supervisor on call and get it addressed NOW.

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This CNA is hired by the family to sit with and keep company the resident. I did call my supervisor and she basically did nothing. So now I am going to my DNS.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I would not worry about it for now, just report what you know and that is it. I am curious to know if this is a certified CNA, or someone just hired to babysit the patient in private. I think that she is worried about her job more than anything. If she is being privately paid, she may be getting tax-free money for easier work and is in fear of losing this case. Maybe she doesn't know how to calculate output and was embarassed? I've seen worse...

Bottom line is that you are the licensed person, you reported, I assume you charted your findings and it would be your assessment or data gathering skills that would probably supercede her temper tantrum.

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Thank you! I think I am making it into a bigger deal than it should be. I am just a new nurse and lacking self confidence.

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Another nurse pulled something similar to this with me in a private case. She was unhappy that the patient had decided to go to an agency for his nursing care because he found his private nurses not doing what they were being paid for. I tended to agree. The nurse in question was supposed to give me report when I started one morning and did not get her behind out of bed (she slept on the premises), until after noon. That should have told me something there. Just document your care, as well as any inappropriate behavior, the way you should and keep your supervisors aware of what is happening. Don't get into any altercations with this person if you can help it. She most likely senses that her days are numbered.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Thank you! I think I am making it into a bigger deal than it should be. I am just a new nurse and lacking self confidence.

Well, this is your first experience with something like this, and you never know the nature of people. To be honest, many of the things discovered in nursing, reported and disciplined is subjective...depending on who discovers it, how much harm was done (if any) how they feel about you, how determined they are to constantly report it up the food chain, how interested they are in follow up. Sad fact, but true. Therefore, I can understand your paranoia. I am not suggesting that there is anything to worry about, mind you. My rule of thumb:up: is that when there are people who are making scenes and too many involved, I make sure that the proper powers that be are aware and write cover-my-ass objective notes that document who it was reported to and what their response was so there is no question in anyone's mind that I did not ignore a situation. Like I said, it is her temper tantrum against your licensed document.

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...it is her temper tantrum against your licensed document.

I like this saying. I think I'll adopt it for future use.

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Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

Verbal outbursts and loud (screaming) arguing in front of residents are unacceptable behavior. Never respond to this directly. Do not argue with this person. Kill her with kindness. When called a liar, calmly state that you documented your findings in the appropriate manner and that you'll be glad to respond to any other observations. Try to check on the patient a few extra times and go about your business. Document the behavior of the private duty person on a separate paper and get any witnesses to do the same. Try to be factual in your documentation. Most of all, do not take it to heart, but rather feel sorry for this person, she obviously has major issues. Report the events to the director. However, if another episode occurs, report to the supervisor immediately.

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