so frustrated with work, nursing. vent!

[rehab nurse]

so one day i get dragged into my admins office because i called in sick over a weekend, missed 5 days of work even though i was just scheduled for the weekend. they ask for a doctors note, i give it. i'm still occ coughiing, but ok to work, just a little fatigued. you know how bronchitis can drain all your energy.

next day, at 11 oclock, the DON comes in and suspends me for "numerous med errors". won't explain what or let me see, just suspends me, tells me she'll call me after the weekend.

tuesday we meet, and tells me about my "med errors". one was legit. i transcribed the wrong med. doctor said no harm was done, she just missed one day of her antidepressant. next two were because i signed out two lortab on a lady, charted it on the MAR, PRN sheet, but not the nursing notes. why is that a med error? we don't have time to chart on 10 patients who all ask for pain meds at night. that's why we chart it on the MAR and PRN sheet why the med were given, and if effective. fourth error? forgot to chart a PRN tylenol on the PRN sheet, but it was in the nurses notes.

i was told by her (DON) that she hears i'm a very good nurse from a lot of people, but that good nurses don't make med errors.

then she proceeds to tell me that my coworkers are upset with me, that they are angry. no one was asked on my shift that i work. my main partner went to speak on my behalf, but was turned away.

problem is, i can't go take another job, i have chronic back problems, miss quite a bit of work. i think they're just trying to find a reason to get rid of me. i want to talk to a lawyer, but i can't afford it, you know? i barely pay my expenses now. i'm in school for my RN, doing it distance, just gotta take the clinical and i'm done. as an LPN, i have hardly any options.

funny, just three weeks ago, they changed the nurses rotation so that we were all just back on our own units. i was begged to stay on this unit. i have been there longer than anyone else. i know how everything works, i love the atmosphere, the pace, the patients. i don't love the politics and the backstabbing nurses.

is it really like this everywhere? are there any nurses here that like their job? all these people are nice to my face, i never fought with them, we always had laughs sometimes, i never knew they all hated me behind my back. why didn't my unit boss just tell me i wasn't working out on the unit instead of begging me to work there? it just doesn't add up, i'm very suspicious of their intentions, and i don't know what to do. i'm really upset about all of this.

and i know i just let a whole lot of private info out, but i don't care. i had to let it out, or i would just burst. i tried talking to my friends, but they are not nurses, they don't understand.

ok, i'm done venting. i have to work tomorrow and i am going to be followed on my medpass tomorrow, like we are every year with our yearly eval, and i've always passed with flying colors. it's all just so humiliating and infuriating at the same time.

ok, now i'm really done. it has really been a rotten two weeks. aaaahhhh, i feel better now just writing it down.

[MARFEE]

I do fully understand what you are going through. I myself am having a difficult time at work, I'm an RN, but when I am in charge the co-workers are insubordinate, ect....... I am a good nurse and prefer aptient care of taking charge. I will soon be in a chemical abuse program, due to my past, I have kept my license, the BNE did not revoke, suspend, or place them on probation. I have many health problems, in which I still take pain medication, just recently, when I told my Supervisor I was going to be entering in to this program, I was drug tested the following morning! Now, I cannot work until I hear from them. I have legit scripts, but my Supervisor, (after my UA) in her office accused me of diverting drugs! I need to know what can I do legally about these false allegations she made against me! She also said she believed I was on something due to my speech was slurred and my pupils were constricted! I wish I would have had a voice activated recorder! I feel, she does not want to work with me, or the program I will be going through, so instead, push me far enough to resign, in which I will not due to my past history of having a felony! It is hard to get a job just anywhere when a nurse has this on her record! I can't understand why nurses can't just all get along, and do the best they can! I'm not giving up, and neither should you! Show them you are not a quitter!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Vindictive nurse managers will conjure up any reason in the book if there is someone they wish to terminate.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I'm sorry you're going through a rough time.

Sounds like you're being railroaded out of there because you miss a lot of work (you're own words), and that isn't right.

Good luck.