Hi all, here is the situation. The agency I work (ed) for 2 months has had 6 nurses quit in 1 1/2 weeks. I was on call last w/e & this one after being told I would only have to take call a weekend every 3-4 months. Another thing I was told was call means take calls and answer nursing judgement questions & do w/e openings. Never once told that if someone calls in I have to cover all HH visits along with my own. Well, it seems that the coordinator on Wednesday did the Thurs-Sun schedule (because agency is closed for holiday w/e) and put nurses down to cover some of the open shifts but neglected to tell them...get the picture...anyway one pt has numerous things we see him for, the nurse that found out she was scheduled was angry but said she would go anyway. She went in blindfolded basically and did g-tube meds, feeding, BS check, Insulin etc, he told her he had a bowel program and she needed to do that and it would take a few hours, she stated she didn't know anything about that and no paperwork in the home, he became angry cussing and told her to get out and never come back. Ok now today at 11am I get a call that no nurse showed up there...no surprise...so I called him and he called me a F'ing B and told me to get my a$$ over there immediately because he needed the bowel program, and he was not going to pay us (he is medicaid), mind you I have never heard of this guy an know nothing about him except his main diagnosis, his regular nurse's last day was Wed (she quit) and no one took over the case. I asked him if his evening nurse did the program and he screamed that it was not her job to do that, it was the morning. I asked him what it was and he said "You are a f'ing nurse you should know, you use your finger B****" at this point I told him I had to call my supervisor who is also on call and hung up. She did not call back for over 1 hour and then told me that he wanted dig stim and I had to go do it, I stated that I had never done it and was not trained not to mention all of the things he called me. She said you are trained because you are an RN and proceeded to give me instructions over the phone...her exact words...(lay him on his side, stick your finger up there and twist a couple of times then wait for 5 minutes and continue to do that until you get return, it shouldn't take 2 hours). This is the same nurse that had me hauled into HR 2 weeks ago because I refused to transfer a 187 lb quad from chair to bed by myself (no lift) so that I could do a dressing change. At this point I refused she said "you have no choice, you are on call" and hung up. I phoned the w/e coordinator and told her to try to find someone who had done this before she could not and called the supervisor who in turn called me back and asked what my problem was and told be I better get out there, I stated -my license, my insurance, my call- I am not doing it and she said are you quitting effective now and I replied yes.
How do you all feel about going into the home and guessing what you are supposed to do? Having your patients tell you how much insulin they take because their nurse quit and the pt chart is at the office which is closed? Should I have just done the dig stim because I am an RN, does that automatically make me qualified? Maybe I am being unreasonable because I am new to home health. Thank you for letting me rant.
Home health care can be very dangerous in urban areas. A friend of mine was severely beaten by crack heads while on a call to the projects. They saw his uniform and thought he had medications. He was in the hospital for weeks. Now the agency requires police escort or no visit to these projects.
Read this thread tonight and it brought back bad feelings. Assault, battery, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual battery, intimidation-reasons why I got fired from my home hlth agency and am not working at present. Been trying to figure out what I will say to prospective employers. Must leave area, b/c one of my tormentors makes it a point to remind me on occasion that he is still around and able to harass me to his heart's content (he is a police officer). For being a victim, my employer fired me. I don't have the means to sue my former employer, nor do I want to. However, it certainly hurts not having a job and being harassed whereever and whenever somebody pleases. I was in the hospital recently for emergency surgery, told the staff that I was being bothered and was to have NO visitors. Someone who was not assigned to me came into my room in the middle of the night and was bothering me for no reason. No wonder I am ready for the looney bin. My brain does not accept that my former employer thought so little of me and the other nurses involved in certain case, that not one thing has been done concerning personal safety except to fire me. No employee, no problem! And they wonder why nurses (who are able to) leave nursing!
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Read this thread tonight and it brought back bad feelings. Assault, battery, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual battery, intimidation-reasons why I got fired from my home hlth agency and am not working at present. Been trying to figure out what I will say to prospective employers. Must leave area, b/c one of my tormentors makes it a point to remind me on occasion that he is still around and able to harass me to his heart's content (he is a police officer). For being a victim, my employer fired me. I don't have the means to sue my former employer, nor do I want to. However, it certainly hurts not having a job and being harassed whereever and whenever somebody pleases. I was in the hospital recently for emergency surgery, told the staff that I was being bothered and was to have NO visitors. Someone who was not assigned to me came into my room in the middle of the night and was bothering me for no reason. No wonder I am ready for the looney bin. My brain does not accept that my former employer thought so little of me and the other nurses involved in certain case, that not one thing has been done concerning personal safety except to fire me. No employee, no problem! And they wonder why nurses (who are able to) leave nursing!
I am so sorry that your career has been reduced to this after the long hard time it takes to become a nurse, and to want to do the right thing. And for a police officer to take advantage of his status by intimidating people is an outrage! Following you to the hospital??? My GOD...what is next??
read this thread tonight and it brought back bad feelings. assault, battery, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual battery, intimidation-reasons why i got fired from my home hlth agency and am not working at present. been trying to figure out what i will say to prospective employers. must leave area, b/c one of my tormentors makes it a point to remind me on occasion that he is still around and able to harass me to his heart's content (he is a police officer). for being a victim, my employer fired me. i don't have the means to sue my former employer, nor do i want to. however, it certainly hurts not having a job and being harassed whereever and whenever somebody pleases. i was in the hospital recently for emergency surgery, told the staff that i was being bothered and was to have no visitors. someone who was not assigned to me came into my room in the middle of the night and was bothering me for no reason. no wonder i am ready for the looney bin. my brain does not accept that my former employer thought so little of me and the other nurses involved in certain case, that not one thing has been done concerning personal safety except to fire me. no employee, no problem! and they wonder why nurses (who are able to) leave nursing!
i'm so sorry for all you went through and best blessings for the future...
Our work situation is so volatile right now I never know when to expect to be on call. When I signed on it was once every five weeks, but it turns out to be every other week and lately every weekend.
Since the last nurse was canned we have been trying to cover 11 counties with just 1 staff RN, 1 LPN and the DON. Plus, we are getting about 10-12 admissions per week and the higher uppers decide we need to be in there for SN visits weekly for whatever reason. I'm feeling majorly overwhelmed.
It isn't working. And we are in the process of discharging a wound care patient who sounds a lot like your digital feces removal guy.
And most patients, if they are on an appropriate bowel program, do not need digital stimulation for each BM. Sounds like this patient has other issues to deal with as well.
Ok I have noticed that several people in this thread say it is not normal to have to do dig stim. I am a new grad looking into a part time private care position. I was informed the pt.(who is a quad) needed to have this done daily. Of course they said I would be trained. Does anyone have any experience with dig stim and know if this is normal to do on a daily routine? I am wondering what I am getting myself into.
SFCardiacRN
762 Posts
Home health care can be very dangerous in urban areas. A friend of mine was severely beaten by crack heads while on a call to the projects. They saw his uniform and thought he had medications. He was in the hospital for weeks. Now the agency requires police escort or no visit to these projects.