How Rensol Handled a Rude Nurse Who Abused a Disabled Patient in a Healthcare Unit: A Case Study

Client Problem: A rude nurse of a healthcare unit allegedly abuse a patient with cerebral palsy

• The family of the PWD patient reported an alleged abuse of a nurse to the management of a caregiving unit in United Kingdom
• The rude nurse was caught abusing their father through a surveillance camera set up by the hospital
• The family demanded the healthcare facility to replace and reprimand her
• The nurse has been one of the most trusted and experienced nurse they have that made it difficult for the management to just fire her and send her back to the Philippines

Rensol’s Solution: Rensol served as a Consultant and Partner

• As a consultant, Rensol advised the principal to follow due process
• Guided employer to do proper investigation and notices
• After a fair and careful review, the Filipino nurse was counseled and thereafter terminated and have her license revoked, in compliance with nursing jurisprudence.

Quality healthcare relies heavily on quality caregiving. Adeptness of healthcare professionals in the field and attitude toward providing services are vital elements apart from upfront technology and state of the art facilities. Healthcare is humanitarian and services are expected to be humane.

Knowledge and aptitude in healthcare services are easily detectable in the recruitment process, but a candidate’s attitude and behavior are another. While it’s a tough job for healthcare recruitment agencies to hire the most fitting candidate, it’s an above and beyond responsibility to assure their behavior when deployed in their respective wards.

Rudeness and neglect to a patient with a disability is a grave violation of the code of conduct of healthcare providers, as highlighted in the code of ethics provided by the American Nurses Association (ANA). And it is something we never expect to come from people who are supposed to give them excellent care.

Case on Point: Rude Nurse Abusing a Person with Disability

The family of a patient in a private ward in United Kingdom complained of a nurse because of her alleged rude behavior to their father who has cerebral palsy. The complaints were first ignored by the healthcare facility due to lack of evidence and the nurse has been one of the most promising workers they had in their establishment.

Because of apparent skin bruises, weight loss, and unexplained fear of their father toward his nurse, the family set up a hidden camera to capture if the said nurse really neglects their father. Apparently, what they’ve seen is more than of what they have expected from just plain rudeness, it has been abhorrent.

In the said footage that was shown to the management, the nurse was caught being verbally abusive to their father. She easily got angry whenever the poor man fails to obey her instructions. She even groped him on his neck harshly and scold him hardly while mobilizing and transferring him to places. During mealtime, she never assisted their father to eat his food and whenever their father goes to the restroom to urinate.

The family of the helpless PWD could not just tolerate how the rude nurse throws her heavy hand to his frail body.  She even pushes the medicine to his mouth and even let him skip some doses. Believing that her behavior was inhumane enough and unethical in her chosen profession, the family filed their grievances anew with the hospital’s administration now with a concrete evidence enough to terminate her.

Rensol Intervention: Compliance with Disciplinary Measures and Labor Laws

The nurse has been proven guilty of “disability abuse” due to physical violence, neglect of care, verbal and emotional abuse to the vulnerable victim. As per nursing jurisprudence, disability abuse is just an administrative case, yet penalties shouldn’t be less because the victim had a disability. Anyone guilty of disability abuse is subject to termination and revocation of nursing license.

Rensol acted with due diligence and studied the legitimacy of complaints. With a fair and unbiased review of the incident, Rensol and the client agreed to subject the nurse under counseling as appropriate disciplinary action and as provided in nursing jurisprudence, the staff was terminated thereafter and was sent back to the Philippines with a revoked license.

With Rensol’s assistance, the case was not elevated to a criminal case or worse, a viral healthcare controversy. Rensol and the healthcare unit successfully encouraged the family of the victim to delete their copy of the footage given with a replacement nurse, which was taken care of by Rensol, damage fees were paid, and free hospitalization was offered as well by the healthcare facility.

Apart from Rensol’s responsibility to protect our deployed workers, we also embraced the task of protecting our clients from misbehaviors that may damage their reputation and credibility as a healthcare provider. This may be above the recruitment task we are bound to do, the accountability to all our recruits when they misbehave is a promise our untainted brand of ethical recruitment has been promoting.

Rensol abided with all the rules and measures provided for incidents like such as an act of fairness and accountability to the principal. The Philippine recruitment agency deemed rude attitude as totally unacceptable, especially in a healthcare facility.

Reference:

https://blog.soliant.com/healthcare-workers/8-reasons-nurses-get-fired/

http://www.wrcev.ca/get-the-facts/persons-with-disabilities/

http://disabilityjustice.org/medical-or-physical-neglect/

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, Inc. is the fastest growing recruitment agency in The Philippines. A career consultant that aims to go above and beyond the level of expectations of both the aspirations of the candidates and the dream team standards of employers through providing exceptional opportunities and unparalleled quality-driven recruitment services.

Johann Legis A.B. - Communications & Content - Marketing Manager

Book Reader. Writer. Educator. Dreamer. – Johann joins Rensol Recruitment and Consulting with 8 years of extensive experience in Marketing Management, Sales & Business Development, Content & Creative Development, Digital & Communications Marketing, Learning Management & Training. He creates and moderate all internal and external content and leads thought leadership in the market to drive the bottom line. He is also passionate about growth techniques that utilize search optimization, paid promotions, blogging, online reputation management and social media marketing.