I let a resident fall and feel terrible!

Purple_roses · May 17, 2015

I understand how you feel. This past winter one of my clients slipped on a patch of ice and I wasn't able to break his fall at all. I felt so incredibly terrible and guilty. (He was not hurt, thankfully, and his family was there to help me get him back up).

It sounds like you did the right thing. You guided her to the floor, cushioned her head, and called for help.

This incident doesn't make you a bad or incompetent person, though I know you feel otherwise right now.

NikthePNstudent · May 17, 2015

I think most, if not all, of us CNA's have had an incident where either a resident has fallen or had to be guided to the floor while they were under our care. It happens. We're human and being such, we are fallible. Anyhow, I remember an incident when I first started as a CNA at a LTC facility. I was assigned a fairly large man with one leg that needed to get up to go to dialysis. He convinced me that he could stand on the other and mid-transfer his leg buckled and I had to guide him to the ground. I felt horrible, but he was fine and it wasn't the end of the world. I also learned that I wasn't as strong as I thought I was haha.

betm, CNA · May 17, 2015

I was a little worried when I saw in your title that you "let" a resident fall. I thought this was going to be a post about willfully and carelessly letting a resident drop to the floor. You did no such thing. It sounds like you did the right thing in guiding the resident to the floor and getting something soft under the resident's head. I have had a few falls in my nearly four years of experience as a CNA. The one I felt the worst about was when I "let" a 104-year-old resident fall--twice. She was okay! Learn from this fall and move on. :)

mindofmidwifery, ADN · May 17, 2015

There were two of us once and the same thing almost happened...it was a resident we've never cared for before and we were told he was pretty good with transfers. Well, I can't remember exactly what happened but one of us had to grab his legs while the other got under his arms. I was so scared the entire time because I thought he was going to "fall." We called a nurse to help us get him into his wheelchair so it worked out in the end but I was so embarrassed. Don't be ashamed, it happens to the best of us.

mvm2 · May 18, 2015

Yes don't beat yourself up. Sometimes it just happens, and maybe in hind sight you could tell yourself oh if I only did this or that I could have prevented the fall. But the fact is elderly people have falls. While they are by themselves or someone is with them it happens and if foes not mean you are a bad care giver or that you did anything wrong.

I work in home care and I have had two different clients fall on my shift in my 3 years of working. I could beat myself up about it but what good will that do, and my agency did nor see me as a bad caregiver either. I just had to write up an incident report and all was well.

Just know there is a first time for every nurse and CNA. There probably are not many of us that have not seen falls happen. And know this might not be the last one you see or even may be apart of. It comes with the territory.

Missingyou, CNA · May 18, 2015

It was not your fault.

There is nothing that you could have done differently.

It happens!

It is amazing that you have gone 2 years without experiencing someone falling on "your watch."

I once had 2 days in a row where 2 different residents "fell" while I was transferring them. Their legs just gave out and there was nothing I could do. To make it worse, the first resident INSISTED that I dropped him. He yelled at me and for the next few days after he would say "don't drop me again!" He became a 2 assist after the fall so I always had someone there anyway. ..but I didn't take it personally because I knew what really happened and that there was nothing that I could have done differently.

Don't try to hold a resident up when they are falling! You will hurt yourself and it will probably result in skin tears and/or bruises for the resident.