I have a situation and it's pretty long.

Debbie_LPN · Jan 28, 2005

wow, thats a toughie. in my opinion, i would contact my state bon, and ask what actions i can take. they should be able to help you out. my friend had a problen, explained it to the BON and they gave her a list of phone #'s to contact. they are really good about it, and you can even do it anonomously if u want to. good luck and hope everything works out for you!

Mystery5 · Jan 28, 2005

I'm sorry to read about this injustice piled on top of injustice. As far as the first part of the post, unfortunately I think this is common in nursing homes. I worked for one and I remember the same phoney behaviour on the part of management when the State came. It was a pitiful display. I also encountered a higher percentage of sub-par nurses than I have working in acute care. I hope no one who works in a nursing home takes offense at that, but I'm afraid it was my experience. Some of them would drift through town and I wondered if A) they were in the witness protection program or B) they were fugatives from the law.

I remember on gal, she showed up suddenly from Oregon. She got on on nights, it was at a small town nrsg home where there was only one nurse on at night and two aides, for the whole place. She was very vocal about her illustrious and varied career as a nurse, and made herself sound very knowledgable. Her last job had been working in a Prison as a nurse, where guess what, she met her darling husband, who was now incarcerated again 80 miles away in a much larger town, where she could have had a much wider choice of nursing jobs, but for some reason she choose to move to this very small town (where I doubt if they did a background check) and commute to visit her darling husband in Prison.

Well, funny thing, the first night, instead of saving the morphine to waste in the morning, she wasted it herself. Another night she dropped a bottle of it and broke it in the night. Hmmmm, slightly suspicious, huh? And she was only one of a series of funky characters hired by that desparate and shortstaffed facility.

As far as the second part of your problem, it sounds as if you are suffering real and actual damages from the actions of this nursing home. I hope you have witnesses and go after them. They sound frankly evil, and I also did encounter some of this as well in the nursing home I worked for. They ruthlessly treated people that they considered a threat to their commitment to less than mediocre care. I hope you can successfully pursue legal action to rectify this unjustice. Good luck and God bless!

lindymarie · Jan 28, 2005

It seems to me like so many people, especially female nurses, are completely miserable with their lives. It just seems that almost every nurse I've encounter in the nursing homes that I work in have no compassion whatsoever...and are just downright mean, don't go out of their way for any of the residents, rarely talk to them, are lazy, talk trashy, always have some type of drama going on in their lives and like to discuss it with other co-workers instead of delivering care, belittle resisdents, have no respect for their belongings, and so forth...
I am a firm believer of "what comes around goes around", and I take comfort in believing that I will be rewarded with a nurse like me when I'm sick and/or old. Always, always, always treat others how you would want to be treated. I tried to be a pt advocate and I was always GRILLED for it. Nobody wanted to hear it. I was always professional and courteous whenever I use to speak up about stuff that I mentioned, but it just seems like they (the administration) didn't want to hear it and didn't care. They were just there for the check, I suppose. Anyhow...here is my situation...
The state inspectors were at the facility once, and BOOM, all administration were suddenly acting like nurses! It was amazing. They actually came out of their offices and helped feed the residents, and even managed to wheel a few of them back to their rooms, they were talking to them in the hallways which I had never seen before...and of course, we suddenly had more-than-usual staff - more CNA's & LPN's... instead of working short like normally. As soon as the inspectors left, they ran back to their offices where they always remained.
I made a comment about it to one of the supervisors... who then ran back and told the DON (whom is a huge PHONY). She confronted me and I admitted that I said it, and didn't agree with that type of operation...that if they feel they need to do certain things while the inspectors are there, maybe they should implement it everyday..."
We both went on with our lives and I continued to work there for another 2 months before going PRN to complete my final year in RN school (15 weeks left now). The administration, come to find out, had a plot when I went PRN - that they would never call me in for work b/c they felt threatened by me, thinking I was reporting stuff to state, etc, etc. They had no grounds to fire me b/c it was 100% assumption on their part, but they knew they didn't want me there, so they just put me on the "Do not call list", even though I was an employee still. Anytime I would call them for work on a weekend, they never had anything. Finally after 6 months of not actively working there, I was taking off of PRN status, and no longer have a job with them. They never told me about it either, I found out after...
I applied at a different nursing home b/c I really need to pick up a few hours. I didn't get the job b/c
1) when the prospective company faxed my PRN job about me, the PRN job faxed em' back with the "would not rehire" box checked.
The prospective job dubbed me as a liar, basically, b/c I put I was PRN at a place where I was no longer employed...and that that company didn't value me enough to rehire me if need be - when they have nothing on me except feelings of threat. I never received any warning, write up, nothing. My record over there was "clean" - no grounds to fire me on whatsoever. I didn't know exactly how to respond when I found out - I had NO IDEA.
I have tried calling the DON, ADON about it several times since they are the ones that "let me go", and checked that "would not rehire" box. No return calls from them.
This isn't right. Should I attempt to contact the labor board? My dad wants me to talk to a lawyer and I'm not sure if I should.
I wroked for them for 2 years total and I need to use them as a reference. This has prevented me from getting one job thus far.
What should I do?

