Violating Theraputic Bounderies as an RN?

I am so sorry to hear your story. It sounds like one of my worst nightmares, and I don't have any answers for you. In our area of nursing, even with what I believed to be the protective factors of cameras and video recording -- some of our organizations will throw us under a bus in a heartbeat. It is so disappointing.

I hope you are able to resolve the unemployment issue and hope the people that were responsible for your termination can sleep at night. Were you also reported to the state board?

That sounds really ridiculous considering you weren’t trying to touch her chest. Part of therapeutic boundaries is that we shouldn’t touch patients unless we are doing it to provide medical care—like checking blood pressure. I’ve worked with adolescents for years and I don’t touch a patient at all without asking. For example, if they ask for a Band-Aid, I ask if they want me to apply it or if they’d rather put it on themselves. That being said, I have brushed up against a patient or two on accident from time to time.

It sounds like this is someone you don’t want to work for anyway. Hopefully you’ll get your unemployment. If you don’t, you can still probably get another job. Just be extra careful in the future—especially with adolescents.

Thank you both. No, I specifically asked about reporting at the time. The Head of HR assured me i was not a DHS reportable offense nor a nursing board issue. It was the DON who made the decision to deny the unemployment.

Walk away from that place with your head up high.

As a Psych nurse, our standard is that if we believe a patient to be concealing items that are unsafe, we address it with the patient first, then if necessary, we call the doctor to report our concerns, then conduct a skin assessment if doctor orders it. We also require a doctor's order to search patient rooms for contraband.

In your scenario, after the patient denied contraband or seemed insulted, I would have spoken with that patient's primary nurse, who should have spoken with the patient. If primary nurse did not address the situation, I would have taken it to the charge nurse. If neither nurse addressed the situation, I would have contacted the supervisor, who could speak with the patient and/or call the doctor for search orders. (Even though you are a nurse yourself, your actions were limited because you were working as a Tech at this time.)

I actually find it difficult to believe that accidentally & casually waving a pen could impart a great enough pressure to pop styrofoam through a shirt - sorry, but I find your explanation a little light. While I can't say this was fireable, I would say it should have definitely led to education for you on appropriate interactions with patients and appropriate elevation of concerns.