Advice needed problem nurse

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Ok so a little back story. I'm a new don that was a floor nurse for two years before being promoted to adon. Being in that position for 3 month then talked into being the DON. Now our admin was the DON in our facility for a couple of year 5 + with the agreement that she would teach me what I needed to know. Now I think it was a mistake. With company changes by our Corp office she's been in and out of what I needed to know. Anyways I have a great risk management team thats helping me get along.

The problem arises. I have a nurse on my staff and its always mine when they do something wrong but, ours when they do something right.:lol2:. Anyways I have a nurse who's been there before I started she's been written up for documentation, suspended for failure to notify on a critical lab, now she made a major med error gave 20 times the dose ordered. That's in this year alone. She's been suspended last year for leaving the building and there are others. Hr recommends term Based on the incident. Our admin saying we should only suspend her since this is her first med error. My concern is I want her termed because I feel she is a liability? Am I wrong. How many times do you allow someone to keep making errors before you let them go? I agree we all make errors. But the way I read the order it was not a bad order but the argument is it wasn't completely clear. I argue it was clear enough any trained nurse should have known. So now what to do?

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Given what you've written and leaving out all the extraneous info about the administrator, I'd fire her. We have progressive discipline, but we don't have to go through all the steps if the error/infraction is serious enough.

Twenty times the dose ordered????? How's the resident?

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Specializes in pacu.

Think about all the other errors that she has made that no one knows about. Its time to let her go. You keep her around and she will undermine your authority. Think about the impression that the other staff member will have about YOU as a DON if you keep her.

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I was thinking the same thing. So the nurse was dismissed. After I went above the admin. She still tried to keep her. I got written for another thing after she did an audit to find something to get me on. And now I'm getting the silent tx. Which isn't too bad. Think it's time to move on.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Is this the 5th grade? The silent treatment?

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Specializes in acute care and geriatric.

I would ignor the silent tx, I have gotten that myself, and it passes. You did the right thing firing her, she has to clean up her act and hopefully she will. By "forgiving" her problems, she and others will not shape up. It certainly sends the right message and shows that you demand professionalism and high standards.

Good for you!

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I was thinking the same thing. So the nurse was dismissed. After I went above the admin. She still tried to keep her. I got written for another thing after she did an audit to find something to get me on. And now I'm getting the silent tx. Which isn't too bad. Think it's time to move on.

OMG, why would anyone want to retain such a liability, mind boggling, yet...not shocking.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

I worked in a union building for a while and was shocked to see some of the disciplinary files. One nurse had been disciplined more than 20 times for basically the same thing but everyone was afraid to fire him because of the union. I was more afraid he'd really cause harm to a resident. It took a while, but we finally showed him the door.

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Union buildings scare the heck out of me, shocking lack of follow-thru cuz the union causes extreme paralysis..much like a black widow bite does. lol.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych.
ok so a little back story. i'm a new don that was a floor nurse for two years before being promoted to adon. being in that position for 3 month then talked into being the don. now our admin was the don in our facility for a couple of year 5 + with the agreement that she would teach me what i needed to know. now i think it was a mistake. with company changes by our corp office she's been in and out of what i needed to know. anyways i have a great risk management team thats helping me get along.

the problem arises. i have a nurse on my staff and its always mine when they do something wrong but, ours when they do something right.:lol2:. anyways i have a nurse who's been there before i started she's been written up for documentation, suspended for failure to notify on a critical lab, now she made a major med error gave 20 times the dose ordered. that's in this year alone. she's been suspended last year for leaving the building and there are others. hr recommends term based on the incident. our admin saying we should only suspend her since this is her first med error. my concern is i want her termed because i feel she is a liability? am i wrong. how many times do you allow someone to keep making errors before you let them go? i agree we all make errors. but the way i read the order it was not a bad order but the argument is it wasn't completely clear. i argue it was clear enough any trained nurse should have known. so now what to do?

i completely understand your desire to fire this person; however, have you thought about talking to her about her behavior and why she has done the things she has done? maybe there is more to the story. as far as the med error, was it investigated? was the order taken off correctly? was the order read wrong and the nurse gave the med thinking it was right? i am not in management (praise god), but i would speak to her and possibly put her on probation for 6 weeks meeting with her each week and make it clear to her that she may not have a job if she doesn't follow along.

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