She was punched several times in the chest and arms and shoulders by a gentleman residant. She is in a wheelchair and quite frail and unable to protect herself. She is not in a lockdown unit and is free to go to activities provided in the residance which she enjoys and avails herself of. I understand the gentleman in question has had episodes of violence before. I do not blame him as I would imagine his medication must be in need of adjustment or perhaps he is in need of transfer to a lock down unit if his behavior is becoming unpredictable. His family is extremely distraught but my Mother has been left bruised and frightened. It is difficult for all concerned. How do I best make it clear that I will not tolerate my mother being assaulted and who is ultimately liable for her safety. Is it the nursing home? Am I correct in asking for their policy and procedure in cases like this and what they intend to do about it. Their attitude seemed to be simply to file an incident report. Thank you for any help you can give me in how to best handle this in a civilized but firm manner.
When you are requesting a patient's medical records be sure to include the nursing notes. This is in a separate section of the patients "chart" often just a folder and sometimes kept on computer. Every nurse on every shift must write a report on the patients assigned to him/her. They must document behavior eating, drinking activities sleeping refusal of care or medications. Anything unusual. A night nurse may simply write " Mrs X slept all night took her meds and walked to the B/R unaided and says she will get dressed when the day shift arrives." if any kind of incident occurred in her area the nurse would report her reaction . " She might note " Mrs X was very upset because her room mate fell this morning and was taken to the ER. She is very worried she will be assigned another room mate as she and Miss A have become good friends" The POA has the right to read those notes and they can be very illuminating. The N/H may be reluctant to comply.
I am so sorry that this happened to your mom. My heart goes out to you both. I understand that the elderly man really can't be blamed for his actions, but that facility damn sure should be, especially if the man has had violent episodes before. He should NEVER, ever been allowed to roam free after the FIRST time he got violent, period. All I can say, is I'd report them, and heads would roll.
You can file a complaint with the state; if you have an ombudsman office in your state, call and file a complaint with their office. It's true the facility cannot control every resident at every moment and these things do happen unfortunately, but it needs to be thoroughly investigated. Did the other patient have a history of this behavior? in which case, they should have been watching him more carefully. If this is the first time he has acted out, there may be nothing to be done, as they couldn't have predicted it. Unless there was lack of supervision, and no facility can afford one-on-one care, it is unlikely anyone is going to pursue this legally. You don't want to be a thorn in the side of people who need to be your allies, but it pays to be a strong advocate for your parent, and very assertive. Staff very quickly learn which residents have children that will insist on the best care. All residents deserve the best care, but in nursing homes and in life, the squeaky wheel gets greased. Believe me, it makes a difference.
I loved my job, but dealing with situations such as this are very stressful on everyone. So happy to be retired. (Now I only deal with one elderly person, Mom, and that is challenging enough!)
Most nursing homes try their best to provide good care for everyone, but the direct caregivers (nurses' aides) are not well educated, or well paid for the difficult job they do. I applaud those who do it with love and kindness.
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