Suspended for reporting med errors

[HikeRN4852]

Hi everyone,

i was suspended today. I have been reporting major med errors and omissions to my unit manager and director of nursing for a couple months and was told they were being taken care of. Then a few weeks ago, a nurse practitioner and I were discussing a patient’s stop date for antibiotics and I informed her that he had missed two doses. I was brought to the DONs office with the HR director and spoken to about not following chain of command. At this same time I reiterated my concerns about other patients consistently not getting their medications - one patient had only received 21 out of 45 doses of Xarelto and another had not received any protonix for 14 days. I was again told not to do anything further and that it would be taken care of. I asked if I could inform the NP and get an order to dc the protonix since the patient was asymptomatic after not receiving it for two weeks. I was told “no, we have a plan.” I work 7-3, the xarelto is due on 3-11 and the protonix is due on 3-11 and 11-7. A week later when I informed the DON it was still going on, she said “Be careful who you accuse of not giving meds.”

Wednesday, I asked the HR director to be present while I informed the ADON that the patient was still not getting her xarelto, and a couple other examples such as one patient had only received 33/45 of his rifampin doses for sepsis. The DON was on vacation. I was told this would be taken seriously and that they would report it to the NP that evening, but that they had to call the DON first. I was told not to worry about being reprimanded because I was following the chain of command. I had yesterday off and when I returned today, I was suspended for “having knowledge that a medication was not being given and not following through.” No other nurses are being suspended or terminated.

I am not doing any of this to rat other nurses out; I want to protect my patients! What should I do now?

[caliotter3]

No good deed goes unpunished. You know what you need to do. Do it.

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

Like @calliotter3 said, you know what to do, now do it. Per TOS we cannot offer really any advice beyond that because it could be construed as legal. Good luck

[KCMnurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

Put on your big girl panties - on second thoughts you seem to already have them on - and lawyer up!

[JKL33]

There is no legit chain of command that should result in you not being allowed to communicate with the responsible medical service about errors or deviations from the plan of care. The appropriate provider is to be notified; have never heard or been taught anything otherwise.

When people start making up stuff like this fake chain of command we have to be smart enough to say nope that is not right and I don’t operate that way. We are our patients’ advocates.

When something like this happens it should be reported to the provider and all of it succinctly documented in the patient chart *and* you can use your facility’s preferred method for in-house tracking of errors - but the in-house bit is not the main thing nor does it constitute the extent of necessary actions to be taken.

The guiding rule in these situations is the question of what constitutes prudent nursing care that is in the *patient’s* best interest.

I would at least inquire whether a lawyer can help explain their missteps to them. Also find a new job and consider reporting them to the appropriate entities regarding the patient neglect and likely fraudulent billing.

[Oldmahubbard]

I am an NP consultant in LTC and this goes on. And on. And on.

I have switched many patients over to po meds because the IM's were being missed. Somehow.

I only blame poor, poor staffing.

Gross understaffing.

For profit. Someone is getting rich

[kp2016]

Missed Protonix - sure ok, missed Xarelto seriously not ok! Your facility is playing with fire here and apparently they don't care. Reporting that the medication charts indicate that certain drugs were repeatedly not given is not an accusation.

They suspended you while they get legal advice, they plan to fire you either as soon as the suspension is over or as soon as they gather whatever paper trail their lawyer is advising them they need. That's an accusation!

If I was you I would type up a letter of resignation and send it and your ID tag by certified post to your HR director immediately. This will not end well for you, the only question is do you want to quit now or give them time to find some BS reason to fire you.

[momoneypls, RN]

Agree 100% with kp2016-this is going to go down. Get out now.

If you have some experience, I recommend going with a travel agency until you can find another job, but hurry, because your days are numbered where you are.

[TAKOO01, BSN]

I admire you for trying to fight the machine. When i saw what went on in the nursing home, i ran.

Best of luck to you.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

This stuff goes on more than it should. When you speak out, you are percieved as a threat. It is such a shame. I remember this nurse reporting many things and honestly she wasn't wrong, next thing I know she was fired.

[Ponymom2]

Start notifying the families

[Glycerine82, LPN]

im curious how you know the meds were missed? Were they documented as given? If so, how do you know the meds weren't administered? If they were documented as missed that should have thrown up a flag for all to see.