Fired new nurse; what to do now

Nurses New Nurse

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Hello all.

I just got fired this morning from my first nursing job. I was 3 days out from my orientation, and have gotten positive reviews from my preceptors, and my nurse educator, but my first night alone (10/1/12) was a horror. On a busy med surg unit, there were 5 RNs. Total cumulative experience: less then 2 years between us all. No charge nurse ( she was on another floor with her own team), and we were all so stressed out because we all had questions and no answers.

My problem came about because I didn't administer warfarin from a prior shift (from a couple of hours prior to me coming on shift). I caught it, but I couldn't locate my charge nurse to ask, and when she did come up several hours later, quite frankly, in the utter chaos of the floor, I forgot to ask. At that point it was about 6 hours late, and then when I did remember, I tried to find my charge and ask, and she wouldn't (or couldn't) return my calls. I didn't administer the med because I was afraid of what administering it so late would be. I looked it up in a drug book, and all it said was to take it at the same time everyday.

So, yes, i made a mistake, and I have learned from it. The patient is OK, but I lost my job. I am embarrassed, but i don't know how to explain this when (if) I get another interview.

Any suggestions?

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Im too new myself to give any good advice, but just know you are not the first Nurse to make a med error and you wont be the last. You seem to be very concientious about your med pass because you tried to call for help and you looked up the med in the drug guide book. Good luck to you.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Wow. Fired for 1 mistake? That is ridiculous.

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sorry to hear that! theres always next time and me too are not even an RN (still not passed the exam) and no experience at all so i better learned to your experience..!! i feel that because of just a new RN,,maybe you need more support and help and it is not given to you..hayy! really sorry for the lost of your job and just learned from your experience..Goodluck

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Specializes in Step-down, cardiac.

I cannot imagine getting fired for not administering a single medication. That seems absolutely insane, especially for a new nurse. At the absolute worst, I would think you *might* get written up. I'm a new nurse fresh off orientation, and I'm lucky that although I'm on a very busy, high-acuity floor, I have great charge nurses who are very helpful. If I did that, I don't think they'd do anything except ask how they could have helped me prevent the issue so it doesn't happen again. I hope you find a job at someplace more normal and where they support you better!

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I was released from orientation too because of not passing an advanced math calculations. I was on my 5th day on the floor, being able to independently take care of a patient and I felt I was doing good so far. We were supposed to have a meeting with my preceptor, educator and manager but the moment I stepped in the office, my manager told me that she's releasing me from orientation since I failed the advanced math test. And that's it. Was that even fair?

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I'm still in shock myself,since I had gotten really good reviews from my educator and preceptor just prior to this. I have learned a very painful lesson though.

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Specializes in pediatrics, school nursing.

It sounds to me as if this facility was not very thoughtful with their staffing decisions that night and would rather fire an inexperienced nurse rather than face questions about their inadequate staffing decisions :( I am sorry you had to go through that, I truly don't think that you should have been fired for that...

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Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.

Not having your charge nurse on your floor means you had no charge nurse at all, which is ridiculous with the level of inexperience you stated was on the floor. Was the nurse who missed the med on her shift reprimanded at all? Was the "charge" asked why she didn't help/intervene? I agree it's too harsh to fire you over this.

My suggestions should something similar ever happen to you again:

*Call the charge if she is on another floor when you have a question, rather than waiting until you happen to see her so you don't forget you had a question

*If charge is not available, you should have a nursing supervisor you can go to for questions as well

*You might consider calling another floor's charge. My ortho floor occasionally gets medical cases with situations we're unsure of or unclear how to put in an unfamiliar order set; we'll call the med/surg or medical floors to ask questions

*For a med given q24h like warfarin, synthroid, etc, my understanding is that giving it a little early or a little late (within a window of a few hours) will not be an issue but check how it's given (with/without food, were there any other meds to be given etc). Does your facility have a 24 hour pharmacy? They can be a great resource too for any med questions.

So sorry this happened to you. Keep your head up.

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ACK! The pharmacy! Yes, we do, and it never even entered my mind to call them--of course they would have known! Thank you for suggesting this! (I will remember this in the future)

And no, the prior nurse didn't have any reprecussions. Well, at least none that I am aware of; she had a pretty frantic day that day as well, though. We had a actively dying patient that required dilaudid every 2 hours (why she wasn't on a PCA pump is beyond me), and a nekkid gentleman that was determined he was going to charm the staff by umm...."waving" at us. :) Then the pt that was on Lasix and required 2xasssist to the BSC every 30-45 minutes. And 1 aide for 18 rooms. No wonder I cried on this, my first night live.

But.....life goes on.

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@RNbigheart=what advanced math calculations you not passing? is that the DRUG and Calculations?

sorry for that too! and why you not passing? is it HARD or you dont have enough time to studies before your orientation? Bec. am scared to MATH CALCULATIONS:unsure:! do they give you the exams or test?

hope you find a new JOB and Goodluck to you!:).

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Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.
And no, the prior nurse didn't have any reprecussions.

Hmmm, still seems to me that the RN who missed giving the dose on her shift should take more heat than the following RN!

I actually just wrote up another RN a couple weeks ago (first time I had ever done that!) for not giving an ordered med. I happened to notice that my patient receiving the second of 4 units of blood with doses of lasix between, was slightly hypokalemic on admission. I was glad to see that potassium had been ordered but then noticed the prior nurse did not give it, indicating "med not available" as her reason for non-administering. While my facility does not have pharmacy available 24/7, they were still there at 2100 when the med was due. For nights, although pharmacy is closed, we do have a med room on a different floor where meds can be accessed (usually or our late night admissions). Now, I had just given her the first dose of lasix; what do you suppose her K+ level might have been after the transfusions were complete & she had 3 doses of lasix over the next several hours? At any rate, I was able to give the potassium by retrieving it from the med room although it was given at about 0200 rather than 2100 as ordered. In my case, I really felt it was more laziness on the part of the previous RN; I mean really, it wasn't there so you just decided not to try to get it? (Sorry for the mini-rant)

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