If I hear that one more time I swear I am going to stop wherever I am and scream. Literally. I will stand there and scream until The People come to take me away for evaluation. :uhoh21:
I haven't worked staff at a facility for a very long time so I haven't had to deal with this issue personally in eons but it still chaps my hide every time I hear it.
Today I was supposed to meet my sister for lunch. I arrived at her facility and waited in the car at the designated spot. She didn't come down after 15 min so I called up to the unit (I used to work there). The secretary told me she said to meet her on the unit and we could eat in the staff cafeteria instead. I didn't understand why but when I went up to the floor I saw a huge semi-circle around Nursing Station B comprised of nurses, aides, administrative big-wigs, and family members of a particular resident. Particular as in picky. I hear, from the ENTRANCE of the unit the man of the family (father, uncle, whatever?) yelling "I want her fired!" He is pointing at this poor aide slinked low against the nursing station half crying, half yelling something about new bed linens. The rest of the staff, my sister included, are trying to calm down the man and his female companion, meanwhile he is still yelling "I want her fired. If this is the type of trash you hire in this facility then you should be closed down and I'm going to call State."
:nono:Oh, no, not those words. That's a bad threat.
So now this poor girl may lose her job. I don't know for sure because obviously my sis didn't get a lunch, or rather, I had to leave before I even spoke to her, so I don't know if she got a lunch or not. But she missed OUR lunch date because some layman read somewhere or heard somewhere that if you threaten to call State you can get anything you want. That is an abuse of power and it peeves me to no end. Further, I feel it is highly improper and rude that a family member can dictate who is or isn't employed at a facility.
This is not to say that she didn't deserve to be reprimanded. I don't know what she did, but I highly doubt it is worthy of being fired and even if it IS, that should be at the discretion of the facility not a family member.
IAnd Social Worker told them that they should consider putting her in a NSG Home and family refused when they found out her SS check would go to the NSG to pay for expenses and stay.
Oh God, that's horrifying.
My GM is an eating disorder causing crazy lady, but I would NEVER deny her proper care based on where her SS checks go.
I know it's not quite the same, since I'm still a student and these are different fields all together, but I work for the local Newspaper, and we get those "I'll call (insert some governing body name here)!" all the time. What makes that so irritating is that it's over A NEWSPAPER. And when you have a subscription, the newpapers boil down to about .20 cents a paper- but they yell and scream about missing a paper. They will also call to cancel because they never recieved any papers, and without ever calling us to let us know there was a problem to fix.
It just seems so MINOR to get so bent out of shape about, particularly when I'm studying different ways to DIE during the day, and listening to petty stupid compaints in the afternoon.
I almost feel like informing them that I can tell them the names and locations of each hole and divet in their skulls. But that would be rather threatening- not my desired effect.
The job I had before this was worse- I was a cust. service rep for a major cell phone company, and people would threaten physical violence over the fact that their service was cut off for non-payment.
All I have to say is that I'm thankful that I'm getting experience handling difficul clients NOW instead of later when I have a person screaming at me over the welfare of a loved one.
i bet this man gets his way everywhere by being LOUD AND MEAN
loud doesn't mean right but some people do this all the time and when they get their way the little light bulb goes on
'HEY THAT WORKS, I WILL DO IT NEXT TIME
People act this way because they are rewarded with getting away with it and getting their way. I'll bet this guy wouldn't act this way around a biker gang. (They know how to "reward" this behavior.)
How awful to be singled out like that in an area for everyone to witness. Only a piece of trash would call another human being that. I am so tired of the health care community brushing behavior like this off as, "Oh his family member is ill so we have to be understanding of his behavior." People like that are most likely bullies even when their life is peachy keen. Granted, I don't know what her offense was, but it should have been handled in a more private setting and without abusive language allowed.
I am so sick of "picky" families thinking their loved one is the only one on the floor who matters. This attitude of entitlement is destroying our society. So many people think that just because they breath they deserve royal treatment.
I remember seeing an "interview on the street" related to JFK's speech, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." People basically scoffed at the sentiment and said, "America owes me." It was sad, but that is what we're dealing with these days.
