And The Reason Nurses Don't Get Fired

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I've enjoyed the "Reasons Nurses Get Fired" thread. A member suggested another thread on why nurses don't get fired. So I'll bite . . .

Nurse did not get fired for having sex with patient's husband while patient was on hospice, dying. Nurse is now openly dating patient's widower.

Nurse did not get fired for dating frequent flyer patient, even after being on "Ice Road Truckers" or "Deadliest Catch" or one of those shows (I'll confess to not knowing the difference) with him.

Nurse manager did not get fired for having a drawer full of boxes of Morphine 10 mg. tubexes. Hundreds of boxes of 10 tubexes each. Instead, staff was investigated by FBI and DEA (which really riled up the neighbors as I lived on a military base at the time, and everyone was worried that it was their security clearance under investigation.) Instead, nurse manager was "demoted" to nursing supervisor on days, and was forbidden from carrying the narcotics keys.

Next?

[CelticGoddess, BSN, RN]

Nurse did not get fired for giving a non-diabetic patient insulin. The nurse gave insulin to the wrong patient. Pt had to be sent to the ED.

Nurse did not get fired for not passing meds but signing off she did. She was counseled about giving meds.

Nurse did not get fired after having a physical altercation with another staff member. Just transferred to a different floor.

2 of these are the same nurse.

[caliotter3]

Nurse did not get fired for sleeping 75% of the time on night shift, directly in the line of sight of the house supervisor. This same nurse did not get fired for pre-pouring and hiding in the med cart, what meds she actually administered during her shift. Nor did the same nurse get fired when it was discovered that she falsified all of the BG readings that she never actually performed. You should have heard what the astute CNAs had to say about her (sometimes within earshot of the house supervisor). I always wondered what she had on the supervisor that caused the supervisor to ignore the transgressions.

[NurseBlaq]

Nurse did not get fired for stealing a whole pharmacy shipment of oxycontin, percocet, and morphine tablets. Instead of reporting the nurse, building administration was dumpster diving because she told them maybe it was accidentally thrown away.

Nurse did not get fired for being high at work and being caught with insulin needles, she's not diabetic.

Nurse did not get fired for narc count being off literally every time she worked and staff refused to count with her.

All of these are the same nurse and this is over a course of a year. She went to two other facilities, that I'm aware of, and did the exact same thing. She now has lost a nursing license due to several other nurses finally calling the board and reporting her themselves for fear of a patient dying.

[Fiona59]

Nurse did not get fired for being totally nasty human being and verbally and mentally abusing her coworkers. She's sweet as fructose to her managers and belittles coworkers within earshot of patients. An entire shift loathes her.

But hey, she has a license and a pulse.

[Guest219794]

1 hour ago, Fiona59 said:

Nurse did not get fired for being totally nasty human being and verbally and mentally abusing her coworkers. She's sweet as fructose to her managers and belittles coworkers within earshot of patients. An entire shift loathes her.

But hey, she has a license and a pulse.

Claiming that all she needs to hold a job is a license and a pulse is just wrong.

She must have reliable transportation as well.

[panurse9999]

nurse did not get fired for blowing off a new hire she was supposed to train, but ignored completely during entire shift. Same nurse not fired for same conduct, when a different new hire leaves the job within a 2 day window. Same nurse not fired when yet another new nurse is assigned to this nurse for training , and she blows off the new hire yet again. Same nurse not fired when new hire asks to be trained on a different floor, because her trainer refused to train. Same nurse prefers to score points with CNAs by doing their job instead of hers. And this nurse works consecutive 16 hr shifts x 5 days a week. Anyone guess why this nurse drives out every new nurse that comes through the door? And management is stupid enough to keep assigning her to new hires.

[caliotter3]

36 minutes ago, hherrn said:

Claiming that all she needs to hold a job is a license and a pulse is just wrong.

She must have reliable transportation as well.

Agree. I once entered an extended period of unemployment in extended care when my car bit the dust. Another nurse I met in a different geographical location said that she kept it a secret from the agency that her car had been repossessed. She used the bus system. Since I could empathize with her I did not complain about the ten or fifteen minutes her walk from the bus stop made her late to relieve me.

[Davey Do]

LOTS of situations will come to mind eventually, but here's one:

Brand new nurse at WRMC refused to work the floor or sit on a 1:1 on MN geriatric psych shift. The only other position was that of the charge nurse, but the new nurse was an LPN and only RNs can be charge nurses.

The house supervisor spoke with the nurse and she opted to go home. Administration contacted the nurse the next day and offered her a day position on another unit!

New nurse did not come back to work, even though administration tried contacting her several times.

Administration didn't want to lose a valuable employee like her!

[caliotter3]

32 minutes ago, panurse9999 said:

nurse did not get fired for blowing off a new hire she was supposed to train, but ignored completely during entire shift. Same nurse not fired for same conduct, when a different new hire leaves the job within a 2 day window. Same nurse not fired when yet another new nurse is assigned to this nurse for training , and she blows off the new hire yet again. Same nurse not fired when new hire asks to be trained on a different floor, because her trainer refused to train. Same nurse prefers to score points with CNAs by doing their job instead of hers. And this nurse works consecutive 16 hr shifts x 5 days a week. Anyone guess why this nurse drives out every new nurse that comes through the door? And management is stupid enough to keep assigning her to new hires.

More than once, I have noticed a pattern of a 'queen b...' nurse who runs off the new nurses, usually quite blatantly, with the employer's not always tacit agreement. Why would she do this? Of course! Look at the schedule she is protecting, not to mention the cozy little set-up she has with the (extended care) client family. Agencies just love to protect and nurture these little empire hell hole cases. Also happens in facilities with only small differences in execution of the modus operandi.

[panurse9999]

2 minutes ago, caliotter3 said:

More than once, I have noticed a pattern of a 'queen b...' nurse who runs off the new nurses, usually quite blatantly, with the employer's not always tacit agreement. Why would she do this? Of course! Look at the schedule she is protecting, not to mention the cozy little set-up she has with the (extended care) client family. Agencies just love to protect and nurture these little empire hell hole cases. Also happens in facilities with only small differences in execution of the modus operandi.

This was a nursing home, and the nurse who ran off every single new hire was obviously high on meth, had fire-engine red bloodshot eyes every day, would giggle, scream and maniacal laugh so she could be heard everywhere in the facility, and never actually did a med pass, except for the alert patients who knew their meds. She was in the click, adored by CNAs, and was probably making close to 6 figures annually with constant over time. Facility loved her because quality care be damned, this nurse was a greedy sure thing.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

I hope the Chicken Little "loose" my license crowd reads this thread...