Got fired.. Need support

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It was my first nursing acute care hospital critically Ill patients. I got fired yestarday.. It feels terrible a big hit to my already lack of confidence in nursing.. So after my 2 months orientation.. My second week on my own. A patient was admitted on a critical drip. Later 4 hrs after admission they couldn't find the drip.. That the patient needed to survive. Took them 3 hrs to make up their mind.. Finally they decided to discharge the patient.. At this time I was working on admission process, paper work etc.. I finished half of it.. Still I had to do the assessment in the computer. Since the patient is being discharged. I thought that I didn't have to do it.. It was already late.. I was in the patient room comforting the patient and his wife who was crying.. Then after the ambulance came.. I went home.. I didn't complete the rest of the admission process.. It was almost 10 pm. I worked since 7 am that day. Yesterday I get a phone call from assistant manager. I explained to her the situation.. Then half hr later the hr call me.. They said this was my last warning. Btw i never had any warning.. And she said I'm terminated.. I've been down.. Stressed. Thinking about it.. I wanted to put that position on my resume.. Btw this hospital lacks good management.. Bad review.. High ratios of patients.. Unsafe.. I never felt that I was providing good care.. I was working like a robot.. I was careful to not make med errors... Should I put this on my resume.. Working for 3 months? I don't know if hospitals would hire me.. I have 2 side jobs, school nursing and Homecare.. .. Please give me your input.. My confidence is shot.. I wish they had offered me to resign.. I really appreciate ur help and support.

I know getting fired is devastating (been there, did that). Even more devastating when you are a newbie.

It was THEM, not you. The patient never should have been transferred in the first place, the facility did not have the ability to provide the required level of care. Somebody had to be thrown under the bus for this mess.. and they chose you. They may or may not have lost out on reimbursement for this cluster you-know-what if the admission assessment was not completed. I do not know about LTACH admissions, but I would not authorize a hospital admission for a few hours of clustering around. They might have thrown you under the bus for nothing.

What they did lose out on was a valuable employee that they just spent a lot of money training.

Thank your lucky stars you got out of this poorly ran facility so soon.

Leave it off of your resume. I have been there done that too.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

I would leave this job off the resume; two months is not consider viable experience in the grand scheme of things.

As far as your nursing practice; use this experience to hone your prioritization, advocacy and documentation skills; an initial assessment is the first priority, as well as when you received handoff from the nurse upon receiving the patient, whether the pharmacy had the actual med as a heads up; once you found out that they didn't, a call to admissions and the powers that be would've been initiated, and even if the patient came, documentation and assessment like crazy to make sure the patient was stable each time eyes was laid on the pt.

Regardless of how a facility is run, there will be situations like this, anything and everything can happen in nursing; the main tools a nurse has that transcends specialties is the ability to assess, advocacy, and critically think, and the bonus is to document that body of work.

As much as you are "down", use this as a catalyst to be a better nurse; look for opportunities to hone your skills and then use the 3Cs, competent, consistency, and confidence-master being competent consistently in order to be confident enough as a nurse to advocate and use your own nursing judgement every time.

I was let go after 3 months in critical care; I was "down" as well, but I was very reflective of what I can do to improve and used those skills to return to a high paced specialty-I now work in a Level-I Pediatric Trauma ED for 18 months and have found my niche.

Best wishes.

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I know getting fired is devastating (been there, did that). Even more devastating when you are a newbie.

It was THEM, not you. The patient never should have been transferred in the first place, the facility did not have the ability to provide the required level of care. Somebody had to be thrown under the bus for this mess.. and they chose you. They may or may not have lost out on reimbursement for this cluster you-know-what if the admission assessment was not completed. I do not know about LTACH admissions, but I would not authorize a hospital admission for a few hours of clustering around. They might have thrown you under the bus for nothing.

What they did lose out on was a valuable employee that they just spent a lot of money training.

Thank your lucky stars you got out of this poorly ran facility so soon.

Leave it off of your resume. I have been there done that too.

Been there done that..

You hit right on.. This facility is very poorly run.. No good management.. Imagine when the patient was upstairs, I asked for someone to help me bring him down. 2 people refused. I have read very bad reviews about the hospital.. But you know when you desperately need an acute care experience.. U just hang on for few months.. And then resign.. Unfortunately I am starting from 0. I am going to put this on my resume and be very honest about it.. I tend to say the truth and not lie. I feel that those 3 months were very important for me to learn about the hospital system. Which will help me with my future acute care position.. Thank you for totally understanding my situation.. It really hurts. Big blow to my confidence.. They did invest money and time. And didn't give me chance to continue.. I think that's stupid. My mistake was not involving unsafe practice.. They could've remediate me

But this hospital keeps hiring people all the time.. They have hard time retaining employees

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I would leave this job off the resume; two months is not consider viable experience in the grand scheme of things.

As far as your nursing practice; use this experience to hone your prioritization, advocacy and documentation skills; an initial assessment is the first priority, as well as when you received handoff from the nurse upon receiving the patient, whether the pharmacy had the actual med as a heads up; once you found out that they didn't, a call to admissions and the powers that be would've been initiated, and even if the patient came, documentation and assessment like crazy to make sure the patient was stable each time eyes was laid on the pt.

