A patient has decided to accuse me of leaving her on the toilet for 2 hours. This is the situation. I was working at a new facility and wasn’t familiar with the patients at all. It was coming towards the end of my shift. I let the nurse and my partner know that I was leaving and told them to have a good day. On my way walking out to my car I noticed a patient's oxygen cord being pulled under the door. I stopped and knocked on the bathroom door, helped the patient pull the oxygen cord into the bathroom, the patient was already on the toilet. The patient said thank you, I said no problem, pull your light when you're ready, and I walked out. So, she is cognitive. She knows how to pull her call light, and was put onto the toilet by another aide. But I am the one being investigated when I really just wanted to help her get her oxygen. I’ve never been accused of neglect or abuse in any way and I’ve done this work for 8 years. I’m not sure where to go from here. Keep in mind that according to witnesses, she couldn’t have been on the toilet for more than 20 minutes. Which is a long time if it’s true. But she said that it was 2 hours and obviously that was a lie. From what I’ve heard, this resident accuses people all the time of random things. I would never hurt any of the people I care for. I would definitely never leave them on the toilet for 2 hours. If she was a fall risk or someone I had to be concerned about then I would have stayed in the bathroom with her and got her off of the toilet.
I am curious, has the aide that put the patient on the toilet come forward ?
I know it must hurt to be accused of something you didn't do. Since this lady has a history of accusing people for mistreatment, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Facts;
1. She was not YOUR patient.
2. You had FINISHED your shift and were leaving. You stopped in because you saw the O2 cord pulled and helped with that.
3. It is the responsibility of the aide who put her on the toilet to get her off (unless she is leaving and told the oncoming shift aide to take responsibility for it.)
There is NO way you can or will be blamed for this. You sound very conscientious and responsible. There will be an investigation but the one who needs to explain her actions will be the aide assigned to her. (She'll be fine if she documented it in the notes or has some other way of showing how long the patient was in the bathroom.) You may be asked a few questions by the nursing director just for documentation.
I hate being falsely accused of things I didn't do but this will work itself out. Some patients just have to have something to gripe about. (I've been a nurse for 40 years and it's amazing what patients find to complain about!)