LVN Issue

your rn boss was wrong to tell you to take this lvn into a lounge and ask her what was up. i have been a supervisor for many years in both the hospital and nursing homes as well as a manager in the hospital. i would never ask a subordinate employee to do something like that. it was inappropriate.

i think what you should do is to sit down and write out as factually as possible what this lvn did (actually, what she didn't do) and what the rn asked you to do in response to this lvn not doing her share of the work and how the lvn replied, sign and date it, and put it in a sealed envelope and give it to the don. give as many specific facts as you can and include how other cnas had to do her patient care and what specific patient care it was. mention how she was always found sitting and reading and what she said to people when she was asked to help out. do not add any personal comments or criticisms. just give the facts. this way the don will have written documentation of what happened. do not talk about writing this up with anyone else as it is none of their business and you will only put yourself in the position of being in a spotlight and you don't want that. the don cannot do any kind of discipline (or firing) of anyone without written documentation to back up whatever action she decides to take. hopefully, your documentation will cause the don to start investigating this lvn. so, provide her with some evidence of what this lvn does. hopefully, the rn will have also written this lvn up, but based on what you have said, i wouldn't count on it, so you can do it.

just a word. . .it takes times to collect evidence (documentation) of a worker's wrong doing, particularly when it involves a licensed nurse. if your don is not one to put the pressure on someone who isn't doing their job it can take even longer. a don cannot just fire someone, especially a licensed nurse, without a number of written documentations by different people to backup the termination or the department of labor, particularly in california, will come down on the facility with all kinds of fines. so, i would just quietly and unknown to the other cnas and workers just write up the wrongdoing of this lvn every time you see it and quietly turn it in to the don in sealed envelopes. hopefully, someone else will also be doing the same and the evidence against this lvn will build up and she will soon be history.

you can never assume that the don is aware of what is going on. when i was a manager in the hospital and any serious incident involving the wrongdoing of any nurse came up, it was part of my job to interview all people involved and that included the nursing assistants, lpns and rns. most of the time other nurses and nursing assistants are afraid to put what they saw in writing. they fear some kind of retaliation from the person who did the wrongdoing. this is silly. facts and truth cannot be disputed, especially when two or more people have observed the same things. and, we never revealed to the wrongdoers who had written them up. and, in reality, when workers are confronted with their wrongdoing and they realize they are facing being fired, many of them, if they are smart enough to see the writing on the wall, get huffy and end up quitting before they even get fired which eases the entire situation. i saw this time and time. it is really rare to have to outright fire a licensed nurse as they usually see it coming and quit first in order to avoid having a termination on their work record.

if you are ever worried about being confronted by this lvn over writing her up--deny it. this is why i tell you to not reveal to anyone that you are writing her up. if the don is stupid enough to reveal who writes this lvn up your protection is that you told no one you did write her up and then to deny it if anyone asks you about it. it becomes the don's word against yours. it makes the lvn look desperate and like she is clinging at anything she can, blaming anyone she can, in order to keep her job. then, i'd be looking for another facility to work at because a don like that is not a don to be working for.