Was I wrong to report a co-worker?

[beyondhere]

I currently work as a caregiver for a company. Because I am new, I am currently training with one other co-worker and a patient. Last time, co-worker A told me, that as long as I informed my patient, I could leave the house whenever I wanted to for a break.

Today, I trained with a different co-worker, but the same patient. The patient called me over to talk with me privately. They said that they didn't tell me earlier because they wanted to avoid confrontation, but it wasn't ok to leave the house whenever I wanted. They complained that co-worker A always left the house during their shifts for long periods of time. Once, they tried to call co-worker A for assistance with something, but co-worker A had left the house without their cellphone. Because the patient is unable to leave the bed, they weren't able to do anything.

After hearing all of this, I decided to report it to my boss. To say the least, my boss was displeased and I think that this co-worker may be fired. Should I have talked with co-worker A privately instead of resorting to reporting them?

[Davey Do]

It's really not your place to talk with the co-worker. You reported to your supervisor what was reported to you, and now it's up to your supervisor to investigate the circumstances and follow-through accordingly.

You followed the chain of command, beyondhere, and the outcome is left with the forces that be.

[Subee2, BSN, MSN, CRNA]

No, no, no. You were not wrong! Please help keep our profession honerable.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

You reported what was reported to you.

Your employer will investigate and decide what needs to happen next

You did good IMO

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

No, you were not wrong to report your co-worker for this. If it is true that co-worker was not only leaving somebody under their care unsupervised for extended periods of time they were also stealing from the company which frankly your boss might be more mad about than the fact your co-worker left a patient alone. I am assuming this co-worker wasn't off the clock for the time they left the home so I am also assuming they were getting paid to work when they weren't even there. Companies tend to frown on this just a little bit!

[Snatchedwig, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

Nope not wrong. You would be wrong for not reporting as that could result in patient safety issues or neglect.

[Crash_Cart]

You are only wrong if you didn't address the issue directly with the employee before going to their superiors.

[NormaSaline]

I would have said something to the co-worker first (and then verifying with the patient if anything changed). If that didn't work, I would initiated chain of command.

[klone, MSN, RN]

5 hours ago, Crash_Cart said:

You are only wrong if you didn't address the issue directly with the employee before going to their superiors.

Disagree. It's not a new nurse's place to address performance issues with a coworker. That's the role of the nurse's supervisor. I mean, it wasn't a situation of not doing 2 patient identifiers before giving a med, or using a wrong technique with a BP. What this nurse is doing is egregiously negligent, and likely grounds for termination. IMO, reporting it to the supervisor was entirely appropriate.

[FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN]

Am I the only one that would have encouraged he patient to report this?

I don't think you were wrong OP. But I would have encouraged the patient to make the report first. If patient refused, then I would do as you did.

[Crystal-Wings, LVN]

No, you weren't wrong. What's she's been doing is essentially patient abandonment, even if she does "eventually" come back from her breaks because she's leaving a dependent person totally alone.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

You were not wrong but I wish the pt had had the courage to report when this first happened.