Who do I turn to?

Specialties Geriatric

Published

Good Morning y'all,

what's the first step in blowing the whistle on my LTC facility? Who do I turn to?

I keep hearing the fear in workers' voices each time they speak of "the state was here last night" or "the state wouldn't like_____".

How do I get in touch with "the state"? They need to show on my unit to witness and either correct or shut down the darn place!

  • Here's why:

There's a fall every day

  • And:

PHI is being shouted down halls, tossed about and not shredded, left on counters for all to read and hear everybody's business

  • And there's more:

P&P blatantly disregarded to dress code/id badges/appearance/odor?

Stealing snacks off food trays left for the residents?

Using cell phones all during shift

coming in late, leaving early, taking breaks when residents are on the call lights and ignoring them

Insubordination, refusal to answer the call lights or tend to residents in need

whew!

So in addition to much more that just thinking about makes me incensed, can anyone offer some guidance to me to get the word out on this facility before I hightail it outta there and can salvage my own reputation and license?

Thanks!

Chloe

RN-BSN, BA

Specializes in Geriatrics, ICU, OR, PACU.

Why didn't you go to the DON? The administrator? The medical director? The management company (if your facility has one)? I'm a chain of command kinda gal, myself. It's really sad when an RN has to call the Ombudsman to fix problems with employees that are basically working for her. I appreciate that you were desperate for change, but am saddened by how you went about it.

Specializes in Did the job hop, now in MS. Not Bad!!!!!.
Why didn't you go to the DON? The administrator? The medical director? The management company (if your facility has one)? I'm a chain of command kinda gal, myself. It's really sad when an RN has to call the Ombudsman to fix problems with employees that are basically working for her. I appreciate that you were desperate for change, but am saddened by how you went about it.

Well...I did go to the DON. After I was called on the carpet on my 3rd day by the nurse educator and the ADON!! Such a rap they gave me about how I have to understand where the CNA's come from when I was telling them all this!!! The management look the other way so that they can hold onto their staff since their turnover, as I have recently discovered, is so high! And the only reason they hired me is for my RN! They need someone with my degree to do the paperwork that even their charge and unit manager cannot due to their status as LPN's. Whatever that may be. So far I've noticed it's signing off on assessments and admissions. But the paperwork there is just plain retarded and this place fraudulently documents orders and they have zero check and balance on their meds. It's screaming for the state to come in!

After I called the Ombudsman, she asked my permission to talk to the state and I was elated. Turns out this facility has a LOT of goings-on that the state is interested in. Something's about to hit the fan. Just a matter of whether I'll be there to see it.

But jeesh! I wrote this when I realized that the chain of command is hardly adhered to by anybody there. They band together like the thieves that they are!

Disgusted!

:devil:

Chloe

Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
Some of your complaints sound like staffing issues to me. Any DON worth his/her position would put a swift stop to many of your complaints. I know that cell phone use by employees is one thing I can't stand to see either.

At the facility I work at, call lights are answered by nurses aids. Pts shouldn't be wandering around in their bathrooms alone at night, anyway, and while many of them do not understand the safety issues involved, it's up to the care providers to make sure safety restraints are in place so that wandering doesn't happen. It's been my experience that most falls happen at night.

I can assure you that nothing ever happens when state comes. As soon as they are in the door - announcements are made throughout the building and everyone is on their toes! If only facilities operated the same way without state inspectors in the building!

I've worked through inspections, and obviously everyone is doing everything the correct way. Everyone washes their hands after each patient and takes the apical pulse for a full minute and changes gloves nine times for one treatment, etc. All by the book. And while this is the perfect way to do things, just as many other things in life, it's not always possible or practical to do it that way all the time. Staffing and time constraints always override.

When you are taking a driving test with the officer in the car, you obviously go out of your way to do exactly what you are supposed to do, and perhaps when the officer steps away, you are back to your old ways.

Nursing isn't any different. Basically, you are either trained correctly in the beginning, and learn correct habits, or you don't. You either have a work ethic, or you don't. I was trained to never leave patient information laying face-up, and therefore I never do that. I take bp's before giving blood pressure meds, and check the aps a full minute before giving dig...but does every nurse? I doubt it.

All I can do is the best I can do and try not to go crazy watching how everyone else does it.

Good luck with your complaint and I do not doubt that it has its merits, but again, I think it's a staffing issue.

Yikes-We can't restrain people just because they might fall at night. We'd get a citation.

My staff washes their hands when they are supposed to , take apical pulses for the full minute and do what they are supposed to do whether the STATE is in the building or not. I for one am offended by your tone. Not every facility is bad and not every DNS is unfeeling. And, by the way, I really don't think there is ANY treatment which requires gloves to be changed 9 times.

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