I need some advice. I worked on a busy and very stressful med-surg unit for about 2 years. It was my first nursing job out of school and last week I was fired. I believe I am a very good nurse, as evidenced by frequent compliments from patients and family members. My nursing care has never come into question. I graduated with honors from an accelerated program and have a BSN. The problem is that the unit I worked on was very volatile. More than 30 people quit within the span of about a year. I was becoming burned out and no longer enjoyed my job. We had a ratio of 6 patients to 1 nurse with 1 to 2 techs for a 36 bed floor. There were many times we had no tech or secretary at all. The resource nurse almost always had a full patient load. The acuity was very high; many of the patients on that floor should have been stepdown or even ICU. I took care of a variety of patients as it was a community hospital. I have experience taking care of surgical (mostly urological and abdominal, some orthopedic), complicated medical, oncology, remote telemetry, stroke, and hospice pts. The problem is that the stress wore me down and there was little teamwork.
A few weeks ago I received final warnings about frequent tardiness (I was generally a few minutes late) and speaking negatively about a very challenging patient where others could hear. This was the second time I had been spoken to about being late and I had never been spoken to about the other issue. I took these warnings seriously. Unfortunately I had a conflict with a coworker a few days later. I had a very difficult and unsafe assignment and I was frustrated. She made a snide remark and I got upset. I then heard her making fun of me to a colleague and it went downhill from there. We yelled at one another in the hallway and long story short, nothing happened to her and I lost my job. I had also just found out earlier that day that my grandfather was going home from the hospital with hospice and his prognosis was extremely poor. I don't think I should have been fired under those circumstances, especially the way it happened. I showed up for my shift a few weeks later after I got back from the funeral and was told I no longer had a job.
My question is what do I do now? What do I need to tell prospective employers? What can my former employer say about me? How do I handle this? I am very nervous that I will not be able to find another job. Fortunately I had over 200 hours of PTO, so I have a little time before things get dire.
I would appreciate any help or advice anyone has! What is the best way to proceed now so that I can get another job and move on from this?
