What can I do?

[compassionoverload]

I am a newbie here. I just joined today. I have been all over the internet trying to find some answers or advice so here I am.

Heres the problem. I work in a nursing home as a CNA. Last year the company brought in a new administrator. This person is a piece of work let me tell you. Day one she marched into the building and started screaming at us like we were all inmates at a prison yard. Within 3 months she fired or forced to quit 80% of the staff at the time. We lost some really really good nurses and CNAs. We also lost some really bad ones too dont get me wrong. She hired a new DON and the two of them are thick as thieves. They have no regard for the rights of the residents. They doctor books so that it looks like we have more staff than we do. They bring in houskeeping or other CNAs or LPNs to sit on the clock to make the numbers right. Within the last year we have gone through 5 ADONs, 3 MDSs, 6 social workers (the one we have now isnt even a liscensed social worker she is an RN), 11 Unit managers, and 4 Supervisors of nursing. Thats just the cake. The icing is ridiculous. I cannot even tell you how many nurses and CNAs we have gone through in a year. The turnover rate is astronimical. Now I know that a high turnover rate is normal at a nursing home, but this is just crazy. Within a year there are only 4 nurses left originally in the whole place.

She does not keep anyone in a mangement position for longer than 3 months. The two of them make the management staff work their butts off and then then rope them off and find a reason to demote them and put them on a cart, then they torture them till they quit. They wont let anyone get too close. Our ratings have gone from a 4 stars to not even a one star rating now.

They make rules for us to follow but then change them per resident at will. If the resident happens to have family members that complain alot then the rules no longer apply to that resident and we are punished or reprimanded. The residents that have no family to speak for them get no attention from management at all.

All things are covered up when it gets close to state inspections. All of a sudden rules are changed quickly and the food gets good. Oh yeah the food. For supper 4 out of 7 meals in a week are sandwiches of some kind. One day a week for supper they get a fruit tray which consists of a blob of cottage cheese and some peaches.........thats it. For snacks at night all there is in the pantry is graham crackers or saltine crackers. There is nothing for them to drink at night BUT water. They send home at least 4 CNAs every night at 9 oclock. Leaving the rest of us to pick up their patients. Honestly somtimes they are not picked up cause the rest of us just do not have time to pick them up and still take care of our own. So they are left for the next shift to take care of and clean up.

The will have staff go into a residents room and start packing all their belongings and move the resident to another room at their will without asking the resident. They insist on staff going into residents rooms and going through all their belongings and removing what they call contraband. They have staff lock residents in their rooms or in a community room with the door shut because they are too loud, or they have them medicated to put them to sleep. They allow certain residents whom they feel are superior to the others to pick and choose their CNAs that they want to give them care. Whether the CNA wants that resident or not. They allow us to be abused physically and verbally by these residents and do not care if we complain. If so we are fired for whatever BS reason they can come up with. Now you may be thinking how this place has not been shut down or the administrator being removed yet. Because believe me complaints have been made to cooporate and the state. I have no answer to that. The administrator is best friends with the district manager might be one reason. Also the district managers sibling works higher up in the cooporation. That is most of the reason i guess. I dont know. All I know is I feel like Im banging my head against the wall I care for these residents deeply and want to keep my job. So I do my job and keep my mouth shut.

Yesterday they fired a CNA because the ADON had taken an elopement resident and hid her in an office with the door locked. Within 10 minutes we noticed she was missing and started looking for her. They called it a drill. They fired him because he was not doing his 15 minute checks properly and are saying that the resident was hidden for 2 hours. That is a lie and they were confronted by all of us CNAs stating it was a lie. There are witnesses including her nurse that that had just given her her medication 15 minutes before the search began. The last 15 minute checkpoint he marked off was stating as such also. They are still sticking to their 2 hour lie and fired the CNA on those grounds. The district manager wanted it wrote as abuse and neglect. At least they didnt wite it up as that, so he does get to keep his liscense. I need to mention that he is gay and they have been wanting to get rid of him for a while. They have tortured him about his hair, his clothes, and his purse. So they set him up and then fired him. Thats what they do. This is not the only set up and firing I have seen.

I am so sorry this is so long and if you made it through the whole thing I thank you. There is so much more to write. I am just hoping to get some outside advice and support from all of you. I dont know where to turn or who to go to.

Thanks Again

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

What a nightmare! can you get a job anywhere else doing anything else? I would stock shelves at target happily rather than deal with that mess! You have my sympathies.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I see 2 obvious choices you need to make. It's up to you to decide which one you want to go with -- or some combination.

1. Quit your job or decide to stay and live with it. If you decide to quit, you might want to wait until you have found another job before you give up your paycheck. If you decide to stay, then you have to be prepared to work in that environment.

2. Do you want to fight the "powers that be" or not? If you decide to fight, you and the man who got fired will probably need an attorney. I would recommend talking with one before you file complaints, lawsuits, or whatever. If you serious rock the boat by trying to involve the state authorities, etc. in this situation, you need to be prepared to do battle in court.

By yourself, you are not powerful enough to change things. So, you have to decide whether or not it is worth it to you to get legal help and try to fight it -- and worth it to you to stay or not.

I'm sorry, but neither choice is attractive. But you have to decide which choices you want to live with.

[roses246]

I would start looking in to finding a new job, rather than staying in what sounds like a nightmare..... Years ago, a sweet old lady I was caring for told me, always think about what would be best for me when it comes to making choices that would impact on my future....