New Hire

[sls73]

I have an opening on one of my shifts. There was a nurse that put in for it from with in the facility and so far one that has put in for it outside of the facility. Here lies the problem. This is a shift that I only have one nurse on as I have a census of less then 60. The nurse from with in the facility is as qualified as the one that is outside. But I have a resident that does not want the nurse to take care of her(and currently she doesn't). If it is on another shift- it's not a problem as I can have a different nurse take care of her, but on night shift there is no other nurse. I dont want this nurse to think I am discriminating against her, because if it was any other shift I would consider her. What happens if this resident asks for a pain pill? Where is the employees rights as their has been nothing ever proven that she did to this resident- it's resident's choice. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance. I am beating my head against a wall trying to figure out the "right thing" to do here for both parties. Oh and no- the resident will not change their mind about this nurse taking care of them.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Have you investigated why the resident doesn't like this nurse? If the other 59 residents don't have an issue with her, and she's qualified, I'd hire her.

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

Think about this too....how long will this resident be living there? If the nurse is a good employee, it kinda sounds like a no brrainer....no oreientation, no risk that the other employee would leave after the first week.

We had an issue like that and the resident ended up refusing meds from that nurse so we retimed what we could. The resident did agree to take emergency care from the nurse.

[debRN0417]

You need to meet with the resident and as CCM said investigate what the problem is. The nurse should not be penalized over one resident, however, you really need to know what the issue is because you don't want any allegations of abuse to pop up. You need to protect the resident and protect your nurse as well!