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Chiba hospital puts staff member on standby after controversial social media posts emerge

CHIBA (TR) – Chiba University Hospital has ordered a staff member to stay on standby at home after anonymous social media posts describing inappropriate treatment at the facility went viral.

The hospital has been conducting an internal investigation since the January 6 after receiving multiple inquiries about whether posts on X, claiming to be by a nurse and describing inappropriate treatment, were indeed made by a hospital nurse.

According to Chiba University Hospital, the staff member under investigation was ordered to stay on standby at home on January 9.

Chiba University Hospital put a staff member on standby after the emergence of controversial social posts (X)

“I always cover up incidents because it’s a hassle to write about them”

The posts caused a stir on social media, which caused the hospital to launch an investigation, reports the Chiba Shimbun (Jan. 9).

The inappropriate posts from the account in question were made from around the fall of 2023. One post read, “I always cover up incidents because it’s a hassle to write about them.” Another said, “I pretend to have given them medicine and secretly throw it away.” Regarding patients who complain of pain, another read, “It makes me even more angry when they complain of pain in front of me! I tell everyone that they’re not in pain and don’t even ask for painkillers.”

There were also posts that seemed to treat a patient’s death lightly. One read, “Apparently, the monitor was ringing all the time, and no one noticed, and he was in cardiac arrest!”

Since the posts raised the possibility that the person in question was a nurse at Chiba University Hospital, director Seiji Otori made a statement saying that “the hospital will respond appropriately.”

Medical community responds

Members of the medical community responded to the controversy.

A person who identified as a nurse wrote, “Doesn’t she think anything about the fact that ‘cardiac arrest’ is a matter of life and death? I’m a nurse too, and I’m busy every day, and there are patients who need my help, but I feel responsible for what I did and what happened.” The person went on, “Above all, I love this job. This person is not suited to be a medical professional. I think they would be able to work more energetically in another profession.”

On the other hand, there were voices pointing out that the reporting system must have problems.

A person who identified as a medical profession agrees that reporting is cumbersome. But they added, “The rule at my workplace is that the person who discovers the incident writes the report. We have to write everything ourselves, from the situation when we discovered the incident to the improvement measures. If necessary, we interview the people involved and submit it together. It’s not uncommon for a problem that occurred during the day shift to be discovered during the night shift, and then after the night shift is over, we have to interview the people involved during unpaid overtime.”

Another user pointed out, “Even if the nurse’s actions are unacceptable for a medical professional and are out of the question, incident reports take time to create, so minor incidents [such as nearly falling] are often overlooked.” They suggested, “In order to use incident reports effectively, I think they need to be concise so that they don’t take too much time to create.”