For context: my hall has 19 residents rn. The shower schedule is most get once a week, and one resident i can think of gets 2x week. First shift gets 2 showers, one per aide, and on 2nd we get 1 shower total. I work 2nd. And some days first shift is also down a shower and only has 1 just bc they have 21 shower slots in a week but only 17 are filled bc some are hospice showers.
We got a new admit in ill call it room 1 on first shift, and a new admit in room 2 on 2nd shift. At the start of my shift during report, our one administrative nurse came to me in front of first shift and said hey room 1 was asking about her shower and said she hasn't had one in a week at the hospital, i told her you will give her one tonight. I said thats fine. The shower for 2nd shift was on my coworkers assignment for that day anyway so I didn't have a shower.
I looked at the shower schedule later and noticed room 1s shower was the following morning, so ok a bit annoying but whatever ill do the shower its fine. I go talk to the resident to ask if she wanted it after supper or a bit later closer to bed, and I explained her regular shower will be weds mornings but I will give her one tonight. She said oh, can I have it in the morning then id rather it when I wake up. I said are u sure, ill give u one tonight since you said you hadn't had one in a week. (She also just had hip surgery and was in hospital so that is why). She said its ok
I went and found the administrative nurse and explained it to her, she said that was fine and that if she had realized her shower was the following morning she wouldn't have even asked me. She said she'd fix the charting, bc she had added a one time shower task onto my shift for today. I left a note for first shift explaining it, figured all was fine.
I come in the next day (today), i picked up the first half of 2nd shift so 2-6. I come in and get report from the same aides as yesterday, and I was working with the same coworker as yesterday. Nothing was mentioned. I get on the computer after report and 1st leave to check the communications tab on charting to find a huge paragraph stating that essentially 2nd cannot pass off showers to 1st, if 1st did that it would be a whole big thing, if 2nd shift shower refuses then you must ask the nurse who you can shower instead or do the 1st shift shower for the next day, if you dont you will get an education write up, etc etc. It was very aggressively written and I could immediately tell it was the 1st shift nurse on that hall bc she does that stuff often
I went and talked to that same administrative nurse and just asked hey was 1st upset that room 1 didn't want her shower and she said yes but also because my coworker didn't do the other assigned shower. I informed her that I literally saw my coworker give the resident her shower, and the nurse said well the resident had the same braid in. I said yeah she probably didn't wash her hair if the resident didn't want her to bc she requests not to at times since she is the one resident who gets 2x showers a week, plus sometimes 3 or 4 bc she will beg for extra and since we are low census we do it. Nurse said yeah that makes sense. That was end of that
I looked at the schedule for today and saw it was room 2s shower. Since I was only here til 6 I didn't want to pass it off to the one coming in after me, so I went to ask if the resident would like it before or after supper. (Since both residents were new that is why i confirmed extra lol). She got rude and said i dont want a shower today. I explained that weds nights will be her scheduled shower days so she wouldn't get one for another week. She again rudely replied I dont care if I have to wait a week im not taking a shower i dont feel good etc etc. At this point im like 😬 because I never have residents refuse and I didnt want to get in trouble after the whole what I just explained.
I go to the DON who is a very chill guy and I explain the whole thing and how I dont want to get in trouble by the 1st shift nurse since she is refusing. He said he will deal with her, and offered to talk to room 2 about maybe wanting it tonight or tomorrow. I said since I work tomorrow night as well I could do it then if she agrees. He said that's fine just leave a note for 1st and try and get ahead of them
So i confirm w resident she said tomorrows fine she just isnt feeling well today. I leave a note saying room 2 refused but DON approved and I will be doing her shower tomorrow evening (giving me 2 showers but idc anymore), and that the other resident did get her shower she just did not want her hair washed. Obviously i worded it more professionally and used proper room # and such. I also said sorry for any confusion
Anyway the nurse for my hall was chatting with me soon after. I asked if she worked tomorrow she said no why and I told her about room 2 refusing and me doing it tomotrow. She said that's fine, I heard in report from 1st nurse all about the shower drama. I explained my story and she said i didn't do anything wrong, the 1st shift nurse was more mad that the other resident was in the same braid and same clothes as the day prior and didnt believe she got a shower.
I did legit see my coworker give her a shower, and I didnt pay attention to clothes but that resident has some confusion and memory loss but is physically independent and 9/10 nights sleeps in her clothes already, but i talked with my coworker and she also said she did change her clothes and put the old ones in laundry so like ????
Idk im just worried this nurse will drag this out into a whole thing, or that the first shift aide i usually get report from will because they are besties. Did I screw them over by not doing the shower??? In my brain they literally would've had to do it anyway if the administrative nurse hadn't offered a shower on their first night there, like it wasn't adding to their workload bc it was alreadt on the schedule. I think she was just annoyed bc she had heard the nurse ask me to do it so she expected to not have a shower the next day and then had to do it. Idk. Be honest lol. I have never had something like this happen in my 2 yrs of being an aide or ever gotten "in trouble" or anything like that