What would you do ?

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Specializes in LTC.

OK....this started about a week ago...on another hall we have a lady who is on rest home ..she speaks only spanish and of course none of us can understand her and vice versa..the only person who can communicate with her is her daughter. Well....she sat down in the floor...somehow....and the daughter was just...******. Came up to work to translate ....and of course she said that her mom wasnt being "checked on" enough by the cna's...which...I agree.....she's not..but what she doesnt realize is that her mom is TOTAL care and is on a rest home hall which is just assisted lvg. I wouldn't tell her that of course....I would get in alot of trouble with the big wigs even though they are all aware of it anyhow......moving along....I instructed the cna on that hall who happens to be about.....60 yrs old and lazy as anything..she is convinced that b/c of her age she shouldnt have to do any kind of physical care and on that hall...there are 20 people..and only 4 require actual skilled care....so...I told her to make sure she checked on the spanish lady often...every hour if possible and to write down the times she went into that room and what she did for her...just to cover us if that daughter came in again...all upset ...we could vouch that yes..she had been checked on etc etc...well....the cna must have said something to the don who then came down on me for making her check this woman so much....this cna has mgmt snowed...its absurd. the don says to me "do you not know that there are 20 people on rest home?? This is not gonna happen!' and i said back to her....' Do you know that 4 are skilled? She can do 4 ppl and if she cant then she shouldnt be working here.....its Her job to check the ppl she's assigned. " ...so then the don still got an attitude about it so i finally just said "fine....have it your way but when that daughter comes back in here fussing...Ill just direct her straight to you instead and I absolutely will not deal with her like I have for the past 4 nights. I've tried to keep her happy and reassure her that her mom is in good hands so if she has a sour taste in her mouth it wont be b/c of me!' and i left it at that. I dont think its too much to ask of someone just to do their freakin job! If I only had 4 pts....I'd be set...id do all their care, tx's meds...you name it ...no problem. BUT ...when my boss put me in the charge position over a yr ago I told her id do my best to maintain the place but that I wouldnt be responsible for the entire place....each nurse is responsible for their own assignments and their own cna's...and their pts....however...how can we expect the cna's to do what they are assigned when the don doesnt back us up? she never has...probably never will...another example....I have a tube feeder ok....well how about I couldnt find a 60 cc syringe to do her meds with....I called the don ...she tells me to go to the drug store and BUY them myself.......!!!!!!!!!! Umm....no ...was my exact response....its not my job to supply the place. She has no heart at all...I cant believe this person is a "nurse"...i guess it just looks good on paper b/c she doesnt have the heart of any nurse I know. She doesnt care about staff, patients, nothing....except dollar bills and budget bonuses. Anyway..my ? is.....if you were the nurse dealing with that daughter.....would you have done something different or just not tried to appease her at all? Sometimes I wonder what the point is of even trying to supervise those who are unsupervisable. Any input would be appreciated or stories about how you have dealt with these type of issues at your jobs.

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I think you are right in directing the daughter to the DON since the DON is so adamant that you not try to take care of the situation. Good for you. Make sure you follow up on your statement.

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Specializes in LTC.

Definitely! I refuse to try to please this daughter anymore! As far as Im concerned the DON can have it...all of it from here on out. Im sick of her handing her dirty work off to me anyhow....she is the queen of pawning off anything she can to anybody she can....I am retired from that mess. I will listen to a ****** off daughter but as far as trying to please them....no no no....if one can rant and rave to me...they can give the boss a dose of it too...maybe then they'll listen and do something about it. It would just be so nice to have a boss that gave a damn...just in general ...ya know?

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Specializes in M/S,LTAC, ER-not exactly specialized.

"Well....she sat down in the floor...somehow....and the daughter was just...******. Came up to work to translate ....and of course she said that her mom wasnt being "checked on" enough by the cna's...which...I agree.....she's not..but what she doesnt realize is that her mom is TOTAL care and is on a rest home hall which is just assisted lvg. I wouldn't tell her that of course....I would get in alot of trouble with the big wigs even though they are all aware of it anyhow....."

If you agree the pt. is not being checked on enough by the CNA, then why would you "reassure" the daughter that her mom is in good hands.

"I've tried to keep her happy and reassure her that her mom is in good hands so if she has a sour taste in her mouth it wont be b/c of me!' and i left it at that"

This post just really irks me. Judging from this post and your others, your job sounds like a disaster and borderline unethical.

It's your choice to stay at this job, rather than not.

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Specializes in LTC.

I instructed the aide on that hall to check that pt q hour and write down every time she went in the room and what she did for her so that we would be able to look back at exact times and situations so that when that dtr claimed again that her mom wasnt being cared for we would have something to back us up....this is what it boils down to....and im sure its somewhere in every facility. ....money. this pt was originally brought to us about 2 yrs ago with full intentions of moving into this dtrs mansion that was being built...she was telling all of us that a whole level of her new home was going to be for her mom and she'd have staff 24/7 with her so that she wouldnt have to be in a facility.....well....that never happened. The house is built and the dtr lives there .....but she left her mom with us. This dtr also stopped visiting like she used to...daily visits from 2 yrs ago have dropped to maybe once or twice a month if that now...and when she does she gripes about anything . This pt gets total care for the PRICE of assisted care b/c the dtr refuses to have her moved to another facility, take her home or to let her be moved to a skilled hall where she should be. Assisted care is about 80 bucks a day vs the skilled which is 160 a day.....and in the cases where facilities have both skilled halls and an assisted hall when short staffing occurs the skilled halls MUST be covered FIRST. The whole idea of assisted being true assisted is good but its not reality in most cases. If there was a way I could move this pt to where she needed to be it wouldve been done long ago but I have no control over what families and mgmt decides to do. myself and the rest of us have to simply deal with the mess it leaves behind and thats what we do every single day. I would love for someone to show me a place that was absolutely perfect without any kinks in it anywhere...now that would be a huge role model for facilities across the country. And thats what I meant when my post was referring to care....the assisted do get care short or not...it just takes longer for the aides to get to them b/c of having to do 60 skilled pts that include 16 rehab pts and we get alot of admissions. Over all....as many kinks as my place has and the things that myself or others dont agree with doesnt seem to affect the majority of our others we care for. I think in this case this dtr is full of guilt maybe and thats why she lashes out like she does. Just a theory.

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If I were you I'd find another job:nurse:

Not trying to be mean, but you need to think of yourself too. After you leave- let the families know to check on their loved ones.

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
. Anyway..my ? is.....if you were the nurse dealing with that daughter.....would you have done something different or just not tried to appease her at all? Sometimes I wonder what the point is of even trying to supervise those who are unsupervisable. Any input would be appreciated or stories about how you have dealt with these type of issues at your jobs.

I would have said as little directly to her as possible and referred her to the DON...Some people can't be appeased and will suck the life out of you just going around and around in circles and you have other residents to attend to.

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i think finding another job would do me right in that position

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Specializes in LTC.

man o man........i would LOVE to find a place thats close to my home, better benefits, and to have someone who would back the whole nsg staff up when it comes to the tyrants that come thru sometimes......just gotta hang on 3 more yrs and i can go for it. :)

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