Fired: Practice/personality problems or politics?

[JacknSweetpea]

I'm curious about what kinds of things can get a nurse fired in others' workplace. Sounds like a no-brainer if it's for practice issues or personality problems, but that isn't usually the case in my facility. It is usually for political reasons.....what about all of your facilities?? Thanks in advance:nurse:

[wondern, ASN]

Wow, I guess I'm not really sooo bad after all. It did feel terrible though. It's embarassing to admit but I got fired. It was for going out of the chain of command, more than once, evidently...oh well. I really tried to do the right thing. Yes, I was wrong. I was trying to expose a bully. She wasn't even hard to spot come to think of it! In response for calmly asking for help one AM, she screamed the fbomb in front of patients, staff and God in anger at a coworker, namely me, telling me to get out and got away with it, just one instance of unprofessionalism. I just got to the point where they could keep their hot mess. They made their choice. They could've gotten rid of the bully. How many more can she run off? I know there were 4 nurses in my position before me. I did my good and went like someone's siggy on here says. I can be proud of that. No one can take away my drawer full of letters, cards, and memorabilia from patients, families, docs, coworkers nor my excellent evals, etc., etc, but best of all, the precious memories of all the many lives I've been blessed enough to touch and even help save on occasion. Even if my drawer of memories burned up today, at least I 'd have those memories of doing and fighting for what I knew was right as a nurse and a human being. Bullying is not one of the things I will tolerate...:heartbeat for long nor lying down, anyhow! Nurses have bigger and more important fish to fry, like the more serious one known as patient care. In addition, my charming personality was obviously not fully appreciated.

[flashpoint]

My termination (being asked to resign) was a combination of things. 1. I had a lousy attitude. I was not allowed to do the job I was hired to do and I was a real ***** about it. When I was doing what I was hired to do, I was fine...when I was not doing what I was hired to do, I was not fine. 2. I was an LPN woking in an RN position, covered by my paramedic license. They told me when I was hired that if a qualified RN ever applied, they would give the position to her and I would go back to a regular LPN position. They had five RNs from a neighboring hospital apply for positions and they wanted hired as a "package deal." If all five didn't get positions, none of them would accept. They had their RN, but didn't have any LPN positions available. 3. I expressed a not so favorable position about a fundraiser they did. 4. The ER RN and I were joking with each other about a patient who said everyone died at our hospital...he got suspended, I got asked to resiign. 5. I got in an argument with an RN about a cardiac monitor strip while I was at the hospital with the ambulance service. It turns out that I was right, but they brought it up when they asked me to resign.

For the most part, I think it was my fault...I may have ended up being asked to resign not matter what, but my attitude played the biggest role. The other things might have gotten me fired or whatever, but the attitude gave them the leverage they needed to make it stick.

[coolpeach]

I love my current hospital, but my first hospital was horrible. They DID not fire you. Instead, they would make your life so miserable that you would quit. It was often about politics. You were not allowed to say anything negative about the schedule (because our dear manager made it), and even that day does not work for me was too much of an insult. There were so many ways to get on the bad side. If you did your schedule would be jacked up, you would be called off after already arriving to work, your schedule would be changed in the middle of your days off, and a message would be left on your machine if you didn't show up it was no call/no show. Your assignments would be over the top, bullying would not only be allowed, but encouraged. I was new so I didn't get to experience some of it first hand, but I saw it. People dropping like flies when they just couldn't take it anymore.

[caliotter3]

Was she maliciously keeping silent about the resident's status or something?

She went into the room of a resident that was not assigned to her and opened an antibiotic IV wide open, then ran out of the room blathering to the supervisors that she "found" the antibiotic running wide open. The resident died within hours of receiving the antibiotic bolus and the DON started her investigation by firing this nurse instead of the nurse assigned to the resident. The fired nurse had a reputation in the facility for setting up her coworkers with medication errors and other errors and acting as the tattle tale to the supervisors to make herself look good.

[caliotter3]

Loss of employment would appear to be the least of this person's problems. As far as I know, killing a person is a pretty serious crime. . .

That was my thought at the time. I wondered why she was not arrested for murder. I looked her up on the license website a few years later to see if her license had been disciplined and found her name completely gone. I thought that strange because I had found others that I knew whose licenses were listed as disciplined or delinquent for quite some time. Her name was just plain gone, lock, stock, and barrel.

[systoly]

Spare extreme situations, I think by and large it's very basic. Think about what gets a person hired. The employer believes the employee can or does meet a need. Once this is no longer true, be it perceived or factual, the employee becomes a candidate for dismissal.

[JacknSweetpea]

Usually when someone tells me that they were fired due to "political reasons"....my BS meter goes off too. However, there are some whom are. It happens a lot at my facility. I try to stay neutral and pick my associates carefully. It has worked so far....I've lasted over 3 yrs. where the average hired nurse where I work at lasts approx. 6 mos.-1 yr.. I wonder what they are going to say though when I ask them that I want to be part time?? The gal that does our schedules fills the role of ADON even though she is a CNA! And she has a huge power trip thing going on too!!