I am a nursing assistant in a nursing home.
I recently manually transferred a patient from bed to wheelchair by hand (which I know is unsafe and illegal but that’s how we do it here) and I almost dropped her. The brakes on the wheelchair were broken. So when I attempted to place her in the chair, the chair kept moving.
If I would have been a little weaker or the patient a little heavier I might have dropped her, her hip might have broken etc.
I spoke to another woman about this. One brake on her husband’s wheelchair is broken. She said she made several complaints to the staff with no results.
I contacted the department of health and I asked that I remain anonymous.
My manager spoke to me today and said that he knows that I made this complaint. He explained to me that I must be loyal to the nursing home and never make a complaint to the health department but rather come to him and he will be happy to take care of it. He added that he had not heard any complaints from the woman I mentioned.
Does anyone have any opinion about this?
Allow me to tell you what happened to me when I reported neglectful "care" of my Mom and harassment of my Dad and myself when we'd visit her.
I reported a gross event of neglect to the Department of Health and with the Office of Health Care Workers AFTER raising many concerns about my Mom's care, previously.
The nursing home staff LIED to the DOH nurse, who was investigating the case - said they had to call the police on me for disturbing the other residents. The DOH nurse dropped the case.
Also, the nursing home went to my sibling (who had health proxy), lied to him and got him to agree with the nursing him to ban me from the nursing home unless I signed an agreement which limited my visiting time with my Mom and that I could not take her off the floor. ( this sibling rarely visited and was resigned entrust Mom's care to this facility without question).
My Mom died July 15th. The nursing home staff did not alert my Dad she was in the last stages. We would have removed her into a hospice situation where she would be properly cared for and have family around her. She died in a hospital gown covered by a thin sheet and alone.
I had tried to contact grassroots organizations and legal services prior to this - but because I do not have POA - was told there was nothing they could do.
That is what happened, in my case. I've since heard of similar experiences.
If you have any suggestions of what I can do to effectively report the nursing facility, please let me know.
Thank You.
If your DON and facilities director do not appear to be working on the problem, report to the appropriate facilities outside your place of employment. Good record keeping of event, and person reported to will help with investigations and will help protect/prove retaliation from your employer if needed.
Good luck and always just do the right thing.
You should not do the transfers, or say you cant bc you hurt your back and need help or use the Hoyer. Or what if you refuse on the grounds of safety?
Maintenance should be able to fix the wheel chairs to make it safe for staff. I dont know why they cant? I've seen them put wheel chairs out of commission and use others. I didnt see them fix it, but I know the wheel chairs came back fixed. Eventually. Might take a week. They should take care of that. Can you talk to the charge nurse, or call someone from maintenance? That's their job. It's usually not a hard fix either.
I can guarentee you if the elderly person falls you will be written up and responsible. And if they break anything bc their bones are like tissue paper, the families and bosses will blame you.
Tell the charge nurse/supervisor you cant bc there are no brakes on the wheel chair. Cant use it.
Usually nursing homes have rules about moving residents, and asking for help is allowed. Or chart pt is too unsteady and falls risk today. They have to report when a resident falls. They dont want falls.
I dont understand why they dont let you get help?
Ive had training where they tell you to slowly lower/brace the person to the ground. 100-150lbs of anything will fall quickly, not in sloooo-moooo. (Like they pretend) And then add in a tissue paper frail adult. I cant hold 100lbs up and guide it to the floor slowly as its falling away from me. Even with a gait belt. Try it sometime. Not as easy as it seems. This happens in a split second. Add in a person who has dementia. They could decide they are 6yrs old and going to go to the ice cream truck in their mind. You never know.
I also heard of a well respected PT dropping a very frail 93yr old while doing pt. That day she just collapsed. He had worked with her for weeks. Family was in an uproar. Like he did it on purpose? No. He was distraught over it as was everyone. People can get dizzy and faint. They can also get equilibrium /inner ear problems out of nowhere. She broke her hip. It was an accident. They do happen. I can guarentee you elderly pts get unpredictable.
I saw an elderly gent get up and lock himself in the bathroom and fell. They got a key after that. No one had ever done that b4! He was in PT/OT waiting for transport back to his rm. He could walk short distances.
My dad fell mult times out of bed. He forgot and thought he could walk. Muscles to frail to walk. He actually fractured his skull while in a very big hospital. They werent even going to tell me. No one was around when he did it. He also rolled out of bed sev times. It happens. Not everyone automatically at fault, or didnt care. I dont think nursing staff wants fractures and death on their conscience. Most people dont.
If they continue to hassle you about the quick transfers, refuse to fix the wheel chairs. I'd have to find a place that will help the workers and get the wheel chairs fixed. They should have extras on standbye. I dont know why they dont. Sometimes even PT or OT will fix if if they want to. Depends on how they are personally. They could make the phone call if you cant. You should be able to, but depends on the site culture. I could have told my boss in recreation svs and she would do it. I could pick up oh and call.
If your manager is that crappy and cant be concerned with safety issues, I'd RUN. Dont understand why they cant fix a wh. chair?
However this was really cutting corners too far in my opinion. I understand we all want a luxury car and vacations in Europe, however I think this manager needed a kick in the butt. Or a new career.
Actually my nursing home compares quite favorably to most. It’s a small private nursing home (36 beds) and possibly fairly pricey. It may be almost a model facility.
Which is nice on the one hand, I’m not collaborating in a slaughterhouse.
