RN/ P.I.

Some weeks I spend half my time doing investigations. A resident gets a bruise, and often can't tell me what happened due to dementia, so I have to investigate. It's a state regulation thing, so I have to do it. But it basically consists of asking a bunch of nursing assistants, who have worked with that resident in the last 3-4 days, if they saw the bruise or anything that could have caused it. But if they ever do see a bruise, they are supposed to report it right away. So if I come callin 3 days later and ask if they saw it they are certainly going to say no. Maybe they did see it, and then got busy and forgot to report it. But these people fear authority and discipline like I fear...I don't know, giant spiders. The point is, they will never admit that they have seen it. And they will never admit that anything occurred that might have caused a bruise, because they didn't already report that. So I end up with 5 or 6 completely useless interviews and I have to come up with a conclusion on my own. Which is sometimes easy and sometimes not. The thing is, in most cases, I want to say, this person is old and ill and has delicate skin, and may even be on aspirin or coumadin...it's inevitable!! But they wouldn't like that. Now and then, like today, there is a bruise that really concerns me and has no obvious answer. Which means today will be a big investigation day. Bah!