I am not proud of my track record.

Nurses General Nursing

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Where do begin? :( I have been an LPN for 1 year in 2 months and unfortunately during this period I have had 5! nursing jobs. yes 5.

(1) I started off in a nursing home, just to find my niche I didn't like it but I needed a form of income and I needed some experience in the field. Two months in the DON called me and said, he thinks that its best that he let me go. He didn't give me a specific reason, but during my orientation the nurses that trained me had to evaluate how I was doing, so I assumed that did not do well during orientation. Like I said, I did not like the nursing home, I had 30-32 patients to care for and I just did not feel safe nor happy.

(2) My second job was in a pediatric home health, I was working for a family and one of the orders called for me to put cotton ball in the little boy's ears as he had surgery 2 days before. Well, I did put cotton ball in my patient ear but I had soaked and drained it with H.Peroxide. Well, the next day the family called the agency and said I put a wet cotton ball in the boys ears. The order stated for me to cleaned around the boy's ear with a cotton tip and H.peroxide and then placed a cotton ball in his ear. My mistake was I misunderstood what the outgoing nurse was telling me before she left about the patient new orders. My fault. It was a med error and the agency said I cannot work for them unless I complete a med error CEU. I never completed it, so never went back to work for them. Although, 6 months later they were still calling me to come work for them because they need nurses so bad. I didn't the patients they assign me usually live 45-50 minutes away and I just couldn't put myself through that again.

(3) My third job was a nursing home again. This lasted a month and a few weeks. I mentioned that I do not like the nursing home. I don't. But my mom work in this particular nursing home and she gave told the DON about me. Well, since my mom has been there for 5 years and a good worker they hired me. Well, I had so much patient work load that I did not do my treatments, although I charted that I did. This led to me having a meeting with the DON and 4 other people in administration. I was so nervous at that meeting that I told myself that I never want to be in such a position again. I felt humiliated, embarrassed, and just incompetent as a nurse. I was first suspended, but then let go. They informed me that they would report me to the BON. well it's been 8 months, have not gotten anything from the BON and I've checked my license online and it says I'm in good standing no complaints.

(4) My fourth job was at a pediatric clinic. i did not like it much as I felt I was losing many of my skills. I mostly gave immunizations to babies and worked on the doctor's schedule for the week. I worked there for 4 months but then i had to leave due to the fact that I started an RN program and the schedule would conflict with my work schedule. The manager loved me, got great reviews from them. I still felt bad though due to my recent firing. My self esteem just plummeted and Im still feeling like somethings wrong with me. Anyways, I did not get fired from this job, I left due to school.

(5) I am currently working for 2 agencies. one is a pediatric agency and the other is a pediatric and adult agency. Well, yesterday I got fired from the pediatric agency. The reason is I document that I left at my scheduled time when in reality I left 30 minutes early three time. Did I think they would find out? yeah. Did I think it was an issue. I did. I literally cannot figure out any reason as to why I charted that I left at 0700 when in reality I left at 0630. At the other agency I work for, one of the parents always let me leave early and she said I can still write down the time I left as the time I was scheduled. in my head, I started to think it was no longer a big deal so i did it with this agency. I know in nursing school they teach us not to do this, I hate that I'm not abiding by the things that I was taught in school and letting others influence my judgement. I knew it was a big deal and I did it anyway. I'm sure the other nurses that work with the pediatric/adult agency leave early but chart their scheduled time cause the guardian (mom) said its ok. Anyways, got called into the office today and I was let go. It is considered insurance fraud. in total I lied and said I worked 1 hour and 30 minutes. The DON were saying that the insurance company might not think its a big deal they might just say "oh, its only 1 hour and let it go. they do not think that I was trying to be malicious. but they have to report it to the BON. Two of the times I left, the patient had an appointment in the morning so he had to leave at 0530 but I charted that I left at 0600. the other time I left early is when I emailed the agency saying that I can now work 12 hours form 7pm-7am. well it wasn't suppose to start that particular week, but the following cause I have nursing clinical in the morning. Hence I left at 0630 but charted i left at 7. The DON was saying it all depends on how the BON choose to handle it.

I do not know what's wrong with me. I've never been fired before until I started nursing. I'm a few months from graduating an RN program and I still cannot get my act together. I want to treat this as a lesson learned. I'm feeling stupid cause I've been fired so many times. I'm still working for the pediatric/adult agency but I am going to chart the correct time that I leave, at the end of the day the I have to protect my license no one else. Does anyone know how long it will take for the BON to contact me? will they make a big deal over 1 hour and 30 minutes? My first year of nursing was rough. I take full responsibility. I am so embarrassed that I created another account to write this although my other account is not even lay real name. I need to remember all the handwork I put in into obtaining my license and not let it go so easily. What's wrong with me? I just do not think that I am learning from my mistakes as a normal human being would.

If you like caring for people and like the medical profession you could maybe consider being a CNA. You can still care for patients but won't have the pressure of medications, etc...

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
If you like caring for people and like the medical profession you could maybe consider being a CNA. You can still care for patients but won't have the pressure of medications, etc...

That's not going to solve the issue of fraudulent documentation. Will those patients who need turned every 2 hours really get turned every 2 hours or will OP simply check it off that is was done for her convenience?

