got "fired"

[aerorunner80, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN]

i just had to share that i got "fired" by my first family yesterday. this family has been on the unit for about 6 weeks now and has a reputation for being difficult.

somehow i had managed to dodge this family because one of the primary nurses works a very similar schedule to mine. these past two days were my lucky days though.

i was thinking things were going fine. apparently this mom has a tendancy to argue with nurses and we had no confrontations...thank goodness.

last night toward the end of my shift the flex comes in and asks me if everything is going ok and i told her it was. then she tells me that this mom "fired" me and doesn't want me taking care of her baby anymore. then she asked me if the mom had said anything to me. she hadn't (i don't know if she typically does or not).

i went out to the front desk after that and was talking to the charge. i was asking if she said anything specific that i did and they said that she didn't.

i was funny after this because the charge just shook her head and said she was running out of nurses to take care of her baby.

i was actually relieved to have been "fired" because i was going to request to not have this baby again but the mom took care of that for me!

the person who precepted me was also working yesterday. she and i get along very well and we like to joke around with each other. i go up to her and tell her i got fired. i didn't tell her it was by a family (she's also been "fired" by this same family). the look on her face was priceless!!!! i did tell her right after that it was by this family. i just couldn't resist! :hpygrp:

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Ugh, I can't stand parents like that. We have one like that in our unit now. I finally told her that the 3 nurses she likes don't work everyday and they certainly don't work 24 hours a day and she will have to try to get along with the other nurses. She said, well I want my baby transferred out. Be my guest, but once she finds out she will have to foot that bill, we will be smiling at each other once again lol

[aerorunner80, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN]

We've had severa families transfer their babies to a different facility. One could afford it, the other was on medicaid so it didn't matter if it cost them or not.

Either way, we were happy they were gone. One of the families in particular was threatening staff. It got so bad that we served them an official written warning saying that if the threats didn't stop, we were going to ban them from coming in. It was that bad.

I dont get it.

[caliotter3]

Ha, ha! I would like to play that joke too!

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Even on medicaid, they have to pay the cost of transport if it is not medically indicated....that usually puts them off. I figure if they hate it here that much, see ya later. They aren't going to like it anywhere. Our surgeons come from across town from another level3 and I love when they want to go there and get a new surgeon and wthen we tell them that the surgeons are all the same in both facilities. You just can't please everyone.

A lot of them act this way because they want to control what they can....they are so out of control when it comes to their kid and not knowing what is coming next or how to care for them, but it gets wearing. You'd think you wouldn't want the staff taking care of your kid mad at you.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

In the unit where I work, families are permitted to give a list of nurses they would prefer to have care for their infant, but not allowed to give a list of nurses that "can't take care of my kid". I wish they were allowed to have such a list, because I want to be automatically entered on that list even if I've never met the kid. I don't want to be involved with any kid where the parents have a "list". Of course at times families have "fired" a nurse, but the doctors will sit down and talk to the family if it starts to be a problem.

As for transferring their babies out, first the family has to independently find a doctor to accept care of their infant, our docs typically will not help in this process. Then they have to understand that if there is not a medical reason for transfer, all the costs of transport will be their responsibility up front. Medicaid and insurance does not cover such a thing. That usually shuts down the conversation.

We also have the situation where parents will request primary nurses (not routinely done in our unit). Sometimes from incredibly difficult families, then they wonder why no one signs up, and their kid has a new nurse every 12 hrs.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

I always hope to get fired by Mr. And Mrs. Ahole, but for some reason they always want me to hang around. Sometimes a guy just cant win.

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

Been there once or twice... considered it a good thing. You don't want to get stuck primarying a baby whose parents are out to get nurses. I've gone so far as to turn down primarying requests from parents who have "fired" my coworkers. I've told them that I provide the same level of care as the nurse they just fired, and I am here to take care of my patients, not play favorites with parents. It straightens them out real quick...haha