when resident accuse staff falsly

[coteRN]

Has a resident falsly accuse me of abuse, it was researched as unfounded, mainly because I never approach this resident without a witness. Now that the power tripper did not get her way, I am worried the resident will have it out for me, like accuse me of hiting her or something when I was not even around her the state always takes their word over the staff. Any advise?

[DHawkinsrn]

Have a witness when providing care for this resident. Ask if you could change assignments if that is possible.

[bluegeegoo2, LPN]

Always, ALWAYS go in with a witness. Same for CNA's when providing care. If there's a pattern of her falsely accusing staff, she needs to be care planned for it as well.

[Sam J.]

Rather than consider the patient a power tripper, try to understand her motivation. Often they are angry at having been placed in a nursing home, or staff not taking time to talk to them, and take it out on whoever is convenient. Calling names will not make it easier on you, it might get around then subject you to further allegations, and if a pattern happens, good luck convincing the management that you are not, in fact, abusive. Abuse complaints are a daily thing in most SNFs, and you'd be suprised at the time management spends on dealing with it, reporting it, and correcting it (even if there's nothing to correct). The very worst thing you can do is make it known you are angry with your accuser, and help it escalate to the point your BON has to be notified. It's also possible the same patient has complained about many staff. Maybe you can ask to be reassigned, and then always be aware of how you approach patients, talk to them, and interact with them to try to avoid this sticky situation in the future. Unfortunately, in LTC anyway, a nurse with a complaint lodged against her/him is normally considered guilty until proven otherwise. Tough stuff, but it's true. As far as having a witness, that's not only not practical, it can fuel the patient's behaviors- they know more about what's going on than most nursing home staff think they know, and it can offend them.

[lumbarpain, ADN, RN]

I had a horrendous resident who acused most nurses of doing something evil and horrible to her....giving meds that weren't hers, abuse, both verbal and physical...its terrible. with these types of patients its best to keep your distance if you can....have another nurse or DON possibly come into the room with you(this can be impossible at times especially if your patient has her finger firmly planted on the call bell 24/7. Document everything....you have to....so there is proof on your side. keep pleasant as much as possible....grinning through your teeth at times.....my patient accused me of overdosing her.....this was so incredible I was dumb founded when she stated this....I had a second regular nurse who had given this woman meds over and over again verify the meds I was giving her and made sure there would be no problem....but she persisted....whether it was out of boredom, and being depressed so she wanted others to be miserable along with her...I don't know.......it got so bad she accused me of overdosing her....I was not going to take care of her anymore until she was spoken to by my dept heads and management and fully questioned...(she was quite able to answer questions) I was taken off and I had peace for a time...but she persisted in making other nurses lives a living hell......she was later transferred to another facility due to her paranoid behavior. But it took a long time to do this.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Where to begin?? First of all, the 'state' does not always take the resident's word over the staff. The state will come in and investigate. It really depends on what your DON and Administrator think. I have never had the state come in and investigate if I said in my report I didn't believe any abuse had occurred.

Always always take someone else with you if the resident is known to be accusatory. Make sure social services speaks to them and care plan that they are known for making false accusations. My facility policy is to suspend anyone who has had an allegation made against them. If they are found innocent, they get paid for the days they were out and they come back. If they were found guilty, they do not get paid...they do get terminated.

I investigate every allegation. We had one that sounded like pure fiction and the man was known to hallucinate. I investigated and found that what he said happened, actually did. It was horrible.