Review of Allegations of Abuse Procedures
Contents
Definition of Abuse
“Abuse is the maltreatment or mishandling of a consumer which would endanger the physical or emotional well being of the consumer through the action or inaction on the part of anyone, including an employee, intern, volunteer, consultant, contractor, visitor, family member, friend, acquaintance or others, whether or not the consumer is, or appears to be, injured or harmed. The failure to exercise one’s duty to intercede on behalf of a consumer also constitutes abuse” – New York State OMRDD
All Allegations
of Abuse are also considered and processed as Serious Reportable
Incidents. This is an important detail
as it requires that both sides of the OMR-147 document be completed in the
reporting of the allegation. Allegation of Abuse reports are due to the Administrative
Services within 24 hours of the event.
Types of Abuse
To gain a good
understanding of the types of abuse allegations and incidents that are
considered and what the various types are defined as, please refer to the link
below that provides the “At a Glance” chart of allegations and incidents.
There are four
of the types of abuse that are most frequently reported at Heritage
Centers. They are
Physical- hitting, slapping, shoving. Any type of physical
punishment or use of unnecessary or unauthorized physical intervention.
Verbal/Psychological- tone of voice, scorn, contempt,
including yelling at someone, especially in front of others.
Sexual- any sexual contact between a consumer
and an employee, intern, consultant, contractor, volunteer of an agency is
prohibited. Sexual activity between
consumers is considered abuse unless they are both considered consenting
adults.
Neglect-
failure to provide programming of care to meet consumer’s needs.
Gross error in judgment, inattention or ignoring may be considered
neglect.
Study the “At a
Glance” chart for more detailed descriptions and other forms of abuse and
incidents.
Activity
Open the attached link, print the document, complete the exercise and send the paperwork in with your evaluation when you complete the course.
Recognizing our role in preventing allegations
Perceptions
play a large role in what we report during an allegation or incident. What we see, hear, perceive and interpret all
influence what we report. There can be
differences as a result of time elapsing between the incident and the actual
interview or report writing. People in
the community may have an entirely different perception of what is going on
that can lead to an allegation or incident.
We must remain factual, and
prompt in our reporting.
In the
completion of our day to day jobs, we are all required under law (“mandated reporters”) to report any suspicions
of abuse, either supported by physical evidence or if received verbally from a
consumer. Reporting is based on physical
evidence and/or verbal reports, regardless of where the abuse is alleged to
have taken place; home, community, another agency or within our agency.
Do we have a
choice about reporting? No. When you are confronted with any suspicious
physical evidence, or a statement is heard from a consumer, or something you
witness makes you feel uncomfortable or uncertain about the possibility of
abuse, Notify Your Supervisor. Don’t
wait and “think about it”. The failure
to report a potential abusive situation can lead to additional neglect charges
being brought up. If the situation
involves your co-worker and a consumer, you have a responsibility to your job
to intercede on behalf of the consumer.
As soon as the consumer is safe and out of the situation, you must call
the manager on call or your supervisor to report your co-worker of abuse. We recognize that this is not a comfortable
position. However, consumer safety is
the priority of our job. Developing a
good working team relationship with your co-workers may help prevent this
situation from ever occurring. When
people are at odds, a co-worker stepping in and taking over the task for
another may deescalate the situation so that there is no abuse occurring.
Review the linked Caregiver Characteristics to assist you in evaluating your own characteristics with regard to your care giving habits.
Observation and Prevention
During the
course of your job, it is important that you stay attuned to what is going on
around you. When you pay attention to
the mood of the day, you can often times prevent or defuse a potential
allegation situation by keeping others in a positive state of mind. Many times, stress and the environment create
reactions in people that may lead to misunderstandings and incidents that do
not need to happen. Be mindful of body
language (yours and others), verbal tone, volume, and expression. When these are different from the “normal”
everyday expressions, they may indicate that someone is not happy with a
situation or event. In addition, changes
in the environment can lead to sensitivities that did not exist prior
to the change. When we observe and note
the situations around us, we can often intervene or stave off a possible
incident or behavior situation that could lead to an allegation of abuse or
incident of neglect etc. This is one
goal in working with the consumer. To
maintain an atmosphere of positive experience and quality service is part of
our agency mission.
NOW WHAT?
So, a situation
of alleged abuse has been reported to you.
Now what? There is a formal
process in place that comes into play once an allegation has been made. The first step is to report it to your
supervisor. The Supervisor is the one
responsible for coordinating the process of reporting and ensuring the
necessary forms are completed and completed in a timely fashion. You need to know what your role is in the
process. Remember, when providing the
report of the situation, we want to get only the facts. Don’t let perceptions or time passing, cloud
the facts of the situation. Report
clearly and concisely. An OMR – 147 form must be completed as do various other forms depending
on the specific situation. The Quality
Assurance Department of Administrative Services will investigate the
situation. Short and Long Term actions
will be decided upon. Notifications to
various management and agency staff will be made. Confidentiality is maintained throughout the
investigation and only the Target (the person accused) and the Service Director
are told of the ultimate decision. If
you filed the report, you may never hear what the outcome was. However, it is good to know that you acted in
an appropriate fashion by reporting a situation when an allegation was made and
followed up on. If you are the target
of an investigation, try not to take it personally. Remember that it is just an allegation report
and must go through the process of investigation before a decision is
made. Many of the allegations are found
to be inconclusive or unfounded.
Evaluation
To complete your
participation of this course, please complete the evaluation form here by
printing a copy of it, filling it out and sending it with your “Is This Abuse?”
activity sheet to obtain training credit.
Your documents need to be sent to the attention of
Review of Abuse Procedures Evaluation
This concludes
the e-learning mini course, Review of
Allegations of Abuse Procedures. However,
if you desire more information or training in this area, there are two regular
courses offered that provide more in-depth information. ID
& Reporting Made Easy (GO 105) and ABCs
of Report Writing (GO 106). Both
these courses can be found in the