Within the past month, one person has been fired, and another given a leave of absence because of documentation that I provided to two different nurse managers. In the first incident, I was pulled to another floor, and found a serious med error (KCL given instead of Kayexalate). I wrote the girl up who had made the error, and she was terminated because it was simply the last in a long list of similar errors. I went to the manager in ICU with two other staff members about one of the nurses who was being verbally abusive with patients. He was given an indefinite leave of absence. I do not feel any responsibility for what happened to these nurses. Both were seriously compromising patient care, and were responsible for their own actions. However, now some of my co workers are telling me they don't trust me, and that they think I will be watching them, waiting for them to make a mistake so I can write them up too. I've also been warned that I better "watch my step," because there are a few people who will be waiting for me to make a mistake so they can write me up. I am very surprised at the response I am getting from people I have worked with for years. Some of these same people complained about the nurse who was abusive, but did not want to take it to our manager. Are we as nurses starting to get the attitude that it is OK to protect those who provide poor care?