Regardless of how a facility is run, there will be situations like this, anything and everything can happen in nursing; the main tools a nurse has that transcends specialties is the ability to assess, advocacy, and critically think, and the bonus is to document that body of work.

As much as you are "down", use this as a catalyst to be a better nurse; look for opportunities to hone your skills and then use the 3Cs, competent, consistency, and confidence-master being competent consistently in order to be confident enough as a nurse to advocate and use your own nursing judgement every time.

I was let go after 3 months in critical care; I was "down" as well, but I was very reflective of what I can do to improve and used those skills to return to a high paced specialty-I now work in a Level-I Pediatric Trauma ED for 18 months and have found my niche.

Best wishes.

Ladyfree28.

Thank you.. Really appreciate your response. You are very encouraging and supportive.. When gets me really down is that I've been looking to get grip as an acute care experience.. But I keep failing.. I know part of this is my mistake. I can admit it.. But isn't ridiculous that they invested money and time for more than 2 months. Then they let me go that easily.. That whole rejection doesn't feel good.. It's a huge set back.. I have no choice but to move forward despite the obstacles.. I know what I did must've affected them.. Maybe they didn't get reimbursed.. Anyways.. It's all a history now. A new page must be opened in the future.. I know I'm capable.. Thanks again

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I would talk to a lawyer; mediate and get it reduced to a resignation...happens all the time my friend. No union I'm guessing.

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" The patient was on critical piggyback drip for his failing heart. It wasn't found in the hospital. So they ( my hospital) had to transfer him back where he came from.."

I figured that out from the get go. I'm lol surprised so many experienced nurses couldn't decipher it. Anyway, thank God you have 2 other jobs. Don't put a place you were fired after just 3 mos on your resume is my recommend. You already have some experience working for you. Sounds like you weren't oriented well. Knowing their reputation beforehand, I would have asked lots of questions on policy procedures for anything critical and esp. life threatening. Hope for your best in your career.

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With all due respect; please get thick-skinned and have a confidence not based on another's opinion like your employer firing you (I say because I read it several times); you were able to graduate and pass NCLEX then you are capable...period! it's intrinsic confidence needed for facing the reality of life. No one can take that away because its a fact just as you breathe oxygen, so know it and own mistakes (again I say this because I read you defend your action several times). Hey I'm not being toxic at all. I loath toxic Nursing. I say so because it will make you a better RN esp. in this culture and you happier being competent knowing you can say 'I did my best', regardless of the outcome and we owe our clients it. We learn from mistakes and they can make us better if we apply that lesson. And never trust what another says pertaining to anything you're actually on the line for. Many have learned this the hard way and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Unless your policy says otherwise...do what you need in terms of basics known and stay until done. All assessments should be documented per shift by responsible RN. Period. Own it. Learn from it. Move on in confidence.

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" I'm going to carefully rethink my upcoming options.." Yes...do what is best for 'you'. It's a wide range of healthcare related careers. You really know if a career fit is a fit or not. Take care.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.
If a patient goes from a hospital to an LTACH, is it a transfer or a discharge if they go back to the hospital from the LTACH? Just wondering, for my own knowledge. I've only worked ED. :)

A transfer will either be within the same facility or outside (but within the same system). A discharge is when there is little chance that the patient will return to the facility prior to going home, or to an entirely different healthcare system. However, some people do use the two terms interchangeably.;)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

To the OP, I don't think you should avoid the hospital. I can almost certainly guarantee that you won't make this same mistake again.;)

But I do feel strongly that new grads who have no prior healthcare experience involving acute care out in the field or bedside, should at a minimum be required to precept on med-surg before engaging in a preceptorship in any specialized unit or LTACH.

I've worked beside quite a few nurses in LTAC who actually thought they were signing up for LTC....huge difference!! The A (acute) makes the difference and is such an entirely different world. There were even times when I, myself, believed I was in over my head at the LTAC. The Respiratory Therapists saved my *** a couple of times with those unstable vent patients. Talk about a relief when my two weeks' notice was up!!

Just my take on things...

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A transfer will either be within the same facility or outside (but within the same system). A discharge is when there is little chance that the patient will return to the facility prior to going home, or to an entirely different healthcare system. However, some people do use the two terms interchangeably.;)

I worked for a hospital that had LTAC in the building but when a patient had to be admitted to the hospital it was a discharge from LTAC and an admit to the hospital. Same thing for another hospital that had transitional care in the same building, discharge and admit, either direction.

A person might use the term "transfer" when speaking of the situation, but as far as the paperwork/documentation goes, it's "discharge" and "admit."

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Specializes in ICU.

Can I just say, we don't discharge with patients on critical drips? We don't transfer from icu to the floor with a patient on a critical drip much less to long term care. There's more to this.

OP, you left without completing your work because you felt it was late. Guess, what? I'm fairly new. I stay late many, many nights to finish my charting.

You were wrong. Nobody else can complete your assessment. Nobody. Admit that this wasn't the right job, and move on. Your charting is vitally important. Vitally. This isn't most jobs where you get to call it a day at 6 and leave. Sorry.

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