Resident Fall/Upset Nurse

[arodgz]

To start off I will be venting on the subject of resident falls in a nursing home and certain protocols as per my facility I work in. I work as a CNA in a nursing home and whenever a resident falls, whoever saw the resident has to complete paperwork(incident report), notify nurse immediately and take residents vital signs every 15 minutes for an hour, every 30 minutes thereafter, and every hour after that. What really makes me angry is when you go and notify the nurse that the resident fell/is on the floor they immediately get mad at you. I have had nurses make comments as to "every time you work my hall a resident falls" and basically blame me. I feel this is unjust because its not my fault the resident fell, I would understand if the resident fell while I was performing a transfer or I took too long to answer call light,etc etc but nope most of the resident falls are due to them standing up and being too weak and falling or trying to reach for something that was too far away. I also get upset when a resident falls due to the amount of paperwork I have to do and taking the vitals every so often, it takes away time from my day/other residents I don't however take it out on anyone, I just accept that it happened.

[ktwlpn, LPN]

Nurse are responsible for that where I work-never have worked any place that expected the CNA's to do it. Are you in an LTC? The reason why you are doing those vital signs is to assess for a head injury and a CNA should NOT be doing this..Who checks their ROM before picking them up? If I was a nurse there I would report this practice to the dept of health AND I would assess my residents myself.

The reason you are completing the incident investigation is to attempt to stop the falls.You look for a pattern and come up with an approach for the plan of care.It may well be YOUR fault the resident fell.Are you toileting your folks every two hours? This is a good intervention to start with. Offering drinks/snacks is another. Most times these people have an agenda for rising.You need to find out what other cna's are doing differently.Don't take it personally.Ask the nurses.

[psychgeribuff]

Awe first off hugs to you, what a mean nurse!! I fill out the incident and ask for a statment after a fall if the cna saw the fall. I am also doing neuro exams (which include vitals) every 15 mins the first hour and every 30 mins the second hour ect. And so on for 48 hours for falls that are not wittnessed. It puzzles me why you are getting the vitals do the nurses go in nd check pupils/hand grips and such as often as you take vitals?