And The Reason Nurses Don't Get Fired

[Ruby Vee]

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?

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

Nurse not fired for infusing a whole bag of insulin as a piggy back instead of patient's dilantin.

Nurse not fired for giving unordered blood transfusion.

[Ladybug 123]

On 5/14/2019 at 4:14 PM, CelticGoddess said:

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.

Manager did not get investigated for covering up nurse neglect of patient thrown into over capacity room in active delirium cries until die all alone

[Serhilda, ADN, RN]

Sleeping on the job is a common one.

One nurse goes to a fast food joint and regularly takes an hour lunch break. This nurse had a patient decline, had a rapid response called, all while being off site. Still works there. Still goes off site.

Another nurse had an anger problem and periodically would break equipment during her tantrums. She broke our downtime printer, a phone, and part of a WoW. I don't think she even got a talking to.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

I've worked with nurses that stole from work, both from the employer and from residents. I've worked with nurses that slept on the job. I've worked with nurses that showed up to work obviously impaired and were allowed to carry on like nothing was wrong. One that stands out is the nurse that was so impaired she got pulled over by the police on her way to work and instead of getting arrested she somehow convinced the officer to bring her to work. There were a couple of nurses that were suspected of diluting liquid morphine and signing out prn narcotics that they probably never gave. Kin of weird when a resident never, and I mean never has a need for that prn pain pill except when that nurse is working and suddenly they need the max dose allowed. They all left eventually, either of their own volition or when management finally had enough of a pattern of behavior to fire them.

[Oldmahubbard]

In reading through these, it is apparent that being fired, or not being fired, often has little to do with performance.

In my experience, people are usually fired because they are personally disliked. And this can be for the most trivial reason.

[ShadowNurse]

Oh, and the nurse who repeatedly dosed twin toddlers with tracheostomies with PRN Tylenol despite there being no indication for it and no other intervention on night shift. That was her response to anything and everything. Zero nursing judgment whatsoever. I took report from her once. Her first comment as I arrived was, "Have you gained weight?" I was so stunned that I just stood there a moment then asked how the night was. Thoroughly unpleasant and incompetent person.

[HeartThrobNurse]

The nurse who was not really a nurse will not be fired.... She was an imposter working for a scam company.lol I know that sounds crazy but I just recently found out that people really do this! I enrolled in a clinical study only to find out that the perpetrators were trying to steal pertinent identifying information from me like my SS number and fingerprints. The people were scam artists and not really nurses or healthcare professionals at all. If all of the people in that conglomerate are losers, that phony nurse will not be fired either.lol and smh

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

11 hours ago, Oldmahubbard said:

In reading through these, it is apparent that being fired, or not being fired, often has little to do with performance.

In my experience, people are usually fired because they are personally disliked. And this can be for the most trivial reason.

Hmmm, my response is different as I live in Australia. Due to FairWork Australia, unions and other legislation it is difficult to give a "first and final". Everything must go through the process of informal counselling, remedial education, formal counselling, performance improvement plans (with check points to see if meeting goals), more HR meetings and then you can be fired.

It pretty much needs to be gross negligence to fire someone on the spot (and have to pay them 4 weeks wages).

[Ashley_SF, BSN]

Nurse gave patient hectorol instead of zemplar because "I couldn't find the zemplar" and "they're basically the same thing."

She didn't consider that maybe said patient had an adverse reaction to hecterol which was why she was prescribed a different vitamin d analog.

[StrwbryblndRN]

These posts are sad.

I have worked with a new nurse who did get fired for not being good enough after orientation. She was wonderfully sweet too.

[2BS Nurse, BSN]

"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."

Thank you for making me laugh this morning!!!!!