Patient Abandonment

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Not the most proudest moment in my life. To be frank, I feel shameful. But here is my story and I would like some advice. At my Per Diem job, I been dealing with work side bullying. Honestly, the only reason I kept going was because my director was very supportive of me and was like a work mom. So today, I couldn't handle it anymore when the charge nurse was yelling at me and was cursing(in her native language) at me, and I walked out of the unit. Now the charge nurse knows I was leaving cause she told me to "leave I'm not afraid of you". Which I am still confused about because I only showed respect and was never threatening... So my question is: Is this patient abandonment? If so and reported to the board of nursing, what is the consequence of it? I appreciate in advance for your inputs. Thank you.

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It kind of depends on whether you walked away from an inappropriate situation and took a 5-minute breather or you left the facility during a patient assignment and didn't come back. 

It could be fairly serious if you were in a patient assignment and left without handing over care of your patients.

You can't entertain bullies at all. They win when people get flustered and lose their cool. I know it can be tough to stay calm in the face of their provocations and I'm sorry you've been having to deal with it.

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I really don't want to make myself sound like the perfect nurse but to be frank I came into nursing with extreme naïve perspective of patient first is the only thing that matters in nursing, completely ignorant to work side politics etc or better yet purposefully ignored seniors' warnings of my naiveness again because I was so fixated on the idea patient care is all that mattered. My grandmother played the mother role in my life which motivated me to get into nursing to begin with. And ironically enough after my grandmother passed 2 years ago, I seem to keep running into work side politics/bullying that is unbearable at times. Shame to say I did walk out cursing at the charge nurse hour into my shift...(I know stupid huh...) I assume this would lead to suspension of my license? Sorry if I come off venting/defending its just I guess I am frustrated with myself more than anything not handling the situation correctly.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

That is abandonment, and may also lead to malpractice issues if any of your patients were harmed by your absence. If you have , you should pull out the policy and read it closely. You may also need a lawyer because the BON exists to protect the public, not nurses — www.taana.org is a good place to start. Good luck to you. 

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Specializes in Bahavioral health.

Call your employee compliance line ASAP and report the bullying. Tell them you were frightened and instructed to leave by the perpetrator.

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

I am not sure how this will be pursued, I wish you the best of luck. If nothing else, you need to use this as a learning experience to be prepared for how you will handle stressful situations in the future. No one should have to experience bullying in the workplace, but you need to keep your patients foremost in your mind while at work. Good luck. 

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Definitions vary some by state, but in mine that's not actually patient abandonment since the charge nurse also accepts the patients when they get report on the unit, so long as you inform the charge you're leaving then it's not abandonment.

It's unprofessional though, and it clearly grounds for termination, it's also potentially grounds for action against your license although not the legal charges that come with abandonment (at least in my state).

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After the charge nurse yelled at me, I said I was leaving and she told me to leave. The director called me on my way home saying it was reportable(not sure if she is or not) and she was disappointed in me(god that hurt...) sigh... It definitely is a learning experience. I appreciate your inputs. By any chance, anyone know how long it takes for the BON to process complaints and send out a summon?

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I do have NSO policy. Is it once you receive your summon(if I do), I contact taana?

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On 12/25/2021 at 8:51 PM, jung park said:

Not the most proudest moment in my life. To be frank, I feel shameful. But here is my story and I would like some advice. At my Per Diem job, I been dealing with work side bullying. Honestly, the only reason I kept going was because my director was very supportive of me and was like a work mom. So today, I couldn't handle it anymore when the charge nurse was yelling at me and was cursing(in her native language) at me, and I walked out of the unit. Now the charge nurse knows I was leaving cause she told me to "leave I'm not afraid of you". Which I am still confused about because I only showed respect and was never threatening... So my question is: Is this patient abandonment? If so and reported to the board of nursing, what is the consequence of it? I appreciate in advance for your inputs. Thank you.

Don't wait for them to report you, instead of you being reported, you need to report that person if they are bullying you.  That is considered unprofessional conduct.

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

I'm NOT saying I don't believe that you were experiencing bullying, but did you have a record of previous interactions with this charge nurse outlining their behavior? Did anyone else witness these interactions? The difficult thing about bullying is that it can be a very subjective thing, and proving it could be difficult.

For example, we had a nurse report my coworker for bullying to our manager- I witnessed the event and what happened was in the middle of a very busy shift this nurse was sitting in a patient's room "charting" with the curtain closed. When my coworker went to tell her about an alarm in another room she found her taking selfies on her phone. She said "get off your damn phone and take care of your patient", the two of us had been taking care of her other patient because she said she was "overwhelmed" with her admission. She called that bullying, we considered it calling out her unprofessional behavior.

Again, I'm not saying you were unprofessional or brought on the bullying, but your case will be stronger if this is not an isolated incident, and if there's documentation of a pattern of behavior in the past. 

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Specializes in Community health.

Your screen name looks like it could be related to your real name. If it is, you should change it to something anonymous. 

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