I got fired while being on orientation at a hospital for just 1 week. Why did this happen?

MrsK62 · Mar 9, 2017

If your personal problems are serious and pressing, maybe this isn't the time to start a new job. Get your legal and personal affairs in order, then devote yourself to finding your dream job.

paymenursing · Mar 9, 2017

Being hired on a PRN basis HR may not give you a "sound" reason for the job termination; I personally know a nurse who was hired and before orientation even started received a call stating that her position was not longer needed. Don't give up try another hospital.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Mar 9, 2017

This is another part that stood out to me.
Scoring 88% on a med/IV exam would be proof of incompetency in my facility. What hospital is going to want an RN who screws up on 12 out of every 100 medication administrations?
I wonder if the "praising" from the educator for scoring 88% was actually sarcasm that the OP didn't pick up on, as in, "Congratulations for killing 12 out of 100 patients with your med errors!"

This stood out to me too. Med exams are pretty straight forward, usually. You either know how to calculate a dose or not. Every med test I ever took the expectation was scoring a 100%.

caliotter3 · Mar 9, 2017

I worked with a girl once who would disappear from the floor for extended periods of time for things like going to the bank or getting her oil changed. This was in an acute care med/surg setting. Her patients would call and call and no one would have any idea where she was. When she eventually turned up, she'd just casually state, "I was at the grocery store." or some other nonsense. When she eventually got fired, she was surprised, too. Maybe there are little utopian workplaces where this sort of thing is allowed??? It's difficult to imagine.

Once looked up a buddy from nursing school on the BRN website. Boy was I surprised to read his disciplinary action for playing the disappearing act on his job. I would have given an arm and a leg to have been given that position. Wondered what happened to him that he was acting like that. When I knew him he was a responsible, hard working single father. No excuses for abandoning patients and not letting anyone know you are leaving the area.

Daisy4RN · Mar 10, 2017

I have been an employee and a supervisor. As an employee I would never disappear for 5 minutes much less 30. If I needed to excuse myself for a important phone call that absolutely couldn't wait I would notify my supervisor at the beginning of the day that I may need to take a call. In the OP's case maybe that call could have gone to voice mail and the OP called back later at a break or after class, what if the lawyer happened to call during the actual class, would the OP have taken the call? As a supervisor I have witnessed way too many people on their cell phones for way too long. There are seriously not that many calls that cannot wait! I could see the OP getting fired during orientation for this red flag, if she is willing to be this disrespectful during orientation then what will she be doing after!

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Mar 10, 2017

In the OP's defense, lawyers can be very hard to get a hold of. I once worked at a law firm, and I observed first hand how infuriatingly unavailable lawyers can be. Often times, they are calling you at the only time they have to talk. This call could well have been essential. BUT: OP should have told her instructor she was expecting a very important business call. Simply calling it a "personal call" could well have given rise to the notion it was something trivial, like a call with a friend or relative that certainly could have waited.

NurseBrit23 · Mar 10, 2017

Agreed, especially since she told the nurse educator what went on. Seems like a warning would have sufficed. Wondering if there's more to the story.

jaderook01, BSN, RN · Mar 10, 2017

So I am seeking some advice as to why this occurred and am still pondering on what could have I done wrong for this to have such a bad ending. After searching and searching years and years for a hospital job (I've always worked in subacute rehab settings) and have been craving a hospital job for nearly 5 years as it will be 5 years this coming May that I graduated from nursing school. Long story short, I was hired by a local hospital and all was going well with the first week of orientation. I mean, c'mon it was only classroom work and I passed all the required exams such as the IV and medication administration. I had to take a personal call during the last 1/2 hour of our last day of class and when I returned the nurse educator was saying how I shouldn't give her a heart attack next time about not telling her where I was. I explained what had occurred and I didn't realize that 5 days later I was going to be reprimanded for that. I received a call from the unit manager I was supposed to work at stating that I was technically supposed to come this weekend for my first day of clinical orientation (I was hired as a per diem nurse) she told me that I don't need to come. Refusing to provide further information, when I asked her if the position was terminated she said "yeah kinda, you'll get a letter in the mail explaining everything." I'm really baffled about this? I seriously didn't do anything and am unsure why did this lead up to here?
Please take note, only constructive comments will be accepted otherwise demeaning, ridiculing words will be flagged. I just need to get some advice as to why this happened and if it is something usual?

I don't know. I wasn't there. Why did this happen? I bet if you dig deep and are honest with yourself, you'll figure it out. You left some clues.

phill_rn, MSN, APRN · Mar 10, 2017

This post will be the nail in your coffin if you even had a tiny chance of them taking you back

WOW Wuzzie!

phill_rn, MSN, APRN · Mar 10, 2017

Hi, don't give up...remember there's a nurse for "that". You'll find your niche..

bensonbsn · Mar 10, 2017

I can only imagine being your charge nurse. All your call lights are going off, your pumps are going off, meds are late, your tech is searching for you, I am searching for you. You disappear for 30 minutes. Nobody wants a co-worker or employee like that.

Your taking that phone call in the middle of work is just indicative of how you will behave once you take patients. You gave them a glimpse into the future. No need to protest that you will never do that because yes, you will. You will be the co-worker who disappears for 45 minute lunches, whose bathroom trips take 20 minutes, who forgets to give a stat med because you couldn't wait to comment on some Facebook post and ducked into the bathroom to do so.

I repeat, nobody wants that.

Good luck with your job search and hopefully, you will learn from this.

Wuzzie · Mar 10, 2017

This post will be the nail in your coffin if you even had a tiny chance of them taking you back
WOW Wuzzie!

Wow what? Hospitals don't like their dirty laundry aired on social media. She revealed the name of the hospital and the city. They can easily extrapolate who she is from what she put on line for the whole world to see. They have people who are hired for just such a thing. If she thought she had a chance to get her position back she blew it by what she posted. She's likely black-balled from any hospital in that system now. The world of nursing is very small. This could come back and bite her in the butt because it will NEVER go away. There's nothing wrong with warning her and we would be remiss if we did not do so.

Apparently she agreed with me because she edited her post to remove the revealing information. In the future you might want to make sure you have all the facts before you mount your horse.