I feel horrible

Students CNA/MA

Published

I feel like I shout quit as a cna the other day I left someone on the bedpan for far to long because I got extremely busy and forgot until around the end of my shift I took actions immediately as I remembered and put zgaurd on and got her off her butt now I found out my fellow aide wrote a grievance on me about it and I feel like *** I feel ashamed and feel that I should quit this is my first time having something like this happen and I'm worried I'm going to loose my job and brand new license

Taylor13, CNA

79 Posts

I don't think you should quit. Everyone makes mistakes or forgets things, and as long as you own up to it and try to be more aware next time then I think you should continue to work as a CNA. Hopefully your employer will allow you to use this as a learning experience since you are still new (assuming you are new if your license is new).

Sour Lemon

5,016 Posts

On 5/18/2020 at 1:53 PM, Cna1245 said:

I feel like I shout quit as a cna the other day I left someone on the bedpan for far to long because I got extremely busy and forgot until around the end of my shift I took actions immediately as I remembered and put zgaurd on and got her off her butt now I found out my fellow aide wrote a grievance on me about it and I feel like *** I feel ashamed and feel that I should quit this is my first time having something like this happen and I'm worried I'm going to loose my job and brand new license

I guarantee you're not the first one who's done this. I might help to keep a little task list in your pocket to help you remember loose ends. It takes an extra few seconds to jot down "203 BD (room 203 bed pan)", but it helps in the long run and makes everything more efficient.

I also have a habit of sharing responsibility with my coworkers. I tell them what I'm up to in passing and they do the same. Then we remind each other what's going on.

If your patient is capable, you can also instruct them to call instead of waiting for your eventual return. Setting a reminder timer for yourself might be another strategy.

Specializes in Emergency / Disaster.

If your fellow aide wrote a grievance on you about the situation and THEY knew and didn't remove the patient either - they are just as much to blame as you. I'd be super angry they didn't at least come tell me - hey so and so is still on the bed pan - don't forget - or do you need help? But to know and say or do nothing is just as bad for that patient. As a supervisor I'd be more angry at that person than you because they KNEW and didn't bother to fix it.

Cna1245

3 Posts

I also lost my job today so guess I dont have to worry about quiting

caliotter3

38,333 Posts

1 hour ago, Cna1245 said:

I also lost my job today so guess I dont have to worry about quiting

Sorry to hear this. Don’t hesitate in looking for a new position. There is a facility out there that will appreciate your help.

Sour Lemon

5,016 Posts

On 5/21/2020 at 11:52 PM, Cna1245 said:

I also lost my job today so guess I dont have to worry about quiting

I'm sorry. If that was their only reason for letting you go, that seems rather harsh.

Cna1245

3 Posts

It was because I didn't report it to the nurse who was in report

JKL33

6,777 Posts

Not to stray too far off-topic, but that so many people treat incident reports as some kind of "gotcha" is a problem.

You should have been the one filling out the incident report and verbally reporting your error to your superior immediately. Not only because that represents taking responsibility for the error, but primarily because responding to the tissue injury, treating it, and further monitoring of it is outside your scope of practice other than any activities that would be delegated to you by the patient's nurse.

An incident report is not something that should be filled out "against" coworkers; it's especially wrong if we report something based on our opinions of the people involved (whether we like them/they are our friend, etc). Reporting errors promptly and accurately is a duty of each one of us.

That said, if I worked in an area where the patient population routinely stayed in the same place, I would fear this error. It certainly can happen very easily and is one of those terrible yet understandable things.

You will be okay. Learn the lessons involved here and move on. ?

So very sorry this all happened. I can understand all too well. I was a brand new aide about 3 years ago and tried to help do get-ups for breakfast when I had an incident. I had to lower the resident to the ground because she would neither step back to sit on her bed nor step to sit in her chair. Though I did it all relatively safely and there was no injury, I was suspended without pay for 3 days (She was a 2 person transfer due to her size, but everyone always said they did her by themselves.)This atop complaints from an overly-interested-in-what-I-was-doing aide who seemed to continuously try to get me written up or fired for every little thing. I used to go in the shower room's bathroom to cry. A lot. I was overwhelmed daily. I could not understand why other aides would not help me or offer advice, and would rather report me at every opportunity. As a result, in time, I honed my skills and became that aide to help out the newbies, whether it was lowering the bed or getting a resident off a bedpan and then telling the aide I helped, or offering reassurance when the Mean Girls attacked. These types are rampant in healthcare, I'm sorry to say. They fail to understand the meaning of teamwork, much less compassion, and don't belong in a caregiving profession. I thank God the complainer got knocked up and quit to work in a doctor's office--I'm sure she's trying her best to make someone else miserable there, but at least it's no longer me. An interesting postscript is that that same resident has had multiple episodes of transferring and then "forgetting" how to do so successfully, which has resulted in a nurse's permanent back injury as well as many team lifts off the floor back into her bed. But I was the only one who ever got written up over it or suspended. Hmmm...am I sore about it? Sure. It wasn't fair by comparison, but I own that I should've waited for help. I think you owned your mistake and will learn from it in much the same way. Best of luck ❤️

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