Manager Retaliatiin

[Djadia]

Ive been employeed @ the the same acute care facility for 24 years. The manager I recently submitted an incident report for her recent recccomendation to chemically sedate a patient d/t lack of staff available to do 1:1. In addition, at out facility the night shift has only 2 nurses & no techs. The only additional help we have is from lab & radiology (if they aren't busy). Lately the acuity of our patients have been high. 5 of 10 patients require minimum of 2 people to transfer which leaves the other 9 unsupervised while we are those patients rooms. Our manager sees no reason why we cant take additional admissions through the night. At the last unit meeting, I told her i was concerned about the patients safety seeing as though we had 2 falls in last 3 weeks. I also told her that on those nights of 10 high acuity patients with only 2 RN's, I will inform ER that we cant accept admissions as to not risk patient safety or jeopardize my license. She wrote me up for being verbally abusive. Do I have any rights in these situations?

[Guest219794]

You were written up for being verbally abusive.

Were you?

As far as rights goes- unless they are doing something either illegal or way outside of standard of care, maybe not. What oiu described should be way outside of standard of care, but the more I read here, the more it sounds like the new normal.

[Djadia]

"Verbal abuse" is quite a severe accusation to have on my permanent record. Other staff in attendance at the meeting were shocked to hear the result as well. Am I able to enter a comment in my personal record as to why I do not feel this is a fair judgement on her part?

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

2 hours ago, Djadia said:

Do I have any rights in these situations?

The right to quit and find a new job before it is too late.

[caliotter3]

1 minute ago, NICU Guy said:

The right to quit and find a new job before it is too late.

Keep crossing with this manager and she will see that you are terminated. You probably don't have the resources to counter each and every one of her accusations present and future that she will have lined up for your termination. Do you really think that the witnessing employees are going to jeopardize themselves to stick up for you when push comes to shove? Time and time again, I have seen that the vocal witnesses turn into deaf, dumb, and solid rocks when it comes time to put their jobs on the line for the sake of a coworker.

[Djadia]

I wasn't the person who followed the managers reccomendation to chemically sedate the patient because I'm having no part in "illegal" nursing. I merely was a patient advocate. How can i be labeled as verbally abusive for being concerned for patient safety & NOT admitting the 11th patient when we cant adequately care for 10 & for not putting my license on the line for being well aware of the situation before it occurred?

[Djadia]

We are a rural hospital & the only RN's in the building during NOC shift are 2 on med/surg & 1 in ED

[Orion81RN]

6 minutes ago, Djadia said:

We are a rural hospital & the only RN's in the building during NOC shift are 2 on med/surg & 1 in ED

That explains it. You got verbal during your card game, didn't you? ?

[Gennaver, MSN]

5 hours ago, Djadia said:

... At the last unit meeting, I told her i was concerned about the patients safety seeing as though we had 2 falls in last 3 weeks. I also told her that on those nights of 10 high acuity patients with only 2 RN's, I will inform ER that we cant accept admissions as to not risk patient safety or jeopardize my license. She wrote me up for being verbally abusive. Do I have any rights in these situations?

As you describe above it surely does not sound like verbal abuse and honestly, even if you were verbally abusive wouldn't she have to first give a. verbal warning before writing you up?

I would consult with Human Resources higher than her because it sounds like she definitely retaliated. By the way, her succeeding to sedate a patient as a restraint is definitely against the National Patient Safety guidelines.

I think she is making violations in writing you up also.

Jen

[L-ICURN, BSN, RN]

you can always ask to meet with HR or someone higher than the manager to discuss this. Be warned, though. Once you do this, expect greater retaliation.

In another post on this forum, someone mentioned they were leaving nursing forever. This is just one example of the many reasons nurses leave.

[spotangel, DNP, RN, NP]

1-Do you have a union? If you do, reach out to them ASAP.

2-Do not talk to the manager again without a witness with you at all times.

3-If others witnessed the interaction between you and the manager, get it in writing from them.

4-Anytime and every time you have any interaction with her put it in writing in a word document and email it to yourself to get a timestamp.

5-If you have cause to feel that you are being intimidated contact HR

6- If you have never had a previous write up you can challenge the verbal.

7-Look up labor laws in your state on harassment and intimidation.

8-Start looking for other jobs as it is an unsafe and hostile environment.The falls are proof enough.

Chin up, stand your ground,be polite but firm. Do not let her trigger or push your buttons.You got this Nurse Djadia!

[MunoRN, RN]

You could potentially argue to HR that your manager is creating a hostile workplace by writing you up for an invalid reason, although you may have less of a case for that if you also wrote her up for an invalid reason.

Generally, a 1:1 sitter is for patients with a medical or psychiatric condition that is causing behaviors that justify being controlled. Treating the symptoms causing these behaviors is not a form of chemical restraint, and if anything failing to treat these symptoms without a valid reason is potentially neglect or abuse. It's pretty rare that a person would have symptoms that justify a sitter but don't justify medical management, so it's possible your write-up of her equally invalid.