Suspended without prior write ups

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.

Well, last night after my shift, the DON whose been there all of one week pulls me in her office and says, until further notice, i am suspended without pay for "numerous med errors". one they say is a transcription error, the others she said were errors were actually me giving a routine pain med with a prn pain med (thus signing the two out together). sorry, when the patient requests two, or c./0 8 out of 10 pain, she's getting a prn with her routine. if that's a med error, it's new to me.

funny how just yesterday, tptb were mad at me for calling in with the weekend, stating it was a planned call in, and not believing the doctors note i provided them.

and what a coincidence i am on fmla and they are tired of my days needed off.

i haven't had a write up in well over two years, and haven't had one for a med error in over four. but today, apparently they "found" some.

sorry, had to vent. i now have to wait all the way to monday to find a lawyer and start applying for another job. it's a bunch of b.s. if you ask me. i smell something really fishy around here.

sigh.

Specializes in med/surg, Icu/Ccu. ER, PACU, HHC, LTC.

i feel your pain........i was given a verbal/written warning in dec 05 and after a *meeting* in jan we all decided to play nice together......thw actual write up was for petty bs too........then i decided that i wanted this job and hoped it would be my last till retirement........so being totally unaware, on 4/11 (which was my old wedding anniversary before divorce), i was given another written warning and a 3 day unpaid suspension and made to do the Earn program (mandatory counseling) .......and the counselor agrees the crime does not fit the punishment.......everything i was accused of had been and is done by the others i work with too, but i do not play that game......so i left that day and got my dr to sign for an fmla and i am using my sick time and pto which i would lose if i didn't work out my proper notice for resignation......i am looking for a new job and there are no lawyers close to me that handle work problems.....that day the DON sat there with a smug smile on her face and said..."you know if u are here it isn't good" and that my job was in jeopardy...

and after almost 30 years there.......well they won......i hope i can make myself find a job soon....

:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Sounds like a set up to me. Good luck in finding something better.

(I would have given a the schedule prn and saved the prn for breakthrough later.)

Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.
Sounds like a set up to me. Good luck in finding something better.

(I would have given a the schedule prn and saved the prn for breakthrough later.)

Really with the meds? If you had a pt c/o 8/10 pain and who also has severe back/OA probs, long term pain pt, who is a/o/3 and requests two meds so she can sleep instead of her suffer for an hour or so before i give her the other? not trying to sound rude here, just wanting anothers opinion.

the lady's orders read lortab one q 4 hours atc, as well as one bid prn, so i was in no way wrong giving two at once. she usually took the other bid prn one in the am before/during PT/OT.

i know it's a set up. they are just scrambling for something. anything. it's not something no one else has done. it's something done every day on my floor. but anyways, the admin has it out for me. but due to my fmla, they will have to fire me. i will not quit. they can do whatever they want with their bogus "investigation". when i told her the lady had prn meds, she said she wasn't even aware of it, and would have to investigate further. nice thorough investigation before you suspend someone with no prior write ups, huh. they just want me for my intermittent fmla, and i know it. funny how one day it's this problem, and the next its another whole problem.

anyways tweety thanks for your reply, and for your advice. i know you are a good nurse and have the experience to back you up, i value your advice on these boards. :)

i just was hoping to stay here until the end of the year when i finish school.

Specializes in Day Surgery/Infusion/ED.

The problem with giving the scheduled med and the prn together is you did not have an opportunity to assess the effect of the scheduled med.

I would have given the scheduled med first, reassessed the effect in 1/2h, then given the prn if needed. I would also have looked back to see how many prns the pt has needed in the last 48h and called the doc to request a med adjustment if the pt needed prns three times or more each day.

I hope things work out for you. Employers know it's illegal to to retaliate against an employee who rightfully uses FMLA, but that doesn't stop them from trying.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Good luck. When you explain it like that. Giving two Lortabs at one time is not really that much of a big deal, that's a very common dose. Plus if it was bedtime and it would have helped her sleep, I more than likely would have given it too. It certainly doesn't constitute a med error in my opinion. Sounds more like she needs a sleeping pill, but calling a doc for a sleeping pill at that time of night is not an emergency.

Good luck.

I've been a victim of the hound dogs too, and I feel for you. I once gave an evolving MI 10mg of morphine, and when the cardiologist came in he asked the pt if it helped. Pt said he felt nothing. Doc said "Not even a buzz?" Pt said No. I sent him off to the cath lab and after my shift I was called into the supe's office. Doc got suspicious because the pt hadn't felt anything at all and had ordered a serum tox on the pt, which came back negative. I spent three weeks developing an ulcer waiting for the gas chromo to come back. Turns out the serum tox had been done less than two hours after the morphine was given, so it hadn't been metabolized yet. It showed up in the chromo and my job was saved. A couple of years later I found out that there was an unsigned termination notice in my file. Admin was so sure that I had relapsed that they were ready to terminate me, except the chromo came out in my favor. Someone oopsed and forgot to remove the notice from my file. The reason in the notice was "multiple counseling sessions", or something like that. When I first went back to work after going into recovery, I was being called into the office and being counselled for petty little things. My coworkers were writing me up for everything....I kid you not, once it was because I got a normal temp on a kid at triage and when the kid was called back he was febrile. I was accused of lying on my notes.

Making an even longer story a little shorter :lol2: , you might want to think about finding another position somewhere. Once it starts, it probably won't stop.

Sounds like the pt needed her orders changed to reflect the need for higher pain med doses.

Its bad when we as nurses are always needing to wonder and look over our backs for the next stab in the back. I'd look for another job too.

Specializes in previously Med/Surg; now Nursery.
the lady's orders read lortab one q 4 hours atc, as well as one bid prn, so i was in no way wrong giving two at once. she usually took the other bid prn one in the am before/during PT/OT.

I don't see an error. I'm reading the order the same way you did. For it to be a med error, the order would need to say something along the lines of "Lortab 1 tab BID prn but not to be given with regularly scheduled Lortab." The order was written the way it was so that she could have that extra boost from the prn tab.

I really can't offer any advice about your suspension, except to say that it sounds unfair. I wanted to give you some support in that I didn't see an error.

I've seen orders like the one you mentioned, but the drug was morphine.

Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.

thanks for support...

the woman is on a ton of pain meds, and had been through a month of adjustments. we got her on the closest thing to pain free we could. sleepers did not work for her, made her loopy, as did some of the other meds. other meds didn't work. finally upped the lortab dose and that's when she finally felt the best, so it was left alone.

i'm just disgusted that nurses are looked at like a bunch of junkies, and that we have to constantly worry, at least where i work, of whether or not others believe you when you give a narc. i know it's a set up, and i now have to await this "suspension" to find out what they'll do next. i'm not holding my breath.

thanks, guys.

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