Response to Accusations Letter

Response to Accusations Letter

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have been informed that I have been accused of falsely documenting home visits for patient M.C., who was ordered to have home visits twice a week on July 26^th. This allegation is quite harsh, considering the circumstance that led to this unfortunate incident. In the week that this incident occurred, I had just been assigned an additional three new patients to my already existing fifteen patients. While I completed my Monday home visit for patient M.C. I made a patient identity error which resulted in accidental documentation for a home visit that I had not yet performed. When my supervisor called me to the office and enquired about the home visit, I confidently responded that I did see my patient; however, when I mentioned the patient’s name, the supervisor was quick to correct me that the patient that I had attended to was not M.C. despite documenting and turning in a chart that highlighted I had made a home visit to patient M.C. At this moment, I recollected my thoughts and realized that I had confused two of my newly assigned patients and made a report for the wrong patient.

The biggest mistake I made was wrongly identifying my patients’ names. Throughout my nursing career, I never have, on any single occasion, falsified documents. However, I fully acknowledge that I misidentified two patients during this incident. Foremost, I had only made one home visit with each of my new patients and therefore hadn’t yet established a rapport with them. Thus, when I made the second visit, I mixed up their names and submitted a documented home visit under the wrong patient’s name (HIROC). This patient was, in fact, home at the time of my visit. I want to assure you that this will never happen again and have taken the necessary steps to avoid future mix-ups.

I am highly committed to my profession, and the falsification of documents goes against every professional and personal value I have. In addition, when I explained the situation to my supervisor as outlined above, they mandated that I sign the papers notifying me that I falsified documents for a visit that I never performed. I chose not to argue with my supervisor because I believe it was an honest mistake and did not make any attempts to cover it up. This incident is an isolated case that I believe has been brought about by the huge caseload of patients put under my care. I have also been fatigued from working long hours and during weekends while also serving as a single mother to four children. While these are not excuses, I believe they contributed to the incident despite highlighting on several instances to Home Hospice that they were overworking me. In the future, I will be more cautious when making entries in records regarding patients and also hold myself to a higher standard of nursing conduct. I also believe it was malicious that Home Hospice did not make this report to the board of nursing immediately when the incident happened but held grudges against me, which led them to appropriately decide to make the allegation report against me after changing employment over the long-standing issue of being overworked (WSNA). I have always conducted myself in a professional manner and been an excellent employee, which is why I was surprised when Home Hospice decided to report me to the board. I want to assure you that this incident will not happen again in the future and would like to request that you investigate this matter fully before taking any disciplinary action against me.

Works Cited

HIROC. A Letter Writing Guide for Healthcare Providers and Administrators. 2017, www.hiroc.com/system/files/resource/files/2020-01/Letter%20Writing%20Guide.pdf.

WSNA. YOUR NURSE PRACTICE ACT and the DISCIPLINARY PROCESS a HANDBOOK for NURSES. 2011, cdn.wsna.org/assets/entry-assets/3215/Disciplinary-Process-Booklet-v19-2-0.pdf.