State report outlines incident of verbal abuse at Gilroy
Healthcare and Rehabilitation
Gilroy Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center has agreed to make
improvements to the facility after a nurse was caught telling an
elderly patient to
”
shut the hell up
”
on Aug. 29, according to the state Department of Health and
Human Services.
The nurse was fired on Sept. 7, and a
”
plan of correction
”
was created by the nursing home to promote
”
communication of needs and issues between residents and staff in
a structured manner,
”
according to a DHHS report.
State report outlines incident of verbal abuse at Gilroy Healthcare and Rehabilitation
Gilroy Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center has agreed to make improvements to the facility after a nurse was caught telling an elderly patient to “shut the hell up” on Aug. 29, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
The nurse was fired on Sept. 7, and a “plan of correction” was created by the nursing home to promote “communication of needs and issues between residents and staff in a structured manner,” according to a DHHS report.
The nurse denied the state’s accusation.
Health and Human Services (HHS) records indicate that by agreeing to make changes, the hospital doesn’t necessarily concede to the scope or severity of the “deficiency.”
Larry Chassen, who recently replaced Gerald Hunter as director of GHRC, did not respond to repeated calls from The Sunday Pinnacle by press time to confirm that corrective measures were still being implemented or that the “deficiency” ever happened.
Norma Arceo, spokesperson for GHRC, said that HHS has received documentation proving that GHRC followed through with its plan of correction.
What follows was is the incident of verbal abuse as reported by HHS on Sept. 30.
A resident at GHRC named James (not his real name) complained to a family member named David (not his real name) that a nurse has been treating him poorly. James is bound to a wheelchair, diagnosed with depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment and memory problems. He wears diapers and requires help when bathing and dressing.
On Aug. 31, the concerned relative watched James go to the nurse’s station to receive his regular medication. David is standing 10 feet away in a place where he can see James’ nurse but the nurse cannot see him.
James is asked where his diapers are and James said he thinks they are locked up in the administrator’s office. A nurse said it would make more sense that they were close by, and James said it would be great if the staff could get the diapers so they were available for the night.
But then out of the blue, David said he saw and heard the nurse ask James, “Are you pissed now?”
“Excuse me?” said James.
“Are you full of piss now?” said the nurse.
“No, I am not,” said James.
“Why don’t you shut the hell up until you are,” the nurse said. “Shut up and get out of here.”
David leans out and shows himself to the nurse. Her face turns “totally white” and he tells her she has gone too far and advises her to stop right there. David finds the director of nursing and tells her no one deserves to be treated the way he just saw James get treated. Two staff members testified saying they saw the family members upset, though neither recant exactly what was said by the nurse in the report.
Many times HHS is unable to find evidence to support claims of abuse, Arceo said, but it was able to substantiate, by the testimony of witnesses, that abuse and a violation of federal regulations had occurred.
To resolve the matter, GHRC held in-service days in September to educate staff about reducing aggressive behaviors, catastrophic reactions, and to recognize the tell-tale symptoms of personal stress. The efforts are aimed at preventing abuse rather than reacting to it afterward.
According to the plan of correction, staff are to regularly walk rounds to provide more opportunities for residents to raise concerns. Residents will also be randomly chosen for one-on-one, documented interviews with the director of nursing and the assistant director of nursing to voice any concerns about abuse. The random interviews will continue every few months for an unspecified amount of time, according to the HHS report.
Undergraduate nursing program director at San Jose State University, Rosemary J. Mann, said there was never any excuse for any sort of patient abuse, but “there are situations that come up where what’s being said sounds like abuse,” Mann said. “Those situations, like any, need to be evaluated by the circumstances. Sometimes when you are trying to get someone to do something that’s painful to do but they don’t want to, you have to be encouraging and motivating. It’s exceptionally difficult. We all have bad days we all lose our tempers.”
Mann said proper respect for a client is big part of the lesson in the classroom and in the field where student nurses receive training on real people.
“Verbal abuse of any client would result in clinical failure of the class,” Mann said. “It’s just not an acceptable behavior.”
From 2000 to 2004, GHRC had a lower rating than average, according to the California Healthcare Foundation, with 96 deficiencies of various types reported. The state average is 71 during the same time period. Deficiencies are broken up into the categories of quality of care, mistreatment, resident assessment, resident rights, environment, nutrition, pharmacy, administration and life safety. Life safety and nutrition were the only areas where numbers of deficiencies reported were less than the state average.
In July HHS found that one of eight staff members of GHRC failed to say that they would report an incident of abuse to an ombudsman, as required by facility policy. Four out of eight questioned failed to say they would report abuse to HHS, also required by facility policy. The staff went through training in August in response to the findings.
Patients who depend on a nurse to be fed, dressed, and cared for might be reluctant to make complaints about how they are treated, but Arceo said patients and families should not hesitate to call HHS when something is wrong.
HHS follows up on incident reports with unannounced visits to the facility. It also checks on every licensed facility in the state annually with unannounced drop in visits.
