How should this have been handled by facility?
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Ok, I'm an LPN at an LTC facility. A few days ago a res. family member was questioning another nurse about pain mgmt for res.(this res. was a hospice pt.) Nurse was overheard stating they had already given res. pain meds and unless they were in excruciating pain there nothing that the nurse could do. Long story short fam member went berserk, yelling, threatening to call state, saying nurse was a liar and was lying about narcs and they were going to call the police, punching walls, etc...so said nurse was very shaken and scared and this was heard by other residents and other staff who were equally frightened. I was not around for the beginning of the explosion and only caught the tail end of the situation. When I made it to the unit the aides and nurse were hiding out in residents rooms. Once the family member stormed out they returned to the floor. The nurse stated that the police had been called and the admissions director was in the facility as well and escorted the police to the unit. It was then discovered that the nurse had in fact given res. pain med, but not all pain meds that were available to a hospice pt. There was an order in place for Morphine, Ativan, and Tramadol, and APAP, but only the Tramadol had been given two hours prior.
When the nurse had to report the incident to the officer I offered to help with the med pass, that had not been completed. (I work all units and am very familiar with the residents.) After 15 minutes passed and the officer had left, the nurse never returned to the unit. Upon calling the other nurse in the facility I was informed that the other nurse had left the facility completely. I was confused as to how that had happened since no report was given to me nor was there a narc count done. When we called the nurse's cell there was no answer. The Administrator, DON and ADON on call were all informed of everything. They stated they would handle the matter. The 3rd nurse for the second half of the shift came in and I was stuck trying to give report and do the narc count even though I was not the nurse working that unit.
I was scheduled off the next day but the nurse who left was scheduled to work, we were all speculating on if they would show up...they did.
With all this being said my question is should this nurse have been fired immediately and reported to the board for abandonment? Or some other type of disciplinary action?
Thanks, all feedback is appreciated