Fired at last week of Orientation and need advice.

[Newgradrn13nc]

So I got fired! On my last day of orientation. After reading all the previous posts I know now that it can happen, there was no warning during orientation that you could lose your job. I made a 2 med errors on a new unit having transferred from a previous unit. New unit - made my first error on start of shift. I just got report and was rushed by my preceptor to give a med. I hadn't fully gotten familiar with the patients history.... any ways started giving med to wrong patient, caught it at 1/4 in. reported to physician(he said no worries) 2nd med error- gave iv instead of subq (ebp suggests subq pain med well tolerated for this patient) I didn't know this- was under a different preceptor.

Fired the following week. 2 med errors within a 4 week period. Problems noted- shift stress, I didn't read!, stress, stress, stress.

I was stressed before the shift of my first med error and I was tired at the end of shift with my second med error.

There was another kind of stress- staff vs me stress. I have heard that that too happens. I am sad that I made the errors even though absolutely no harm came to the patient. But I let stress and staff get to me.

Now the advice I am asking for.

I have been told don't put it on my resume. ( I worked 3 months)

Put it on my resume but cite personal reasons for leaving.

Put it on my resume and say what happened ( but who will hire me )

Quit nursing and move on ( my own silent thought)

On a serious note- I have mourned my errors. Wish they never happened, I should have done better. I know now even good people make mistakes. So I want to move on...

Any advice...

[Packnurse007]

I think I would not list it on my resume (many posts may disagree) but it's only a short time to skip over. We have all made mistakes but you should know that nursing has a lot of stress. You sound like you are blaming the med errors on stress- if that is the case you will have a lot more errors. Medication administration is serious business- that is the one time you need to slow down, take a deep breath- check the 5 rights-(or however many there are now) and then RE-Check again!

Best of luck to you!

[MJB2010]

Ok, first things first, This stuff happens. The most important thing is to look, honestly, at how you made the errors. Be honest with yourself. And have a plan for how they will not happen again. Meds are so important, they can kill someone. All of us have made them at one time or another in our career. You need to learn how to tune out EVERYTHING around you and all the stress and pay 100% attention to the meds you are about to give and the patient. You need to be 100% focused and you cannot let anyone rush you. Do your 5 rights every single time and make it a habit. When we rush, we make mistakes. All of us.

I would recommend you put it on your resume. If you always tell the truth, you will not have to sweat it out and worry when getting a job offer of "do they know, or will they find out" when going through the background check. As far as citing reasons for leaving, that is the hard part. What is your manager going to say? Have you discussed it? Do you have any positive references from this location? I would probably tell them that you made a med error, it happened because you were new and rushing, and tell them why and how it will never happen again. You will always do your checks and 5 rights.

If you want to be dishonest, which I cannot endorse, you can leave it off the resume and they may never find out. People do it all the time. The resume is supposed to highlight your work experience you do not have to list all jobs. The "work history" part of the application is where you swear you are telling the truth and being honest and need to list every job.

People have come back from this and you will, too. This is not by any means the end of your nursing career unless you let it be. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the game.

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

What I haven't seen in your post is what you learned from your mistakes.

Safe medication administration is Nursing 101. You can't just say "Oh, well I just let stress get to me", because stress will ALWAYS be there! What specific thing did you fail to do that lead to your mistakes? What is your plan for assuring that you do not repeat these mistakes?

I think you should be honest on your resume and have a plan in place, that you can articulate, for assuring a prospective employer that you will not repeat these mistakes.

[beeker]

Learn from your mistakes and be truthful. Those are big errors, you need to learn from them so as not to repeat them. Find a job that gives adequate training.

[Amistad, RN]

I would put the orientation experience on my résumé. You learned a lot during that orientation and your future managers would appreciate your honesty. Med errors happen for many reasons, big and little ones.

I'm a few months out of orientation and I have made a med error. I felt terrible, but what I learned from that experience was NEVER rush and ask for help. It's better to give meds late then give them wrong. Also try to avoid being interrupted during med pass. I always say, "im finishing up passing this med, and I will be with you as soon as I can". Unless of course a patient is coding or something :-P

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

"there was no warning during orientation that you could lose your job".

Yes there was . That is what orientation is all about. You mess up.. you're gone. Following the facilities policy and procedure for new hires.

On the other hand .. during orientation.. the preceptor is responsible for your actions.

What position / in what area /are you referring to?

[BlueDevil,DNP, DNP, RN]

Well I like the noble approach of telling the truth, but in all honesty, it probably is going to be a big obstacle to getting a new job. All they can say is that you are not a candidate for rehire. You will have to talk about why. Can you sell it as a learning experience? Maybe. The question is, will you even get the chance or will your application get rejected before you ever get an interview?

So I think my answer is it depends. If you can get past the electronic gate keeper and actually look someone in the eye and let them see that you have learned form the past, then yes, I'd tell the truth. But if an electronic application system is going to prevent a human being from ever interacting with you because they see that and decide you are damaged goods and never even meet you, I might not. I might play it by ear, on application at a time, see how it goes. If honesty is getting too many rejections, you might have to try it the other way.

[gcupid]

Do not put that on your resume. In this economy with the over supply of nurses it isn't prudent to do so.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

You mentioned that you moved from one unit to another. So I am assuming that you have other nursing experience, or was this your first position?

If you are an experienced nurse, highlight your entire career with the faciity. You don't need to focus on just the one unit. Your resume reflects your entire time with the facility--what you learned, etc. The most recent unit was the one that was not a good fit for you, as the culture of the unit was not productive for you.

Every nurse makes errors. However, what stands out for me is that the stress of the surrounding unit affected your safe practice. And more than once. This is something you may need to explore, and seek some outside help with. It can only benefit you moving forward.

Finally, there are lots of nurses who are let go before the orientation period ends for a variety of reasons. Most managers know and are aware of this. You need to focus on your entire time at the facility, and not just your new unit.

Good luck!

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Hmm - two opposing camps about listing this on your resume. There is one inescapable fact. When a prospective employer runs your background check, this job will show up because you had FICA deductions & they run your SSN as part of the check. So, use your own judgement but you don't want to be accused of falsifying your application.

A lot of us have been fired. It does not mean the end of your career. It can be a powerful learning experience. Be honest with yourself & own your mistakes. The mistake was due to your actions.... your decisions. It does not matter what the 'contributing factors' were. Make up your mind and change your behavior as needed to make sure that you don't make the same mistake in the future. Just based on the information you provided, it would seem that you need to work harder at tuning out distractions and maintaining focus when you are giving meds.

When you discuss it with potential employers, be honest. Tell them what happened, what you learned and the changes you have made to ensure it isn't going to happen again.

[Caffeine_IV]

I got fired during orientation and listed on my resume. I was able to go back to my prior job and later got hired at another hospital system. I would list it.