Reporting resident abuse- right or wrong? :(

[shix]

Am a very sad person right now. So confused on what is expected. My scenario. I work on a dementia unit so most of the residents of course make little sense when they talk. However, I have had several instances where you can actually have conversations with them even though they wont remember. So, I was in a shared room with another aide, my curtain drawn as am giving care to my resident then I hear the other resident who has been awfully quiet lately speak out and ask why she was being treated so meanly. I pull the curtains a tad bit and true, she was been shoved roughly back and forth when getting dressed. The aide goes ahead and tells the resident if she didn't like the care she was getting, she might as well go tell her family to pick her up and go give her care themselves. This made me very very uncomfortable and sad. So I shared it with someone...and that person reported it. Now its become a big issue with the DON following me for statements and signing in-services, questions -all which I don't mind at all because am saying what I saw and how it made me feel. My unit manager however, is now treating me differently. I heard she made a snide comment yesterday when she automatically assumed I did something I didn't. When the nurse she was talking to told her that I couldn't be the one who left that mess esp. after I've been told not to, the Unit manager said 'Well, right now I really don't know what to think about her.' All because I talked about something I felt uncomfortable with?? I actually never even said the resident was being abused. I just said I felt uncomfortable. Now word is out and other aides are talking about it too. Now that makes a very uncomfortable working environment as well. It almost makes me feel bad saying the truth. It feels like all eyes are on me from the UM waiting for me to screw up. My question is, if I can't talk about this things without being retaliated on or treated this way, then I suppose am in the wrong profession?

[JDZ344]

You did the right thing. Even if you SUSPECT mistreatment, you have to report it and let the manager decide the rights and wrongs of it. Whoever told the other aides was wrong. It's nothing to do with them. I'm sorry.

[shix]

Thanks KatieP86. Its good to know that I've got support and that I did do the right thing. I haven't been in such kind of a setting for long (nursing home/rehab center) so I really don't know if this things do go on and go unreported. I just know what I saw broke my heart and made me very sad. These people barely have their families coming over to see them and some of them all they have is us. It doesn't take much to be nice to someone who needs that niceness for just 8 hours of your time. Whatever the outcome, I will stand with doing the right thing. I took the day off today to stay away from the negative vibe going on so am going to have a loooong weekend :)

[Mshirah]

I believe you absolutely did the right thing. I am a caregiver and I take care of my 90 year old mother at home, who has Alzheimer's and Dementia. These are the exact reasons that put a scare in many people about putting their loved ones in nursing homes. I have opinions that I will keep to myself about nursing homes. But it is good that you took note about what was happening and reported it. If people are doing their jobs correctly they would be suspending the abusive worker, and be rewarding you for doing what we are taught to do. The right thing!

If that is the way they run their home maybe you should look for a more respectable place to work as soon as possible. And be no part of their wrong doings and money making business.

[interceptinglight, CNA]

You not only did the RIGHT thing, please remember that you have an OBLIGATION to report suspected abuse and/or neglect.....it's not a matter of ....gee should I or shouldn't I say something about this? You MUST report it. You felt uncomfortable about it because what you witnessed was WRONG.....remember the resident was the one who used the word 'mean'. You should be congratulated rather than treated 'differently' by any of your co-workers or the unit manager. Sounds like the facility you work for would rather cover up and excuse abuse rather than stop it. DO NOT APOLOGIZE for standing up for someone who can't stand up for herself.

No you are not in the wrong profession -- however the aide who treated that resident so mean is in the wrong profession because it requires something she doesn't have: COMPASSION.

[Ytellu]

Like the other said you did the right thing. You would want it reported if it was your relative in that facility. The unit manager will have some questions of her own to answer. Someone who said the things your coworker said and did most likely has done it before and the Unit manager is responsible for having someone like that on her staff.

You can lay your pillow on your head tonight and sleep well. Absolutely you did the right thing.

[tomc5555]

In the future you can report abuse, confidentially, to the Long Term Care Ombudsman. The telephone number should be posted in your facility.

Like others have said we (CNA's) are mandated reporters of abuse.

Good luck!

[shix]

Thank you so much for all your encouragement. I have decided that I will not be bullied into silence. If asked again, I will still stand by my story. I saw what I saw, and it made me uncomfortable. Its funny when I talked to one of the nurses she told me to feel about it because that aide had other things riding previously reported. Whether they are abuse related, I don't know. Normally I like staying out of people's businesses and I didn't ask :). All I know according to the DON is that she was suspended and they are running an investigation. As for the Unit Manager, I've come up with a way to deal with her - do my job the best possible way I can and give her no excuse to bully me. [its so bad I had a dream last night that I was at work and she was giving me a hard time so I decided to change shifts lol :)]. Am very grateful for all your kind words, advice and input. Thank you, thank you! :):)

[Hygiene Queen]

I once lived very close to my LTC facility.

On a night I was off, I had two aides, who had just finished their shift, come by my place. They were rather upset.

They told me they had witnessed an aide, who was well-liked, slap a resident in a reflex action when the resident hit her.

The aide that did the slapping was immediately horrified by her impulsive reaction... but the fact remained that she had shown poor impulse control. Not good.

The two aides who witnessed this asked me what they should do. They liked the aide, as a person, but couldn't tolerate what they had seen. They were also afraid of retaliation.

To me it was clear, that reporting it was the only option. You cannot have an aide that will react in that way. If it happened once, who's to say it wouldn't happen again... or if it already hadn't happened in the past.

Nice person or no, nothing changed the fact that the resident had been slapped. No resident, confused or not, as human being, deserves such treatment.

These are dilemmas we face. But there really is NO dilemma at all, when you consider that everyone of our patients deserve to be free from abuse.

Retaliation? Meh! Somethings are worth the risk and I didn't think it likely in this case anyway.

The aides reported it and the offending aide was fired.

Part of our job is advocating for our residents and patients... humans.

You absolutely did the right thing and don't doubt yourself for a moment.

That resident and others will experience a somewhat better existance because you did that (hopefully).

Me, personally, s*****y attitude from the other staff be hanged. You have to wonder about people who would defend or get bent out of shape over such a thing.

Cheers and double cheers!

[shix]

This is not to mention also that she talked to my assigned resident too, who every now and then has spells when she 'wants to die' and she keeps saying 'ok, goodbye, am leaving now, am going to die' and this aide told her 'when you get there say hi to' ...and she listed several residents that had passed away already), 'and send me a postcard.' This is when I intervened and comforted my resident telling her she wasn't going to die because I'd be lonely if she left, then gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek...and she smiled and said 'thank you' :). And these are the moments I live for really. After running my own little investigation I've found out that this aide has like other 4/5 jobs. Someone actually said there was a time she went 2 weeks without sleeping in her house. Worked round the clock. Whether this is true or not, I don't know. All I know is that her attitude is all wrong. - well, at least that is how I feel. I stand corrected.