Fired after 8 months.... scared.

Nurses New Nurse

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I know I made mistakes and I won't deny it. None of them were medication errors. Some of the listed mistakes I had never heard about and I know I didnt do, others I totally own up too. I know my weak points and what I need to work on, mainly being able to deal with multiple administrative situations at once. When it comes to the clinical side, I am confident and have caught mistakes from other nurses, such as when a patient had a 26 glucose because NS was running instead of the ordered D5W. Of course, I still managed to get in trouble for that situation because despite getting an order for d50, I didnt check the sugar again for an hour and a half, which I didn't realize was too long at the time. Anyways, I firmly believe it was a combination of "not being a good fit" combined with my errors that got me fired. In a way, it is a blessing since it was a toxic work environment to me. My main fear and anxiety is related to finding a new job. I have never been fired from anything before, so this is completely new. I was told by my manager that at 8 months I should have the skills developed to deal with the administrative situations. I feel that is totally unfair. You can't judge a career on the first 8 months. I mainly need support. I have gotten it from some friends, but I am so scared that I won't be able to find a job for a while :/

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Also, when filling out new apps and giving a reason for why I was fired, I am not totally sure what to put down.

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Getting fired is a traumatic experience. I am sorry for what you are going through, but I have faith that you will be able to find another job. All nurses make mistakes, and we learn from it. The good thing is that we will never make the same mistakes again. I hope you do not beat yourself up over that incident at work because you were not intentionally harm the patient, the patient is still alive, and you lost the job already. For the new apps, it is best to give facts only and be completely honest about it. I am kinda curious, you caught an error from another nurse and got in trouble for it? was that patient assigned to you or to another nurse?. Anyway, I wish you the best. Hugs.

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Specializes in Pediatric.

I'm so sorry to hear this.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

This is a wrenching experience for anyone. But it's important to take time to reflect on what happened and figure out what you should do differently in the future to avoid it happening again. I'm a bit concerned about two of your statements. You seem to think that your errors were less serious because they weren't medication errors. This is definitely not the case. The Root Cause of an error, is the most important factor, not context or the consequences. For instance, failure to exercise basic nursing judgement should be treated the same, no matter whether the incident was a 'near miss' or resulted in serious consequences.

The other troublesome statement is your claim that the environment was "toxic".... this implies that you were an unwitting victim of external forces and this should mediate your own actions. If this perception is accurate, please make sure you take appropriate follow-up actions with the HR department. Based on the information you provided, it would seem that your multiple mistakes may have established a perceived "pattern of behavior" that the employer found unacceptable. You may want to make sure that it was not reported to your BON - in my state, it would be a mandatory report.

Moving forward, prospective employers will know what happened because you'll be categorized as 'not eligible for rehire'. So be prepared to respond to questions about your termination. You don't have to go into detail. You can simply summarize and explain what you have learned - so that you don't repeat the error in the future.

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Getting fired is a traumatic experience. I am sorry for what you are going through, but I have faith that you will be able to find another job. All nurses make mistakes, and we learn from it. The good thing is that we will never make the same mistakes again. I hope you do not beat yourself up over that incident at work because you were not intentionally harm the patient, the patient is still alive, and you lost the job already. For the new apps, it is best to give facts only and be completely honest about it. I am kinda curious, you caught an error from another nurse and got in trouble for it? was that patient assigned to you or to another nurse?. Anyway, I wish you the best. Hugs.

At some facilities once the RN accepts the pt, whatever they didn't check becomes their mistakes. This has actually happened at my facility, except the outgoing RN hung D5W on a hyperglycemic pt, rather than NS. The RN that accepted the pt got in trouble for not checking the IV bags and things during rounds at shift change.

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

I'm so sorry, like the others said so well, this is a traumatic experience.

But moving forward- many ppl have been fired and hiring managers know this.

In an interview,you will refer briefly and directly to the incident and then refocus "I believe my skills and experience are a good fit for your org" 'I look forward to working in an org that provides support and values patient safety"

Don't blame and don't use the word "fired"

Be honest "After thinking about why I left, I see the things I should have done differently. I believe I am wiser now and would like to prove that to you"

Avoid referring to medication errors, you do not have to go into detail. Good luck! keep your head up :)

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