I have posted a few times before about my physicians office job as a LPN (the receptionist promoted to office manager because the hospital could find no one else for the job and the office being so disorganized..etc...) and it seems like now every week it's some different nonsense to deal with.
So, anyway this is what happened today. I get confronted about a patient that left the office Friday because he had to wait too long to be seen about his back pain and went to the hospital. The patient went and signed in with the receptionist as a walk-in then went back to the parking lot to his car because he had a massaging seat in his car. He told the receptionist that he would come back in and check with her to see if he'd been called back. No idea of what type of car he was driving or where it was parked and the parking lot itself was full. I went upfront and called the patient's name several times and no one answered and that's when I got the story from the receptionist about the patient going to his car and he'll be back in to check with us and blah-blah-blah. So I told the receptionist that I was going to pull the next patient back because I'm not going to run this patient down in the parking lot when there is an entire roomful of people waiting and when he comes back in let me know so I can call him. I went back upfront at least seven times and called the patient's name and there was no answer and in between this I continued to triage the people that were waiting in the lobby. Then I got called into the room for dressing change that at least took an hour and that's where it ends with me.
So today, the office manager told that I should have went to the parking lot to find the patient or sent one of the other nurses to the parking lot to find the patient when the patient wasn't in the lobby when I called him back even though the patient said that he was going to come in and check with us and that she has to write me up. No matter that there was a lobby full of people waiting to be seen or that the other two nurses were busy. I should have pulled the nurse from her telephone callbacks or the other nurse from her patients to search the parking lot or I should have gone myself to search for the patient in the parking lot. Apparently after I'd left for the day the patient's mother (patient is a middle-aged adult) came into the office and complained because he had to wait too long and they were going to the hospital. Don't ask me why the patient's mother couldn't have in checked to see if he had been already called back (more than once) or if he couldn't have checked to see if he had been called back like he said he would.
So I went and talked to the nurse practitioner since she is supposed to be the advocate for the nurses to argue my case and according to her I did not use sound nursing judgment and she support me being written up. She said that when I came to the patient's name and he wasn't in the lobby I should have looked for him since the receptionist told me that he was in his car because his back hurt and he has a massaging car seat. I told her that I do not agree with this because it's ridiculous that anyone should have to go searching for a patient in a parking lot when I have no idea of car he is driving or where he is parked and it is not my responsibility or the responsibility of anyone else in the office to run a patient down. Apparently because it is only "one time" and "one patient" and "it doesn't happen all the time" this is something that the nurses in our office is supposed to do. My argument is where does the patient's accountability and responsibility come into play and should my nursing judgment extend to the parking lot? I guess I will receive the paperwork regarding the write-up tomorrow, but I refuse to sign it and I am writing a rebuttal. Am I wrong or does anyone agree with my position?
