Unfair promotion?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.

Sorry guys but i'm taking a prof roles and issues class and we debate a lot in class so i wanted to post this...

my nursing instructor (shes phd so i fig she knows her stuff) says that in the past she worked at a certain hospital and there was a male nurse there....well this particular male nurse got caught stealing meds from a pt. for himself...well he was caught and management sent him to a rehab program for 4 weeks or something...well after that 4 weeks management let him come back to his job and promoted him to VP of nursing (whatever that is). My teacher said there were many other qualified nurses there ready for the job (ones who werent caught stealing meds) but management passed them up bc they wanted to keep the male nurse...she posed the question, if he were a she would management done the same thing? im sure there may have been other issues but i am thinking no matter what the gender of the nurse is if they were caught stealing meds that warrents getting fired not promoted?? anyone else have an experience like this?

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Usually, diverting meds is considered theft and the employee gets fired....a police report may also be filed. It's amazing that this nurse was promoted to VP, whether male or female! That's probably one of the worst cases of politics I've ever heard. Stealing anything from an employer or patient should result in termination. wow.

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The real world ain't always pretty or fair. Behavior of this sort isn't confined to nursing. Nepotism, cronyism, and the good ol' buddy network seem to be rampant in AR. At least outsiders could get that impression from the seemingly never ending articles on the subject in the local newspapers.

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Specializes in Psych.
Usually, diverting meds is considered theft and the employee gets fired....a police report may also be filed. It's amazing that this nurse was promoted to VP, whether male or female! That's probably one of the worst cases of politics I've ever heard. Stealing anything from an employer or patient should result in termination. wow.

Yes, exactly. Then again, a police report could initiate unwanted publicity. In a perfect world, this person would never be heard from again. Unfortunately, if he were promoted to a managerial position, he would most likely no longer be handling meds, (in the eyes of some, problem solved) and the facility's liability would be at less risk, especially if said thief threatened some sort of legal action if he were reprimanded/fired.

What a world we're livin' in.

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Specializes in ER.

There have been several comments on the board about people coming back from drug rehab and getting day shift ahead of others or monday to friday. This seems to be a similar situation, and based on those reports I would say yes, female nurses have gotten plum jobs ahead of their peers. They get them ( I think) because employers have to make reasonable accomodation to people with disabilities.

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

There's always more to the story. People make presumptions based on gossip and what they think is the truth. I find it really hard to believe he was given a promotion because he was a male nurse and they didn't want to loose a nurse. But maybe I'm cynical. That they gave him rehab and a chance to keep his job because they didn't want to loose a nurse I believe. But that they promoted him to keep him, I don't.

Perhaps the promotion was earned? Perhaps he was the only one who applied?

Perhaps it was earned and then given because VP's don't have to pass narcs. To me that's really not a good reason to give someone a promotion.

Nursemaa, not always to nurses to divert get fired and a police report filed. Here, they are reported to the board and given the chance for rehab.

I don't think fresh out of rehab is the time for a promotion, but I don't have the full story, just one person's (perhaps bitter) version of it.

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Just so you don't think I'm being too harsh, I firmly believe in rehab and then allowing the nurse to come back. We do that here too for nurses who use drugs. But theft from your employer is grounds for firing in most organizations, so I suppose that's why the 2 cases I know of got fired. Others who use (but didn't steal) are referred to EAP and rehab, and allowed to return with restrictions. I agree there must be more to the story. I'm sure the rumors were flying about this situation, so it would be hard to sort out the truth.

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Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.
Yes, exactly. Then again, a police report could initiate unwanted publicity. In a perfect world, this person would never be heard from again. Unfortunately, if he were promoted to a managerial position, he would most likely no longer be handling meds, (in the eyes of some, problem solved) and the facility's liability would be at less risk, especially if said thief threatened some sort of legal action if he were reprimanded/fired.

What a world we're livin' in.

that is what my prof said, she said that their line of thinking was that they needed to get him away from the meds but they didnt want to lose him.

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Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.
There's always more to the story. People make presumptions based on gossip and what they think is the truth. I find it really hard to believe he was given a promotion because he was a male nurse and they didn't want to loose a nurse. But maybe I'm cynical. That they gave him rehab and a chance to keep his job because they didn't want to loose a nurse I believe. But that they promoted him to keep him, I don't.

Perhaps the promotion was earned? Perhaps he was the only one who applied?

Perhaps it was earned and then given because VP's don't have to pass narcs. To me that's really not a good reason to give someone a promotion.

Nursemaa, not always to nurses to divert get fired and a police report filed. Here, they are reported to the board and given the chance for rehab.

I don't think fresh out of rehab is the time for a promotion, but I don't have the full story, just one person's (perhaps bitter) version of it.

yes that was my first thought too, maybe he earned it. I, like you, always think that there is more to the story. My prof told us this story in one of our classes (sorry guys nursing school IS my life these days so I have nothing else to talk about lol!)

The only thing I can say about that is that she told us she was management there (she wasnt in line for the promotion) so while she wasnt the one promoting him she knew what was going on i guess? she said that it started a whole uproar at her hospital...i was just thinking that no matter how great he was if he stole meds than should he have gotten fired? I understand sending him to rehab, im glad he was rehabilitated but I was under the impression if you ever got caught stealing meds you were auto. fired and they hosp called the police?

We also talked about one of her former students who was male and wanted to work on a L&D floor. He applied for the job and the NM was so happy and said he was the only male at that hospital who had ever wanted to work on the L&D floor, they hired him but a few days later told him that some of the OB drs who came to that floor had a fit and told them that he could not have the job. He called my prof to ask what he could do since he was discriminated against...never heard what happened after that....

I love debating prof. issues but when I do it just makes me see how much discrimination and ridiculousness that is really out there..i mean why cant we all just get along and be supportive of eachother?? I actually heard one of my profs mention that phrase "nurses eat their young" i thought that was something I just heard on this forum...guess not SIGH...

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