I feel so inadequate....

[debRN0417]

I have had one of the worst weeks of my life and it's only Tuesday. It all started on Sunday with a call from my facility regarding alleged abuse of one of my residents. I went in and did all the necessary things, interviewing, notifying the administrator...etc..ect...I was/am so broken-hearted that someone could mistreat another human being. The resident was okay, as far as I could tell, had bruises on arms, and denied that anyone mistreated him, but he is so very confused and I cried in front of him because it broke my heart to think of anyone being mistreated...but this person is just special to me. He tried to console me and told me that he appreciated that I cared so much for him. I was there at the facility from 7:30 am until 12:30 pm. The administrator came and took over, per protocol. I worried about it the rest of Sunday and Sunday night. Monday morning I came in to work at 6:45am to continue the investigation, and by 9:30 am the State Department of Health was in unannounced on a complaint . I have a great facility and am very proud of it, but complaints happen and must be investigated....anyway, during this tedious investigation by the state, the Adult protective services worker comes in to investigate the allegation of the abuse that we had reported...so there I have the state and APS in at the same time. To make matters worse, the allegation of the abuse turned from physical to a sexual abuse allegation initiated by the APS wprker because the CNA involved was rumored to be gay. I was mortified that anyones sexual orientation would play a part in this :angryfire ! I was asked by the police, who are now here because they have been called by APS due to the sexual abuse allegation, about this. I told him I was appalled, that I did not know what the CNA's sexual orientation was, and it was none of my business, because I do not ask people those questions, just as you would not ask someone if they are baptist, catholic or jewish. That has no bearing on their ability to do the work, their credentiling, or anything....my corporate personnel were also in the facility by this time, which, thank heavens they are very supportive and helpful :) . Of course I shared this info with them. I have left out some details, to make a long story short, but needless to say, because the State was investigating the complaint on a resident who was discharged, I had to "find" the discharged chart, which was in 50 different pieces scattered all over the place as the person who is in medical records has been asked to resign, and does not give a hoot about what is what or where anymore :angryfire . (You figure out why she was asked to resign)...This caused a delay in getting the State inspector the info she needed which I assume agitated her, (I was agitated by then) and she was able to find a missed lab test way back in the piece of the record she had causing us ro recieve a "tag" (no harm) but nevertheless, it was a mistake on our part...anyway the police are still there and the APS wants the resident to go to the ER for a "sexual assault exam" and I have to try to explain to his RP why he is going to the ER without telling her "why he is going to the ER" until he is examined and it goes on and on...finally the state leaves, the APS leaves, the resident goes to the ER, the police leaves, I wait for the resident to return...he comes back...I call his sister, it is 11:30 pm...(No evidence of sexual abuse thank God) I have had no lunch, no dinner, I am sick about my resident who I am responsible for , that he has not only suffered alleged harm, but also that he had to be subjected to all that in the Er (but necessary)and I hadn't even had time to go to the bathroom! So I get up at 5:30 this morning, go back to work...APS comes in, the police come in, the family of the resident comes in , I tell her, she was appreciative that we were protecting him, the "suspect" employee comes in, the police talk to him, he admits to being excessively rough, they press charges, (of course he was suspended pending investigation, now he is terminated)... I have staff all over talking about it and I have to squelch rumors, telling everyone that "one is innocent until proven guilty" and to please not discuss this and carry rumors and all that ..corporate was there helping and I don't know what I would have done without my supportive administrator and corporate personnel...I have a wonderful facility, and great staff, and it is just hard to believe this...I fear also that the reputation of the facility will be damanged if this becomes public, which can if the CNA is charged, and they tell me he is...what a week!

[leslie :-D]

i think it's wonderful that you have such supportive personnel.

is this employee being terminated? he already admitted he was 'rough'.

and if something like this happened at the facility where i worked, the staff developer would be running mandatory inservices on resident handling, abuse/neglect issues, the whole gamut. the state will definitely want to see that your facility is taking measures to ensure this incident never repeats itself. you and your team sound awesome.

leslie

[gladtobeOB]

Wow, Sorry about what is going on. Way too much for one person to handle. Glad everything has come into the open and is resolving. Keep your head up you are doing the right things for your residents.

[debRN0417]

i think it's wonderful that you have such supportive personnel.

is this employee being terminated? he already admitted he was 'rough'.

and if something like this happened at the facility where i worked, the staff developer would be running mandatory inservices on resident handling, abuse/neglect issues, the whole gamut. the state will definitely want to see that your facility is taking measures to ensure this incident never repeats itself. you and your team sound awesome.

leslie

Inservices are scheduled. Employee is terminated. Thank you for your kind words.