Last week I was forced to care for a patient that is fostered by the pediatric Chaplin on our unit. The chaplain has been very malicious to me since I met her two years ago. The charge nurse and I both had been fired from caring for the patient. She had basically fired every single nurse. I had never cared for the patient but knew I was not wanted, she had verbally explained that to me several times. During the night I was forced to care for her I was very mariculture in my care. I knew she would be all about getting me in some kind of trouble. After I went home that morning, and came back to work my boss was waiting on me. She stated that a formal complaint had been filed against me for harming a patient. I was shocked and very confused. I was written up for the first time for this incident. I was accused by the chaplain of turning the telemetry monitor volume down( I did not), and allowing the alarm to go off for 30 minutes with no intervention. I worked with a second nurse that night, and both of us agree no alarms went off that night. I fought the write up, because it was malicious in nature. However the chaplain was out for blood, and once she found out I would only be written up, not fired, she went strait to the legal department. My boss warned me that this was not good, but since I had never been in trouble before I most likely wouldn't be fired, but would be watched closely for six months. I leave work to return three days later to be terminated. There had been a second formal complain filled for bullying. And I was fired d/t a no tolerance policy. I am a very very nonconfrontational person, and quite shy. I have been bullied actually, since I began working at this hospital. Ironically I was fired for that very thing. I guess my question is, what should I do? I work in the Picu, I have no desire to work in any other area. It is my dream job and it never feels like work. I was a model employee, all of my yearly reviews were without any corrections or issues. I'm so confused and hurt by this. I have applied at the other hospital in town that he Picu and even with my 3 years of experience I was rejected. I feel so alone, and helpless.
I'm surprised no one mentioned this but if it were me, I'd sue the chaplain for slander. You may not get your job back if you were an at will employee but you'd surely get some satisfaction. She chose a really foolish complaint. If you are in an ICU, they can retrieve all those tele records. Your co-worker backed you up. You have good reviews. What of the bullying complaint? Unless there is some witnessed event then she has no leg to stand on. I would go after that horrible woman and put an end to her shenanigans
The thing is, services of personal injury lawyer in such a case will run in low six-numbers, with little to no chance to win back anything but self-satisfaction.
There can be somewhat better chance to sue the entire place or health system, really. Especially if the chaplain really was playing the goddess for a while.
I am so sorry. That's utter crap that you were fired. I am with the call a lawyer crowd on this one. Unfortunately though real life is not like a TV drama and I doubt if wrongful termination suits no matter how seemingly valid end with big settlements very often. Sadly it may end up being in your best interest to move on as best as as you can. You should at least be eligible for some unemployment to tide you over until you find another job.
The thing is, services of personal injury lawyer in such a case will run in low six-numbers, with little to no chance to win back anything but self-satisfaction.
There can be somewhat better chance to sue the entire place or health system, really. Especially if the chaplain really was playing the goddess for a while.
I worked for a PI firm, and all of their cases were on contingency. The challenge will be in getting a PI lawyer to accept a case with such a potentially small reward. I also have a personal experience with a slander case (not a PI lawyer), and no way no how was the fee in six figures.
Getting a lawyer to send a cease and desist letter might work to scare this chaplain from making further such claims. That might be worth the while, but that would definitely come with a fee.
Whoever fired you, with no chance for you to be on some sort of improvement plan, no chance to give input or rebuttal or anything - perhaps they will fall afoul of this vicious individual and find themselves fired.
Is there anyone at all you can speak to? DON, CNO, Hospital President, Chaplain's boss (someone hired her, someone can tame her or fire her), HR Director, anyone?
Talk about bullying. I am sick of this word. It is overused. Not saying it doesn't happen, just I am sick of it.
Never accept a patient with family like this chaplain if you can help it. You should not have taken the patient, given that you knew this miserable individual did not want you caring for her child. Don't do it again.
It seems the monitor should have a record of what settings the alarms were on. Can you check with the people who maintain these monitors?
Is there a camera that shows you going into or out of the room at a certain time?
Can other staff (techs, aides) vouch for you?
The patient suffered no harm, I am assuming. How far will the bosses let this woman go in maltreating staff? Who is she sleeping with, who is she related to, follow the money to figure out why she is so damned powerful. Sorry to be crude. It just makes me mad that she can tear your life apart and disrupt the whole ward with her apparently unfounded complaints.
I guess she's scared for the child's well-being, but this is over the top (to fire you if you had absolutely no c/o against no and had perfectly great reviews).
How long were you an employee at this place?
I do wish you well.
There are no cameras, and the monitors are very old. They do not save that information. It is literally her word as "proof". It's a terrible situation
I think with some monitors they can review the telemetry depending on how the hospital sets them up. I was shocked when the hospital pulled data for competencies and could show that ER had the longest rates of alarming. They are also starting to be able to pull pump data if people program pumps correctly. Like I remember one nurse had a patient where some point during the shift the family messed with the pump and set the rate at 15 ml/hr instead of the actual prescribed rate.
KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN
1 Article; 2,675 Posts
The thing is, services of personal injury lawyer in such a case will run in low six-numbers, with little to no chance to win back anything but self-satisfaction.
There can be somewhat better chance to sue the entire place or health system, really. Especially if the chaplain really was playing the goddess for a while.