I believe that everyone is responsible for their own actions.
When supervisors say "It must have been the way the nurse presented herself", that just puts the blame where it shouldn't go. It's like saying that victims of domestic violence brought it on themselves.
When supervisors say "It must have been the way the nurse presented herself", that just puts the blame where it shouldn't go. It's like saying that victims of domestic violence brought it on themselves.
YES!
How many of us have been counselled after doing nothing wrong but the patient's perception of our actions reflected poorly on the hospital? And how do you fix that?
Wow, I was embarrassed by my parents but the only times they have freaked were:
1. After one of my surgeries my incision was across the top of my head from ear to ear and my roommate was always crying (that is not the bad part that was ok but gave me a headache) she had one thing going on her TV family had another TV on her side of the room and were watching it to and she always had a lot of people visiting loudly. I got a private room that time.
2. After another surgery I was in ICU because they needed to leave the ET tube in because my tongue swelled due to severe loss of blood (in all needed 4units of blood). I was being moved to the floor, before I left I asked for pain meds, was told I could have it as soon as I got to the floor. When I got there was told, “sorry your PCA pump is not ready you need to wait”. My mom says she asked again 45 mins later. Then at 1.5 hours, the at 2 hours she freaked. Once again my incision was across the top of my head. My pain was becoming unbearable, I was in tears, finally (5 mins after my mom freaked) she got a single dose. She claimed it was because it was not the normal pain medication so we needed to wait.
This is out of 12 surgeries 8 needing hospitalization
Wow, what a wild ride down memory lane reading this thread has been as the "breaking story" unfolded!
Just like the responders I have had to deal with crazy family members over and over.
I just work PRN because I can't take the treatment nurses receive anymore, but I need at least a little money to survive. I used to like to work.
My latest technique for handling the patients and especially the family members is to go into the room with my eyes cast down to the floor, say a cheerful hello, and then just keep my eyes on exactly what I am doing, like checking whatever is hanging, the O2, the patients abdomen, ect. I stay as silent as I can, and keep my eyes down as I leave the room. I can kind of feel out the situation in that manner.
Like 'squekykitty' said, when problems arise it usually comes down to some version of "it must be how the nurse presented her/him self."
For goodness sake, it seems like it's OK to "be yourself" everywhere in America these days, except while working a shift as a nurse. The last couple of months I have found myself defending myself by pointing out to the irate patients and family members that I cannot help what I look like, my height, the color of my hair (well maybe my hair :wink2:), and eyes, and especially, the way my voice sounds and inflects. This is all a result of genetic and cultural conditioning over which I had no control, I tell them. This usually confuses them enough to shut them up for the rest of the shift. It seems to me that 'voice inflections' can really be a trigger that sets off patients\family members, probably because certain voices remind them of certain other situations (like the judge saying 'guilty'?)
I agree with the post that sheets should be changed at regularly scheduled intervals, or if/when they are dirty, not EVER more often. Twice week is generous, I bet few of these people exceeded that at home. To change more frequently is an affront to the environment we are supposed to be concerned about.
I don't even believe that family who said that they changed the sheets twice a day at home, this is already a red flag, I don't know of anyone who changes sheets twice a day, do you? Do they do that in the Royal Families of the world? If they could afford to do that, why can't they afford a private room?
"I want her fired!" What is this going to solve? If the CNA is smart she will go get unemployment and then say she is so psychologically bruised that she needs disability! The next new person on the job will not be perfect either.
If only people had the courage to say "I want to talk about this situation so it can be solved".
See, we change lines everyday...at least once. Usually, it's while patients are up and eating, or off at a test, or a therapy, etc. I have no problem changing linens as needed...but I try hard not to let it get that far. I've picked up enough skills to learn when I should be checking people by now.
Why is everyone so quick to figure that CNA used the same washcloth? It's entirely possible that the washcloth came from a stack near that other roommate because you save space where you can. Go figure. I can't wait until I can treat my CNAs like the gold they are.