But then on the other hand, what are the bad places like???
I will say that it’s neat, clean and smells good (thank you cleaning staff Shireen and Monera!)
However the brakes are defective on 25% of the wheelchairs which is really being ridiculously cheap and stupid. And in the few weeks I’ve been there one demented man wandered out the door and fell. Thankfully he spent a day in hospital and seems OK. But that’s neglect. The staff is responsible to prevent escapes. (This happened an hour before I came on shift.)
https://ilerlawfirm.net/elopement-wandering-nursing-homes/
Then, if the problem isn't resolved, you have all the need paperwork to address with the health department.
If you are a licensed or registered professional, your regulating body would surely discipline you if they knew of the unsafe and illegal practices you engaged in. They can assist you in dealing with situation-they will have good advice and recommendations. They have likely dealt with it before.
The facility itself or your boss part of some professional associations that would be a great resource.
For all you know, your boss’s procedures and policy may not accurately reflect those of the facilities’ owners. Had you dropped the patient and the patient died in hospital from complications, the nursing home would likely face a law suit. That’s not in their best interests.
Your state or province will likely also have workplace safety regulations that you can look up, or a department you can call.
If you are part of a union, your union representatives are a good resource too.
I am worried about your job, and I’m worried about patient safety. Your situation is serious. I would consider documenting the unsafe practices and the dates of any preventable accidents, in case you need to take them to court.
You might also see if there is an employment lawyer you could consult (some lawyer will meet with you for a free initial consultation).
To me, this is just as bad as if a hospital administrator tried to save money by having doctors reuse their gloves. The doctors would never go along with that. Neither should you.
You are likely not the only worker to be concerned with the safety issues where you work. There is strength in numbers. If you all work together on this issue, you will get the situation resolved, one way or another.
Be brave, protect yourself, and good luck.
You say this is a small home - how many beds? Who owns it?
I'm in the UK and our regulations are different in detail (the apathy when it comes to dealing with problems isn't, though) but by and large the role of regulators and inspectors is more or less the same. All residential care facilities, large or small, must display information about how to make a complaint and ensure that residents and/or their representatives have this explained to them. I would be surprised if there isn't the equivalent in your workplace. What did the DoH advise you when you spoke to them?
And it almost happened to me when a broken wheelchair flew out from under a very elderly woman during a transfer. I was furious. I don’t know if I can print here my exact reaction.
countrymouse, I don’t think there’s any kind of rules in place. Frankly I don’t think it’s ever entered a worker’s mind to complain about something relevant to the patients’ treatment.
That be as it may, shouldn’t a legitimate nursing home be happy if the health department visits? Wouldn’t they be proud of their top notch facility? What would they be worried about?
Bottom line, the health department showed up last Wednesday at 8:00 am. Now it’s Monday night. Nothing has been repaired. Nothing.
It’s a small place. Maybe no one in house can really handle this. So how about this: Google “wheelchair fixing guy”. Pick up the phone. He comes. He fixes it. You pay him.
Am I going to have to call the health department AGAIN? I don’t understand this.
All the same you are an employee of an organisation, and it would be reasonable of that organisation to expect you first of all to follow the procedure it lays down for reporting concerns and complaints. Did you?
Talking to co-workers and service users isn't it. You should first of all have taken this to your line manager. If nothing happened, then you go either further up the reporting chain, or to external regulators.
But to say you must "never" make a complaint to the health department is disingenuous and nonsensical. There are all kinds of situations that might arise when you would be morally, and arguably professionally, obliged to.
Asking your manager on what basis he claims to know that you made a formal complaint to the department of health is a fair question, certainly one I'd want answered if I were you. Did the person you spoke to agree that your report would be treated in confidence?
Anyway - so what's the outcome of this conversation with your line manager so far? Will the wheelchair(s) be repaired? What will be done to address the various manual handling problems?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktion_T4
Young people, even chronically ill, aren’t treated like this. I’ve worked in a facility for very severely brain damaged children and young adults and they were well funded and everything was done the right way.
The elderly, in modern Western society, simply have little value.
The usage of VSED “voluntary stop eating and drinking” or even lethal injection is becoming gradually more common.
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/09/euthanasia-for-alzheimers-patients
It may not be long before nursing homes are replaced by pet food factories.
Maybe we should count our blessings :(
And if I could show you the pictures, you would cry too....She had huge bumps on her head, face, arms, and bruised from head to toe...
You always hope they will die in peace... She is an angel. she did not deserve to die like that.
(Full disclosure: my 59th birthday is this month so I’m a little bit personally biased on this subject. I’ve recently seen advertised youth hostels in Tel Aviv which will not accommodate guests over age 40. Doesn’t anyone realize that the rate of violent crime of every type is so much lower after age 50? If they are worried about rape or something, then lock out the really risky 20 year olds.)
The alternative is to go to him each and every time you see an unsafe condition or illegal practice, and it seems as if they don’t want to spend the money required to operate a safe, clean facility. Honestly, I would look for another job on the QT. Eventually that facility is going to get some bad publicity and when it does, you don’t want to be associated with it.
I know some jurisdictions have laws that protect whistleblowers, but I don’t know if that applies to your situation.
Mister, get outta there!
It is easy to get into a he said she said if everything is verbal.
Where I live you provide your own durable medical equipment for mobility, so not sure if your patients can provide their own so they're not in such danger.