Case Group Work #2

CHAPTER 6 Learning Exercise 6.4 L&M 03-03-2021

Situation:
You are a nursing supervisor in a skilled nursing facility. One of your aides, Martha
Greenwald, recently reported that she suffered “back strain” several weeks ago when she was
lifting an elderly patient. She did not report the injury at the time because she did not think it was
serious. Indeed, she finished the remainder of her shift and has performed all of her normal work
duties since that time.
Today, Martha reports that has just left her physician’s office and that he has advised her
to take her 4 to 6 weeks off from work to fully recover from her injury. He also prescribed
physical therapy and electrical nerve stimulation for the chronic pain. Martha is relatively new
employee, so she has not yet accrued enough sick leave to cover her absence. She asks you to
complete the paperwork foe her absence and the cost of her treatment to be covered as a work-
related injury.
When you contact the workers’ compensation manager your facility, she states that the
claim will be investigated; however, with no written or verbal report of the injury at the time it
occurred, there is a great likehood that the claim will be rejected.
Padilla, Francis M.
6.4 How can you best advocate?
The nurse manager should make sure that the work environment is both safe and
conducive to professional and personal growth for subordinates and the nurse manager should
secure that Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) are being followed by the
worker for their safety. The nurse-manager should inform and educate the staff about proper
body mechanics and assuring that staffing is adequate for safely ambulating and turning patient
because it can reduce the incidence of back injuries.
Supporting ideas: Section 8 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Act 85 of 1993)
prescribes the ''General duties of employers to their employees''. Section 8(1) clearly stipulates
that the employer is obligated to provide and maintain a workplace that is safe and without risk
to the health of their employees.
Here are some useful tips for those of you who have NOT recorded the details within an accident
book:
1. Write to the relevant 3rd party (eg supermarket, shop, employer) explaining the details of your
injuries, how they were caused and explaining your accident. Request that they make a record of
it within their accident book. Send the letter by recorded delivery and retain a copy for
yourself (along with proof of postage). This could become a useful document when it comes to
pursuing your claim.
2. Contact the 3rd party where you sustained your injuries. Ask if anyone has made a report. Ask
if there is any available CCTV footage of the accident and if so, request that it is retained.
3. You can take photographs of hazards at work, such as faulty machinery or inadequate work
practices.
4. Seek independent witnesses that can support your version of events. The witnesses must be
independent as they could be cross-questioned should the claim reach court. If you can provide
details of witnesses and these witnesses can corroborate your version of events, your prospects of
successfully claiming personal injury compensation will greatly increase. You can ask colleagues
and co-workers if they would be willing to act as witnesses. Whilst this is obviously a difficult
thing for them to do, we’ve found that many people who are sick of the employer neglecting
their safety at work are more than willing to help.
5. Make sure that you inform your GP, A&E doctors or physiotherapist as to the cause of your
injuries. If they have recorded your injuries as being caused at a certain place and in a certain
way, again, this helps you with your proving liability against a 3rd party.

Allawi, Lovi-Ann
As a unit supervisor and an advocate to Martha Greenwald, the best thing I can do is to help her
write an incident report about her case and will serve as a witness to serve as a proof that
something happened while she was on duty.

Villanueva, Ma. Theresa

My responsibility as a unit supervisor to maintain a cooperative relationship among
health care teams by communicating to my staff and patients; respond to their requests. I will ask
Martha to further elaborate her concern by making a written incident about what happened to her
case because she holds the best knowledge about what happened. Helping her in acquiring
needed documents that will serve as an evidence like physical examination and medical
certificate is my concern and what is the reason and how this kind of incident can be prevented in
the future.
I will call the attention of the compensation case manager in our facility to hear the
concern of Martha Greenwald properly once I have the verbal report of the injury at the time it
occurred. The claim should not be rejected easily if the I have the record to support the condition
of Martha.
For future needs, I investigate the reason behind underreporting of occupational injuries.
It is important for advocate nurse like me to explore strategies to help nurses recognize the
potential seriousness of work-related injuries and illnesses. The increased education and training
that facilitates nurses’ understanding the importance of body mechanics and in preventing
injuries.
Sasan, Richelle Aubrey
The best thing to do to advocate for my subordinate is that I will personally talk to her
and take time to understand the challenges about gather evidences that will provide as a proof on
her injury so that the claim will not be rejected. I will also convince to provide the hospital a
legal proof like for example medical examination and recommendation from her physician
regarding her health issue. I will also advise her to provide the case manager a reasonable written
and verbal report of the injury. Also, it is in the Standard 16 of the ANA (2009) Scope and
Standards for Nursing Administration that nurse administrators should advocate for other health
care providers (subordinates) especially when this is related to health and safety. then after that I
will discuss my subordinates about the 'Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
guidelines as it is about educating staff about body mechanic and how to properly and safely
ambulate and turn patients which can reduce incidence of back injurie ls in health care workers.
Gumban, Alexander Keith A.
As a nurse supervisor I am responsible for managing staff, overseeing patient care and
ensuring adherence to established policies and procedures. As a manager utilizing subordinate
advocacy has to be attentive to their staff by listening, getting to know the staff, taking the time
to be polite of challenges that the staff may be facing, empowering the staff to perform their
tasks and duties to the best of the ability and promoting self-sufficiency.
In the case of Martha, as an advocate I must be able to establish positive and supportive
relationship about her concern to garner the support necessary to address the issue. I will advise
Martha to gather all the pertinent evidences and seek legal advice to support her complaint and
also write an incident report to have a formal recording of the facts related to her workplace back
injury. It is necessary to uncover the circumstances and conditions that led to the event in order
support her claim.