Loco, do you work in a hospital or a Long Term Care? This washcloth situation took place in a LTC facility. I did not know that there are LTC facilities that change linens every day, thats amazing to me. Why?
Whether or not the CNA used the same wash cloth was made beside the point by the explosiveness of the guys outburst about it, the way I see it. The patient was not in any immediate harm.
Personally I don't think the CNA committed the offense, it doesn't make much sense to me. Just grab the bucket, throw the clean stack of washcloths in, get the towels and get to work.
Now, maybe she grabbed the wrong bucket, maybe, like you said, she picked up a washcloth near the other patient, maybe she used a wash cloth on that patient before the family came in and set to the side- maybe on an (unresponsive) patients night table: I guess the point I am trying to make is that none of these possibilities, including the unlikely event that the same wash cloth was used (after all they reused the same needles in some countries, as we have all heard, maybe this CNA came from some where else where reusing the same washcloth was not a big deal), as long as the focus is on the ego of the guy who is screaming and yelling.
I wonder if that LTC facility had security. Do all LTC's have security?
Loco, do you work in a hospital or a Long Term Care? This washcloth situation took place in a LTC facility. I did not know that there are LTC facilities that change linens every day, thats amazing to me. Why?
Whether or not the CNA used the same wash cloth was made beside the point by the explosiveness of the guys outburst about it, the way I see it. The patient was not in any immediate harm.
Personally I don't think the CNA committed the offense, it doesn't make much sense to me. Just grab the bucket, throw the clean stack of washcloths in, get the towels and get to work.
Now, maybe she grabbed the wrong bucket, maybe, like you said, she picked up a washcloth near the other patient, maybe she used a wash cloth on that patient before the family came in and set to the side- maybe on an (unresponsive) patients night table: I guess the point I am trying to make is that none of these possibilities, including the unlikely event that the same wash cloth was used (after all they reused the same needles in some countries, as we have all heard, maybe this CNA came from some where else where reusing the same washcloth was not a big deal), as long as the focus is on the ego of the guy who is screaming and yelling.
I wonder if that LTC facility had security. Do all LTC's have security?
:yeahthat:
I totally agree about the different possibilities of why it may have looked as the family member alleges. I seriously doubt a person with any American training and hell, common sense, would use the same wash cloth on two different people. In the interest of saving time it would make sense to grab too many washcloths/towels, not the other way around. I know when I am in a rush to do a dressing change I will grab extra (s ometimes excessively so ) supplies to return the rest later. It's easier to have too many than too little. Now, linens can't be placed back on the linen cart after entering a resident's room, but that is why you will see piles of hidden linens strewn throughout resident's room at any given time.
There is security there but they weren't called while I was there. I don't know why.
She was officially terminated yesterday for violating facility policy.
) supplies to return the rest later. It's easier to have too many than too little. Now, linens can't be placed back on the linen cart after entering a resident's room, but that is why you will see piles of hidden linens strewn throughout resident's room at any given time. 
almostfearless
131 Posts
Oh God, that's horrifying.
My GM is an eating disorder causing crazy lady, but I would NEVER deny her proper care based on where her SS checks go.
I know it's not quite the same, since I'm still a student and these are different fields all together, but I work for the local Newspaper, and we get those "I'll call (insert some governing body name here)!" all the time. What makes that so irritating is that it's over A NEWSPAPER. And when you have a subscription, the newpapers boil down to about .20 cents a paper- but they yell and scream about missing a paper. They will also call to cancel because they never recieved any papers, and without ever calling us to let us know there was a problem to fix.
It just seems so MINOR to get so bent out of shape about, particularly when I'm studying different ways to DIE during the day, and listening to petty stupid compaints in the afternoon.
I almost feel like informing them that I can tell them the names and locations of each hole and divet in their skulls. But that would be rather threatening- not my desired effect.
The job I had before this was worse- I was a cust. service rep for a major cell phone company, and people would threaten physical violence over the fact that their service was cut off for non-payment.
All I have to say is that I'm thankful that I'm getting experience handling difficul clients NOW instead of later when I have a person screaming at me over the welfare of a loved one.