In May of this year I was hired as a brand new nurse at a ltc facility to work the night shift. The facility has 2 wings and each wing has 2 halls. Being a rather large facility of 140 beds and a new nurse I was concerned with staffing but was assured that for my particular shift there would be 1 nurse and at least 2 cnas to each hall for a total no less than 4 nurses and 8 cnas.
This was the case up until a few weeks ago when a new company took over and took away people's vacation time, increased the cost of our insurance and decreased our wages. It wasn't long before staff started dropping like flies due to all the resignations.
Last week I came into work only to find out I was the only nurse on my wing, and to top it off I was down to one cna. The other wing only had it slightly better at 2 nurses with one CNA.
This was not only unacceptable but extremely dangerous. I immediately called my ADON to figure out what to do since I and 1CNA couldn't possibly care for 67 high acuity patients only to find out she and the rest of upper management were well aware of the situation. She said that everyone was working hard and making sacrifices and that I too needed to be a team player. Incredulous, I explained my issue wasn't with working hard but with the safety and well being of the residents. She then tried bullying me with threats of abandonment until I told her I hadn't accepted responsibility of the additional hall nor had I been given report on it, and that I would not be doing so. She then said she understood my concerns and would get back soon with a solution. Within minutes my DON called me and was very understanding, saying she understood my position, that she would feel and do the same. She said that she knew how much I cared about the residents and hoped that despite refusing the extra hall I did my best to care for them in anyway I could because that's as much as she or the BON expected. That was 2 shifts ago, 2-12 hour shifts with no breaks or down time at all. Ive cared for my hall as I always do, albeit in an speedy and abbreviated manner(which still makes me nervous) and I've done everything I could for the other; including but not limited to passing the 11p to 5a meds, caring for an extremely brittle diabetic, 3 tube feeds, 2 trachs, prioritizing the most important treatments and dressing changes, and 1 brutal code.
Yesterday I was nearly to work when I recieved a phone call from one of the day shift supervisors who informed me I was suspended pending further investigation for abandonment and dereliction of duty because I hadn't been passing the extra halls 6am med pass. I tried explaining that it wasn't my hall, that I never accepted responsibility, took report or did the narc count for that hall, and to talk to the DON because she knew what was going on. She told me that the DON gave her the order to suspend me.
I'm shocked, hurt, and scared. I'm in desperate need of any and all advice I can get about what my I should do next.