OP, you seriously need to reevaluate yourself. I sincerely hope that the BON does sanction you- you definitely deserve it, and those patients who received subpar and potentially dangerous care at your hands certainly deserve it. Like many others, I rarely think someone shouldn't be a nurse because of mistakes. However, what you've done goes from mistake to willful fraudulent actions and downright malicious negligence. That is the hallmark of someone who shouldn't be a nurse.

Guys! Don't you think that people have the ability to change? Goodness! one would think that I am the WORST nurse in the history of nursing by some of these comments. Anyways, I would like to thank those who offered constructive criticism. I know "Nursing" is what I want to do and I can only get better from here on out.

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Guys! Don't you think that people have the ability to change? Goodness! one would think that I am the WORST nurse in the history of nursing by some of these comments. Anyways, I would like to thank those who offered constructive criticism. I know "Nursing" is what I want to do and I can only get better from here on out.

Not seeing to your patients receiving their treatments in some fashion, even if by the next shift, is pretty bad. Maybe not as bad as deliberately hurting them (but this isn't horseshoes) but still hurting them by both your lack of action and then stating that you did. You essentially obstructed them from receiving care. That's pretty close to WORST.

Guys! Don't you think that people have the ability to change? Goodness! one would think that I am the WORST nurse in the history of nursing by some of these comments. Anyways, I would like to thank those who offered constructive criticism. I know "Nursing" is what I want to do and I can only get better from here on out.

I, for one, do and I do not think you are a lost cause but you have some serious issues that you need to address and it's going to take a lot of work on your part. Here's why I think there's hope for you.

1. You recognized you are on a bad trajectory. Sure, it took being fired multiple times but you finally got

it.

2. You put yourself out there asking for opinions and advice on how to change your path.

3. You have been remarkably calm in your responses to some really tough love on our parts.

4. You seem sincere in your desire to help people.

Here's what I think you need and I'm not being snarky. You need to get some professional help to root out why you even thought that being dishonest was okay and frankly to evaluate you for any type of disorder. You might seek out counsel from a spiritual leader of your choice (any would do) to deal with the amoral choices you made. Either one or a combination of both could help you establish that moral compass you seem to be lacking. You need a mentor to help you learn to make good choices. Sort of like a sponsor from AA. You need to draw a line in the sand and commit to honesty and integrity in every thing you do, not because you might get caught but because you want to be a good person. You haven't started that part off very well at all. I'm not entirely sure you should practice nursing while you get your head, your heart and your soul straight. This is going to require a significant commitment from you and it might be quite painful. But if you really want to change it must be done.

Guys! Don't you think that people have the ability to change?

Yes, but not without hard work addressing personal shortcomings. It doesn't just "happen," and it certainly isn't achieved just by job hopping, because the common denominator in all this is YOU. So far you have not shown that you are willing to work to change your bad practice.

I think you would benefit from professional counseling. It sure couldn't hurt to have someone help walk you through all this and figure out why you act as you do, and don't act as you should.

I think the issue lies in being able to reflect and be self aware. Everyone makes mistakes, we are human after all like has been said here a million times before, but when you keep repeating mistakes over and over, one does have to look within for the cause of dismissals and bad marks. I do understand letting one mistake crush your confidence, it happened to me, but learning from the experience is what propels you forward and onwards to better practice, not just keep pushing ahead until you land somewhere and repeat. And yes you have to follow the rules because these are human lives and you have to play the game when it comes to administrative aspects of nursing.

You have been in essentially all the fields an LPN can practice in most parts of the US. I think you should seek occupational guidance from a senior nurse who knows you or a counselor in general. We all need someone to talk to, there is no shame in that, but sometimes we also need wake up calls and I think that's what some of these harsher posts are trying to do.

Really sit down, stop making excuses, and genuinely explore if its you or the nursing field. It takes a lot of self-awareness but you wont regret it if you do.

Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.
If you like caring for people and like the medical profession you could maybe consider being a CNA. You can still care for patients but won't have the pressure of medications, etc...

Wanna work with a CNA who charts turns and toiletings but doesn't really do them? For all means, go ahead and good luck with that.

Specializes in pediatrics; PICU; NICU.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned that some BONs move pretty slow -- you may still be hearing about the original fraud complaint in the next few months.

I was thinking the exact same thing when I read the original post. For some BONs 8 months is not a very long time to get the investigation going.

Specializes in nursing education.

I think you need to ask yourself whether the reason you feel bad now is because you got caught and fear that these things will hinder your career moving forward, or do you actually feel some guilt for your actions? As previous posters mentioned, a therapist/counselor/psychiatrist can help determine that answer with you.

The answer to that question really will determine whether you should be a nurse or not.

Specializes in Geriatrics/Med-Surg/ED.

It does sound like nursing is not for you-- you have to CARE about your professional license and your patients and yourself enough to follow the rules- not doing so is sloppy and sets you up for failure, not to mention your reputation will follow you. You have to walk the line - it becomes second nature to follow the rules-- it's called CYA & liability. With all the work/time/money that is required to become a nurse, it makes no sense to disregard the rules. It's especially scary that you're taking care of pediatric patients. IF you decide to remain a nurse, I would look into getting into a nurse internship program w/a preceptor and a long orientation at a large teaching hospital.

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