piglets2

respectfully, I am trying not to identify where I work as I never know who is lurking. I will say it is a privately owned facility and my boss is one of the owners, so basically, my hands are tied, as far as going to her boss.. I can usually keep things under control if I have written rules and regs set forth by the government to prove what I am saying and why, its like I have to prove my actions, why I clarify meds, why I write doc orders a certain way, etc,..She doesn't like it, but she backs off and moves on to something else. The other facility I worked for chose to hide things or rather reword things required by the state which caused undo harm to patients. I refused to do this, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck..its a duck, so I was rode pretty hard, demoted from a charge position to med position on two seperate occasions by two seperate DON's for the same exact reasons. I wouldn't conform to "their" way of doing things because it was illegal and I do not want to go to prison. I have never followed the crowd, I don't kiss someones butt, I don't suck up to the boss. I go in, do my job to the best of my ability, follow the rules and regs set forth by the state and federal government and the written policies of the facility.In 16 years, I have never had anything against my license, never been to court, and believe honesty is the best policy. It usually gets me into trouble with the bosses although I don't know why as by protecting my license I am also protecting their facility. I live in a small town, one hospital, 2 nursing homes, and several doctors. the hospital owns the nursing homes and the docs offices. So the ASL is my only option, unless I want to commute 1 1/2 hours to another town. The ASL is less stressful ( despite the boss) especially when you consider the atrocities I faced at the NH. I am in the south, and am not a minority in this facility. All the staff are middle aged..35-50. And youre right, I would rather be yelled at for something she can't understand than to conform to her beliefs and live everyday with the idea that I hurt someone from negligence. Piglets

Hi, thank you for the responses and the links. I am an LPN, my boss is the administrator of the facility, no medical background other than medtech classes and inservices. I, despite what my boss says, will continue to perform my job safely and legally to protect myself and my patients. I left one facility because of neglect, lying, etc,.. I am beginning to think the entire healthcare system is corrupt and we are no longer to "help" patients but make the "powers that be more money". Different issue though. I just need to be able to prove to this boss that I am not incompetent and paranoid, there are legal ramifications if we choose to assume or ignore something so obvious. She is just one of those people that believes its her way or no way and she is more knowlegable than the government that regulates the health system. I am afraid the only way she will understand what I have been trying to tell her is if she is involved in a lawsuit and a lawyer rips her to shreds. Some people just have to be hit with a hammer before they "get it". The bad part is she is really a nice person, but when she gets under too much pressure, she just blows and says the above things, blames the staff for being incompetent saying "I just need to work back here for a week and get things straightened out again, the way its supposed to be!" I can only do what I am trained to do, follow the regulations regarding nursing to protect myself and my patients and if she fires me then it will be for something assanine not negligence on my part and I will take it to court.

This is a partial vent but I need documentation to back me up as well. ( first let me say Hi, its my first post) I just didn't know where else to turn. I work in an assisted living facility. I have been a nurse for 16 years, I've worked in hospitals, nursing homes and alf. My current boss has no nursing experience, however does have thier Med Tech license. I was lamblasted tonight for clarifying a doctors order. MD wrote order for ( increase N 10 am) now, I know the doc meant increase humulin N to 10u in am, however patient was not on humulin N. So, in case the doc meant to write that on another patients order, I called to clarify. I tried to explain to my boss that I cannot assume the doctor meant humalog or that it was for that patient. The boss then stated if the doc orders a med for Mrs. V and he actually meant to order it for Mrs. W then by law I have to give it to Mrs. V. I tried to explain that as a nurse, I cannot do that, if I suspect any discrepency ( my spelling is off tonight) that by law I must clarify an order, and if I didn't I would (could) lose my license. The boss said (loudly) "you will not lose your license, that's the doctor's problem" Where can I find the documentation on the net to back myself up. My boss thinks she is right, we know she isn't, but unless I can produce proper documentation, I don't have a leg to stand on in her eyes. I love my job, my patients, am a huge patient advocate, and obsessive compulsive with my meds. I check, double check and follow all the rules. I just can't seem to convince the boss that just because a doc orders something doesn't mean we should give it. Please help. Thanks, Piglets2