Employee/Patient Issue

Shara

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-20-06 AT 04:50PM (CST)[/font][br][br][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-20-06 AT 04:50 PM (CST)[/font]

We have a nurse who works in our psychiatric treatment facility who has come to me about a problem she is having with a patient that was treated several months ago. When this pt was admitted, he showed this employee a notebook he had been keeping full of poetry, and it mentioned her name. She states that he has developed an "obsession" with her. When this happened several months ago, we switched her shift so that she wouldn't be his caregiver, and also had our security walk her out to her car after her shift. Afterward I asked her if she felt as though she were being watched or followed and she said no, but she said that she felt afraid at home, because she lives by herself. I haven't heard from this incident in some time, but this weekend this patient called the treatment facility again, and spoke with this nurse. She says that she is afraid that we will admit this patient, and she fears for her own safety. I spoke with her director, and he states that he has notified the psychiatrist that we do not need to admit this pt because of the type of care that he needs. If by chance he were admitted, we would switch shifts so she would not be his caregiver. We are also going to advise our employee that if she answers any calls from him, that she needs to have another staff member speak with him instead. However, she is afraid of him outside of work. He has not made any suggestion that he wants to follow her, that he knows where she lives, etc, but you don't ever know. I'm just unsure as to what we can do - we can protect her here, and she could get a restraining order, but I'm not sure of what else should or could be done from our end. We also have a confidentiality issue since he was our patient. Any suggestions?

Toto

Since nobody has weighed in on this yet I'll throw out a couple of things.

Do you have an employee assistance program that the ee could call to talk about her fears. I'm not discounting they may be very real but if the pt hasn't appeared to act except to write poetry perhaps there is something else in the ee's past that this is being brought to the surface. The counceling might help her cope.

It sounds like you have been proactive in trying to protect your ee, but if you think there is a reasonable basis for concern could you have either the police or security firm do a quiet record check for anything in the pt's past that could raise an alarm? Also, they may be able to give you or the ee additional suggestions for protection.

Shara

Thanks for your input - we're going to meet with her this week. I think that the EAP suggestion is a good idea - working in that type of an environment can probably expose you to a lot of different types of people.

gingerflwrs

I don't know if this is a help but I have a similar situation here. We had two employees working in the stock room. Male employee asked out female employee, she said no. There were rumors that the female employee discussed the incident with others, thus, upsetting the male employee. After that the female employee ignored the male and just did her job and the manager separated them as much as possible. However, the male employee (whom we have determined is a bit unstable) gave his notice because he couldn't deal with working with her. (His words.) About one month after he left, the female employee started receiving strange telephone calls. I convinced her to immediately contact the police. After that, letters were sent to her ex-husband's house saying their son wasn't his and her neighbor received one stating that she was conducting "illegal" business. Mind you, the employee's number is unlisted and he knew her exact address. The interesting part is that she lives 30 minutes away and the male only rides a bike. (Says something right there for a 43 year old to only ride a bike and live with mom.) The male has also been seen near her ex-husband's house (20 minutes away, has approached her son at his place of employment, and has been seen riding his bike in the parking lot next door to our plac There are several other issues but I won't list them here. The female employee has been told to keep me up-to-date on all issues. She has also contacted the police in every town that an incident (even if it is just a siting) has occured. She has been told to call the police if he is seen anywhere near her and she has been told to never be alone outside the building. Of course, the police can't do anything unless the male does something first, but everyone is aware. Obviously your situation is somewhat different, however, I hope some of this helps.

NaeNae55

Doesn't your state have any stalking laws? This sounds like it applies. At the least, the police should go and interview him. Sometimes that is all it takes to scare a stalker away (as long as they don't have a serious history of it anyway.)

Good luck!!!!!


Nae

Rockie

In our medical practice, we have had to actually "fire" patients from the practice because of inappropriate actions towards staff. In a facility, you are probably bound by other rules where you have to treat someone if they need it and may not have control over where he is admitted. If admitting him to a different faciilty is a possibility,then that would solve your problem.

It appears this person only wrote poetry where he mentioned the person's name. If this is all he did, then it does sound like an overreaction on the part of the caregiver. If his behavior wasn't threatening or he hasn't turned into a stalker, then she probably needs some skills on how to deal with whatever feelings this evoked in her.

Patients frequently develop feelings (real or imagined) towards caregivers. Most of the time, it's harmless...they feel close to people that take care of them. If the behavior has not escalated beyond writing poetry, I think the nurse should ignore it and have someone else talk to him as much as possible.