reporting patient abuse

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I'm a nursing student in L.A ....I was at my clinical site when i saw a cna hit a patient twice went and reported to my instructor and was told " to forget about it we might lose the site if we say anything" so nothing was said this was about a month ago and I feel i should have gone over her and told someone....is there a time limit on when this can be reported. also another student in my class got a needle stick while assisting a RN there was no instructor present. after the incident happened the instructor showed up an hour later and they document that he was present when it happened. Is this something that should be reported to the board ? any advise would be appreciated

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For the patient abuse there should be an anonymous way that you can report the abuse. This way, you can "save face" for your school so that they don't lose the sight, but the abuse can hopefully be stopped. It is just so disheartening that anyone could abuse a patient, but it happens all too often.

As for the needle-stick incident - did you witness the needle stick? Did you also actually see the documentation? If not, then I would not get involved. The student involved in the needle stick would need to be the one to bring this up with the appropriate people. If you were not a first hand witness you can't say with 100% certainty what happened - it's hearsay. If you feel really strongly about it, you should see if there is some sort of anonymous way you can report this and if you do have this method available to you, I would word my complaint carefully saying that I suspect so-and-so was not actually on site when the needle stick occurred and that the documentation may not reflect that.

This is just my opinion and opinions are like elbows - we all have them. :redbeathe

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Specializes in School Nursing.

The incident of the patient being struck should be reported to adult protective services. Once you are a nurse, you will be required by law to report any suspicion of child abuse or elder abuse. These reports can be done anonymously.

As far as the needlestick, I agree that not getting involved in that might be your best course of action. With witnessed abuse of patients, however, I think it would be terribly wrong to turn a blind eye.

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wow what a terrible thing to witness

edited to add

dont you just hate the politics behind "dont say something we'll lose the site" "we're just guest here"

we're practically doing their work for them, and then to deal with a nasty attitude on top of it is ridiculous

Where do we report student abuse? lol

Sorry i couldnt give you any advice, it just irks me how we have to bite our tongue in fear of losing a site. Thats not why i went into NS, the sites are going to have to deal with it.

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Specializes in LTC.

Your instructor is terrible for not directing you to report abuse. Shame on her.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

You need to follow your appropriate chain of command. Your instructor is your supervisor. You need to report your instructor to her supervisor, the dean of your nursing program.

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You need to follow your appropriate chain of command. Your instructor is your supervisor. You need to report your instructor to her supervisor, the dean of your nursing program.

As much as we dont think it doesnt happen, that could be a one way ticket out of the program

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As much as we dont think it doesnt happen, that could be a one way ticket out of the program

terrible. I think kicking a person out of the program for speaking out about what happened is just as bad as performing the same act. I know where your coming from Pat, (well i dont lol) but I think thats really drastic. Too drastic, and im sure the higher ups above the higher ups will not be please if they learned the truth as to why someone was booted.

OP dont get scared, do what you feel in your heart is right. That patient could be YOUR family member for all we know. If your grades are solid, you perform safely in clinical then dont worry about getting kicked out. Read the school policy for the program, and as long as you didnt do anything to jeopardize your seat they shouldnt reprimand you for coming forward. An anonymous letter won't hurt anyone. Good luck, keep us updated!

Helloooo..battery anyone? anyone? no? ok.

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Specializes in LTC.
terrible. I think kicking a person out of the program for speaking out about what happened is just as bad as performing the same act. I know where your coming from Pat, (well i dont lol) but I think thats really drastic. Too drastic, and im sure the higher ups above the higher ups will not be please if they learned the truth as to why someone was booted.

OP dont get scared, do what you feel in your heart is right. That patient could be YOUR family member for all we know. If your grades are solid, you perform safely in clinical then dont worry about getting kicked out. Read the school policy for the program, and as long as you didnt do anything to jeopardize your seat they shouldnt reprimand you for coming forward. An anonymous letter won't hurt anyone. Good luck, keep us updated!

Helloooo..battery anyone? anyone? no? ok.

I agree with Natingale. This is just absurd. There is no way they'll kick you out for reporting abuse especially is its anonymous. The instructor also needs to be reported. Why would she have you just let this go ???? :banghead:

I wonder how many times she's witnessed abuse and just let it go ? If it was her family being abused I bet she'll be up and arms ! It just breaks my heart to know that anyone would want to abuse anybody. Its just terrible.:(

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I was refering more to the needle stick and the instructor not being present, then reporting patient abuse.

From the above statement of "You need to report your instructor to her supervisor, the dean of your nursing program."

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Specializes in ER.

I agree that if you didn't witness the needlestick and were not involved you should stay out of that one.

The CNA hitting the patient- do you know the name of the CNA and the patient? If you do, call APS, tell them only that you were a student at the site and what you witnessed and by whom. You could also go to your faculty advisor to talk about what the instructor said, just to find out if she agrees with that action, and if there is anything else you can do and still be politically correct. You are a student and those are all good questions, but you need to be ready to do whatever she advises once you go in there. (Not taking her advice would be politically incorrect)

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

As others have said, you should report the hitting of the patient. This CNA will continue this behavior unchecked if not.

As for the instructor, you don't mention whether the instructor was off-site, or simply not present in the room when the incident with the needlestick occurred. With 10 students, it's obviously impossible to be in ten places at once, and the student was being supervised by an RN. So if this was the situation, the instructor can hardly be blamed. If however, the instructor left the site, that is a very different situation. In any case, the instructor should have encouraged you to report the situation. Clinical sites are incredibly scarce, but I personally wouldn't want my students at a facility with staff that condone and tolerate abuse. The instructor was responsible to show you how to handle this witnessed abuse.

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