I have worked in corrections for the past 14 years. Early this year I had an incident where I was handed a written reprimand for not performing my duties as a nurse in evaluating a patient which is what the Physician Assistant instructed to me. Now I was

Early this year I received a written reprimand for failing to evaluate a patient and meeting my nursing obligation.
The Physician Assistant (PA) asked me to accompany him to visit the inmate in the housing unit. I inquired with the PA about taking medical equipment for patient evaluation. I was told by the Physician Assistant I would not need any medical equipment for evaluation as he already had a report from the nurse who had evaluated the patient earlier. We arrived at the unit and the PA decided for the patient to be sent to outside hospital for further evaluation. I inquired if the patient was returning to the medical dept and he replied "NO the patient was to remain in current housing unit as that would allow easier access for EMS. I again asked if the patient was remaining in the unit and he replied "yes, I will go up and give a report to Sue (charge RN). I notified the PA I would be returning to the medical department and he agreed and gave me no additional orders at that time.
Now 8 months later, I am receiving a suspension for not triaging a patient who complained his heart was hurting. When I received the report from the secretary I reviewed this patient's history and he was familiar to me from prior incarcerations. The patient did not have any acute medical issues, was not on any medication. The only listed condition was a heart murmur for which the patient had been monitored and a full work up with finding were all negative. I notified the secretary the triage nurse who goes to the unit would evaluate him and if his condition changed the officer would be contacting medical. I used my nursing judgement based on the reported findings of this patient and prior history. This is a common practice in our department to triage over the phone and make decisions to either evaluate a patient now or defer evaluation to the unit nurse.
My concern is that since the first incident my supervisor is constantly scrutinizing everything I do or say and has written comments which are damaging to my character and reputation and can damage my career. She is stating I am unapproachable, other staff fears me, poor behavior, lack of professionalism, negative attitude etc. I find all these statements to be untrue. I have been employed for 14 years in the same role and my character and demeanor have not changed once. Instead, the issues that have risen are with new staff which are in her circle of friends.

0 answers  |  asked Nov 1, 2016 12:14 PM [EST]  |  applies to Massachusetts

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