Rant here for a min... had to edit some of this in order to publish. Let's see how short and non-specific I can be.
I've applied to over 19 nursing jobs first of all. And I've had issues at the 3 places that actually hired me. I feel as though I need to make two separate post about the incident back in Feb/Mar. So this one just occurred the first week of June. New employer, new DON (who gave me this chance), first day off of orientation and working the weekend, There were 3 halls: one cart for each hall essentially. We used med aides on the carts for 1.5 halls each. Nurses oversaw them and did some of the med pass for them (like I had done that Sat/Sun on the shorter end of the hall. Nurses had to do insulin, IV related things, IM administering etc. We had two nurse including myself who oversaw each med aide there. Just giving a clear picture.
I did not have any issues as far as I could tell. I did everything I was supposed to do and more. Extra notes, extra vitals, ACHS FS (even though med aides did that usually), good charting, asked questions if confused, verified everything, made no narc sheet errors, didn't take meds that made me sleepy etc etc. I worked those two shifts and then off for two days. Well I came in the Wednesday after as scheduled and began taking report. Another non-facility nurse showed up and said they were told to work in my place, that I was being pulled from the floor. So you know that can't be good... I couldn't get ahold of any management and finally got the staffing coordinator for us/staff around 715am. No one had said anything to me which is super annoying and inconvenient. I even saw the messages from our staffing coordinator to their company confirming the info. When I finally talked to her she said that she heard last minute that the administrator/management wanted to speak with me. Whew. Def not good but no one told me. No communication at all. I had to wait about an hour for him/them to get there.
Essentially I was let go and the reasons confused/irritated/shocked me. He/they had their mind made up at the beginning. There was no room for me to talk or explain any behaviors, appeal to them, ask for specific details, talk to the staff/management who hired me- just nothing I could do. He/they didn't care about what I had to say because it seemed obvious that the staff who had been at that facility for some time, were taken at their word.
He/they did give me about 3 examples that he/they stated came from the weekend staff (“several" of them but not specific) who came to him/them after that wknd, concerning my "behaviors" over that weekend.
1. Example: I seemed to take an extra long time doing things such as having to give 3 injections down one hall and apparently taking 45 minutes to do so.
2. Example: I took the wrong cart down one hall for the patients there (wrong patients).
3. Example: I said I had a toothache and proceeded to take a "handful" of pills.
(That was making it short).
To address this-
1. First off, when I tell you that that's a lie, it's the Gods honest truth. I am fast. I worked in the ED and with psychotic BH patients - you HAD to be quick. I am assuming the injections were for the diabetics and at no time EVER did I take that long for those type specifically. Never!
2. Secondly, if you could see the way these carts/halls were divided, you would be confused as hell too. To make that short - 3 halls A, B, C. 3 carts to go along with the halls. B is the short middle hall and it is divided with sides Rt & left to split between the med aids/nurses. It was even confusing for some of the staff they said. The carts aren't labeled and if it's your first day of orientation you can't tell me that you would know the difference!! BUT, yet again, this DID NOT happen. On God! I may have asked which one is which a couple times but seriously ....
3. And third, I did have a toothache that I was on an ABT for. Your point of that? And yes I did take my daily pill pack of medications (which is alot bc I take bariatric vitamins & such). There was one med aide who saw that. But I took 3 Tylenol, 4 Gaba (as prescribed), BP pill, lasix at that time, Aleve gel pill, probiotic (for ABT effects), Benadryl, MVI, Biotin & Collagen. I think that's all - if not, you get the point. So again, what is your point? No patient or family member saw this occur. Only who I said, and I was behind the nurses station in the back. So, because I was hired with a consent order in place, does that make me a likely candidate to be doing illegal drugs right there in front of someone? (Maybe some people would but I def would not. They didn't even ask for me to do a drug screen to check!!) I would have driven there to do it! But also, I guarantee if it was another employee who has been there awhile then they would not have said anything.
The other thing he added was "erratic behavior". Now, he would not elaborate any further. It was final he said and there was no need to go on. And the DON agreed even! But wasn't even present! She was the one who asked me for a chance. How unfair is that? I wanted to know what the behaviors were so I could correct in the future.
Is any of this NOT discrimination!!?? Complete and utter discriminatory actions on their part. What I also noticed is that the weekend supervisor was back there a lot and seemed very close to the wknd start. She was the only one who should be aware. I felt as if she had to mention it to others? Because some of those actions I would not have even reported - when they know you have this "drug history" they look for mistakes and then sometimes that's all they see!! Maybe someone asked them how I did.
There are multiple unfair factors here. Maybe it's just me? IDK if I can even do anything about this? I wanted other nurses opinions here. I guess I'll stop typing this and just see what responses are then I can elaborate. But I never did those first two things mentioned. EVER. Maybe this "erratic behavior" they see if just my own personality! JFC. But it cost me my job and I feel like this was the last chance for a nursing job.
(The story here is similar to the one in Feb/Mar actually. Just diff specifics. But had the term "insubordination" thrown in there for termination reason, which was SUPER inaccurate. I even had messages from the DON/HR confirming my story. Still got fired and written up. It also cost me trying to get unemployment.)
I have applied for over 19 jobs. Multiple interviews with those jobs. I have tried BH around here where I live. Dialysis I thought about. I think I applied to one of two. Non clinical? Example?
Because I'm not sure I can do that with restrictions of what to do and where, How I have to be observed or have a nurse there who can kind of supervise me.
Dialysis is friendly to nurses with restrictions. It's a perfect setting actually. No worries about controlled substance restrictions, there are none on site and none administered by staff. As a new hire there's a fairly extensive period of time that supervision is required as part of the job requirements so that covers the requirement for supervision. There are clinics in every larger community and most smaller communities, there's bound to be one within a reasonable distance of your location. Like most health care settings about now there are nurse staffing shortages so positions in your locale are likely available.
kbrn2002, ADN, RN
3,967 Posts
Dialysis is friendly to nurses with restrictions. It's a perfect setting actually. No worries about controlled substance restrictions, there are none on site and none administered by staff. As a new hire there's a fairly extensive period of time that supervision is required as part of the job requirements so that covers the requirement for supervision. There are clinics in every larger community and most smaller communities, there's bound to be one within a reasonable distance of your location. Like most health care settings about now there are nurse staffing shortages so positions in your locale are likely available.