HELP I NEED ADVICE

Nurses Relations

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Today my supervisor accused me of fraud. I wrote the wrong date on my paperwork for my patient. I had him 12 hours on a Saturday. The date I wrote was Tuesday three days later. My father's funeral was on that Tuesday, so I didn't work. The week before on Wednesday I had 4 teeth pulled. (molars) I was assaulted and my brother was stabbed 8 times as a result I had to have my teeth pulled because I developed a severe infection. So here's the timelime Wednesday teeth pulled, Saturday I worked and Tuesday I buried my dad. My supervisor said this is fraud I will attempt to correct the date by writing the correct date with my initials, and draw a line through the incorrect date with my initials. What should I do?

Thank you for the encouragement. I am scared. I am hoping to get through this feeling.

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Chill out. You are making yourself crazy. Try to relax. Take a few deep breaths, tamp down on the emotionalism, and try to be objective.

You are making the eruption of Mount Vesuvius out of a fire ant hill.

I am so sorry you are going through all of these things, but the stress is making you nuts. Go see a doc and do the lawyer thing.

I want to offer you lots of hugs and lots of encouragement, but you really need to get yourself together!

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Thank-you. I feel so traumatized. I haven't eaten in two days, and despite everyone telling me it will work out I am having a hard time. Everything I normally do I can't focus to accomplish it. I am sooo hurt. Now that you say that I realize I am grieving. I wish I knew how to get through this. I feel like my life is over I have never been in trouble I have been a nurse since 1996. My husband had just died this is how I raised my children. I think I just really needed some kind words and support. I really feel like someone has died. (my career).

And it sounds as if you have a tremendous amount of trauma happening in your life. From your husband passing, to being assaulted and stabbed, to your father passing.....

Take some time and think about going to see a professional. This is a great deal of trauma for one to take, nurse or not.

If you have spoken to an attorney, listen to their advice. Call your as well, as pp have suggested.

Best of luck to you, and really, you should seek some help to put all of this into some sort of perspective.

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I am so sorry for the loss of your father. Grieving will take it's time and I hope you have some support.

Your supervisor is an idiot. Either has it our for you(think long and hard about why)... or is running scared from some other Medicaid issue.

You did not commit fraud, you made a documentation error. Now may not be the time with everything else going on, but I would start thinking about making a move to another agency.

This one is crazy!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Home Care is under enormous scrutiny these days. It was targeted by the Feds due to tons of fraud and abuse that were uncovered over the years... so it is easy to understand that even trivial issues can be blown out of proportion under these circumstances.

I agree with PP who said that if the patient/ins carrier had not been billed for services that were not delivered, no fraud actually occurred. So if OP was not trying to be paid for hours not worked - it was just a simple mistake that should have been rectified when it was found..... maybe with a verbal counseling session about being more careful.

However - if they overreacted this much, there is a good chance that they also reported OP via official channels. If this happened, there is a very good chance that poor OP will end up on the OIG exclusion list... unable to be hired by any employer who receives Federal funding. Basically, that usually means the end of a nursing career. OP needs to get an attorney to help clear up this mess. There may even be grounds for taking action against that supervisor if her/his actions were malicious.

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Specializes in nurseline,med surg, PD.

I empathize with you. Hugs. I know right now you feel that life is over but give yourself time to grieve, file for unemploymen,t and you will work again.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

^As HouTx explained, there has been a high trend scrutiny for home care in terms of Medicare fraud; her post may be sobering to OP, however, this explains the rationale as to why the employer is very stringent on reporting this; although we only know the OP's perspective, this is a simple mistake (per the OP) that depending on the BON, may not even look at it, Medicare may be a different story, or not, if the OP explains WHY it occurred OBJECTIVELY.

And it sounds as if you have a tremendous amount of trauma happening in your life. From your husband passing, to being assaulted and stabbed, to your father passing.....

Take some time and think about going to see a professional. This is a great deal of trauma for one to take, nurse or not.

If you have spoken to an attorney, listen to their advice. Call your malpractice insurance as well, as pp have suggested.

Best of luck to you, and really, you should seek some help to put all of this into some sort of perspective.

This.

The advice you need is from your attorney at this point; I also suggest seeking counseling to get you back on track emotionally. :yes:

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Specializes in med, surg,trauma, triage, research.

Ah poor you, really this is an awful way to treat someone clearly stressed and grieving. I'd say go see supervisor or someone higher and take all documentation with you, if you can't see someone, stop. Just stop and take time out to write everything down in the order it happened then wait for them to contact you. Meanwhile, start looking after yourself, grieve, cry and eat properly, get sleep, spend time with friends, then youll be ready to face whatever it is at most but be able to put your side to them at least. Take care of yourself and good luck.

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I would like to thank everyone that responded. I did go to a couple of doctors I was diagnosed as having PTSD, Depression and anxiety. I have been just functioning, and because my job is routine day in and day out I sort of went into auto pilot. I felt so obligated to be there because there was no one to take my place. I have been with this family for 5 years and never called off. I just didn't know how to get out. I did talk to a lawyer, they said it was one day I shouldn't worry about it, they did pay me for it, even though it was caught in time and they didn't have to. The other nurse that works with me has stepped up and admitted that we were told to work our schedule out among ourselves (which I appreciated) and this is what they fired me for, for changing my schedule and writing the wrong date. I made the error and I did correct it by telling them the right date and writing an additional nurses note saying that I had written the wrong date in error to clarify the correct date. I at least now know what has been wrong with me, and I am going to counseling. It was the most traumatic thing seeing my brother stabbed repeatedly in front of me and then being assaulted when I intervened. (by he way this is the second time my brother's son has tried to kill him I intervened the first time when he put his head through a glass window and threw him down the stairs). They keep letting him out so I have a fear that he is going to hurt me or my brother again. I am in counseling to deal with this fear. Thank all of you for your support and advice. By the way my attorney's told me to basically keep it moving..lol

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

I am so glad to hear this update. Carry on!

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I'm glad you've got the professional help you need Nette4866. In some ways it is good that the lid has blown on this pressure cooker and allowed you to face waht has been buried for years. Good luck in the future.

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