JEMRNJD

Any nurse who sees another nurse act in an incompetent manner has a duty to do something with that knowledge. If a DON fails to act upon a report of patient abuse, she is not following an appropriate standard of nursing practice and you certainly could report her to the Board of Nursing in your state. Additionally, you should report the suspected patient abuse to the appropriate state agency so that follow-up will be done. In many states, if a health care facility or agency terminates a nurse they must report that nurse to the state Board of Nursing and then the Board of Nursing will contact the nurse, in this case you. Therefore, if the facility has already reported you to the Board of Nursing, you will have to respond to the Board of Nursing. If you have been reported to the Board of Nursing you will want to find a nurse/attorney who has experience in representing nurses before the Board of Nursing to represent you and help you to respond to the Board of Nursing in such a way that all your rights will be protected. You can find a nurse attorney by contacting The American Association of Nurse Attorneys (TAANA). Their web site is: www.taana.org

If a patient needs to go to the hospital and you work as a nurse in LTC, it is your responsibility to call 911 and get the patient transferred if there is a need to do so. Also, I would not continue to work in such a setting. Finally, make sure that you protect yourself by having nursing malpractice insurance (with a disciplinary defense---Board of Nursing provision) if you work anywhere in long term care. It is my personal belief that you are more likely to be reported to your Board of Nursing or sued if you work in LTC. :balloons:

It is never a good idea to submit to a polygraph unless you know the credentials of the person doing the polygraph and the exact use anticipated by the person requesting the polygraph. Many judges, arbitrators, and hearings officers do not allow polygraphs as evidence. The polygraph might help you if it is negative but if for any reason you have a false positive, that might hurt you. I personally would not go through with it!

The nurse in the instance case did not intend to fall asleep on the job and I certainly think that she knew that she was not supposed to be sleeping. Why should she be fired if she is otherwise an excellent nurse? From my perspective of 35 years in the healthcare field, there is no reason to suspend or fire this nurse unless there was serious harm done to a patient as a result of her inadvertent action. All I think that should happen is that she be given a written warning so that she will know how serious this was and so that she will NEVER fall asleep again. If the nurse is fired or suspended she will be reported to the state board of nursing and depending on the state she will undergo stress for months or even years before the matter is resolved. Also, if she is smart she will hire a nurse attorney who is experienced in Board of Nursing matters to represent her and help her to protect her nursing license and that cost money. Why be so punishing in your actions as to cause such a nurse to be reported to the board of nursing and discourage other potential nurses from continuing their pursuit of a nursing career. Nursing really does eat its young and this type of behavior needs to stop and be replaced with affirming positive metoring so that nursing care will be increasingly better and nurses will have greater job satisfaction.