To write up or not???

Both the CNA and the Med Tech should be disciplined. The CNA for leaving without proper permission, and the Med Tech for not notifying the RN about the CNA leaving. When the CNA left, it created a potentially dangerous situation by the lack of coverage.

The more serious offense was the CNA leaving without proper authority. Is there a P&P for staff leaving early (who to notify, reasons for leaving, etc.). There must be a chain of command....

You are putting patient safety 1st and your license 2nd, sounds like you have your priorities in check and you most definitely did the right thing. So nothing happened this time, but what about the next time she leaves? She and management need to know this is NOT okay!

I agree totally with your decision to write this up! I would have guilt feelings too, but you put the patient first in this.. and that's what we do!

Hi,

I really disagree with the comment that the Med Tech had no responsibility to "report, mention" to the charge nurse that a peer had left the building for several reasons. The first is that the charge nurse is responsible for the work flow related to patient care. If that charge person does not know that he/she is down a person, the potential for serious patient mishandling can occur. No the med tech does not have supervisory authority but is responsible to notify the individual who has either supervisory responsibility or delegated authority to manage the facility in the absence of the supervisory authority. As I see it as long as we nurses make excuses for individual employees (ourselves included) not stepping up and holding our peers accountable for our team performance, team members such as the CNA will continue to get paid for not doing her/his job, for leaving the rest of the team in a bind that could cause poor care to our patients.

The initial writer did the right thing, she is responsible for invoking her code of ethics in the work place. The old adage "if you don't stand for something, you will fall anything" rings true here. Whether the organization followed through or not is really irrelevant from my perspective, the real deal is the "nurse remained true to her/his code of ethics. nanacarol

First of all this aide knows that legally she is working under the supervision of a licensed nurse, not a med tech. Leaving your shift after you have clocked in before the shift is over can be considered patient abandonment and grounds for serious disciplinary action by the CNA board. If it were me I would report the incident to them and to the health department because the facility has to maintain a certain CNA/pt. ratio and can never have pts. with no CNA taking care of them even when they go on break their are supposed to be other CNA's responsible for their patients.

The aide not only should have been written up but fired immediately. Inmates don't get to run the asylum where I work. The med tech was also wrong but it sounds like they understand and get it now. You handled things appropriately. Good for you.

You did exactly what I would have!