FIRED

Well, once again, I found that llg had posted most everything I was going to say ...

Getting fired is not a career-ender in nursing. Lots of nurses have gotten fired, and picked up and gone on with their careers. Finding another job will be harder in this current economic climate than it would have been in easier times, but you'll survive.

As others have said, you need to be able to show in interviews that you take responsibility for your mistakes, you have thought seriously about where you went wrong and what your weaknesses are, and that you have taken concrete steps to improve/correct them. It's important that you not sound defensive or blame your previous employer for the situation, or badmouth your previous employer in any way (always a no-no anyway).

I strongly encourage you to practice talking about these issues and answering the questions you know you're going to get in interviews, out loud, in the bathroom mirror at home, and with friends or family members, just like you would in a real interview, until you are comfortable talking about them and have worked out what you want to say, before you go on interviews for new jobs -- don't wait until you're in an interview and just wait to see what pops into your head at that moment! As with anything else, the better prepared you are going in, the better you're likely to come across in the interview.

Best wishes! Similar things have happened to lots of nurses who have gone on to have successful careers in nursing. you can get past this.

I just want to say traumaRUs raise very excellent suggestion. Taking some course in that area , will make you confident and it shows that you are determined to get it right and better yourself.
Good Job, traumaRUs

I'm going to agree with the honesty policy 100%. Why start a new job wondering if you are going to be called into administration to discuss your application? As far as the medication errors go, nurses are human too. I don't know what type of medication error occured but in hindsight you now know how to prevent future mistakes. If you don not understand something ask for help from your senior nurses, they have saved my hide for years and are amazing teachers!! I learn something new everyday. Good luck!!

There is an added onus when your error involves pain meds or other controlled substances. When one doesn't chart on these it looks as if they might have stolen the medication. You really, really have to be careful with this in the future. Losing a job over med errors is nothing to being accused of improprieties with controlled meds. And off the record, there are supervisors and managers who will disclose this information in the "grapevine".

oh!....as cali said, this is double trouble......(and i am no one to speak here,) but, always sign those narcs when given!! this is true of any med, but majorly true of narcs.......however, if the patches were on the patients....it would seem to be proof of adm......not like a percocet that once given couldnt be seen. take it as a lesson learned......good luck

About a hundred years ago, I was fired from a nursing job.

I was fired by a non-nurse admin for following my nursing judgment and doing something I was supposed to do. I held a tube feeding on a pt who I had found laying flat in the bed with tube feeding coming out of her mouth. Her lungs were clear, and she was breathing fine. I held the feeding for 8 hrs because that's how long it took the doc to call me back. The pt was overweight and was not diabetic, so there was no issue w/ nutrition or blood sugar.

The admin didn't know any better and fired me, though. I hated the job so I didn't fight it.
I had worked there for a year, so I had to put the job on my resume.
However, I wrote that I had resigned. Yes, I was not truthful. It never did come back to bite me. I no longer put that job down at all, as it was so long ago.

However, your situation is a little different. Three errors of omission w/ narcotic meds is something to be concerned about.
I would take a few days and review med administration and charting before you try and get another job. Also, maybe you should ask for extra orientation next time.