I work as a CNA and today I had a resident who was very combative and abusive. She's always like this, she doesn't cooperate and acts wild and crazy. I have scratch marks all over my arm from her, one is really bad. Well she fell out of her wheelchair when I tried pushing her to her bed. She was sitting kinda on the edge. She has an alarm on her chair and a belt type thing that goes around her waist. Another aide earlier in the night put her in the chair after she tried getting out her bed but never put her belt on her and I did not see that. Anyways she fell out and I got in alot of trouble. They acted like she wasnt crazy and that her insanity doesnt have anything to do with her falling. They didnt even care that I had scratches all over me. I even tried showing one of the supervisors and all he did was look at give me a dirty look then looked away. My arm hurts right now. I wanna take legal action so bad but I know that would be stupid cause that type of thing is expectd in a nursing home. What do u think of the situation?
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Verified answer
Both you and that other nurse who left the belt off the resident should receive write-ups.
That resident isn't "wild and crazy;" she's old and probably suffering from some neurological problem. Wear arm protection and make sure her nails are kept trimmed and the freshly cut ends filed to make it harder for her to scratch.
It's not what I think of the situation; it's what you think of it. Either you can live with it and do your job without blaming people who are sick for things they can't help doing... or you need to get another job. some of those residents are essentially small children mentally and you are there to protect them from harm, including things the do that might harm themselves.