I think at some point we worked for the same nursing home. LOl. I agree with your Dad. It's sad to say but when you try to be ethical, uphold residents rights, and report abuse you are on your own. All I can tell you is that in the end you may not have your job, but you still have your integrity and charachter. That says a lot more for you than the LTC facility you were working for. It seems many of them function in the same way. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Linda

:crying2:

Town & Country · Jan 28, 2005

I may be in the minority (so what else is new), but I see no reason at all to pursue this.

Why? You can bet they have already concocted "reasons" as to why you weren't called in to do PRN. Probably got a aide or two to write up a report about your "substandard" nursing care...that's how that works. They fire you because they WANT to fire you, so then they create their own paper trail for back-up.

It's just basically going to come down to your word against THEIRS' (plural), so you be the judge.

IMO the best course of action for you to take is to move on. If you need to put that job on your application or whatever, do so; but make sure to explain exactly what happened and why you were basically terminated.

Most people these days know how nursing homes are run, and believe me, they won't find your story that unusual!

Good luck~

HarryPotter · Jan 28, 2005

so sorry about your experience. I hope you find a job that you love. If it were me, I would start off by ging to the BON. As for a lawyer, many of them give free consultations, so I'd give that a try.

I have had the experience of unjust negative evals. that have gotton in my way of geting jobs. I went through the hoops to straighten it out because it can follow u around forever. I would not advise to tell your story to a potential employer as they may think that you are a problem. Whenever I have applied at jobs, I only talk in a ppositive way. I don't think they want to hear about rotten situations. Who knows, maybe they know a supervisor in the place you worked. But, whatever, you need to do something to change they way they respond to inquiries. Hope this helps.

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 28, 2005

I may be in the minority (so what else is new), but I see no reason at all to pursue this.
[~[/b]

I agree with SunStreak on this one. Life isn't always fair -- but choose your battles carefully.

When you expressed you "non-support" of the management team, you gave them a reason to not want you around. When you chose to give up your regular position and switch to PRN, you gave them to opportunity to choose someone else to work and not you. Employers have the legal right to choose whom to call on their PRN list. They have no legal obligation to give you work. Going PRN means that if the employer doesn't need you to work, you are fine with not being called in. And when they found that they had no need for you to work for them for 6 months, they were probably within their legal rights to take you off the PRN list. They are also probably within their legal rights to choose not to hire you again. After all, who would want to hire someone who was not going to support the management team?

What they did to you was not nice. It probably feels like they have stabbed you in the back. But you handed them the knife. You provided them both the motive and the opportunity to use it.

Sometimes it is simply best to learn from an experience and move on.

Good luck,

llg

Mystery5 · Jan 28, 2005

I agree with SunStreak on this one. Life isn't always fair -- but choose your battles carefully.
When you expressed you "non-support" of the management team, you gave them a reason to not want you around. When you chose to give up your regular position and switch to PRN, you gave them to opportunity to choose someone else to work and not you. Employers have the legal right to choose whom to call on their PRN list. They have no legal obligation to give you work. Going PRN means that if the employer doesn't need you to work, you are fine with not being called in. And when they found that they had no need for you to work for them for 6 months, they were probably within their legal rights to take you off the PRN list. They are also probably within their legal rights to choose not to hire you again. After all, who would want to hire someone who was not going to support the management team?
What they did to you was not nice. It probably feels like they have stabbed you in the back. But you handed them the knife. You provided them both the motive and the opportunity to use it.
Sometimes it is simply best to learn from an experience and move on.
Good luck,
llg

I have to agree with some points here. You can learn from this situation. I have always stayed out of trouble with management, even though I'm not a brownnoser by any means. But, I refuse to be adversarial and always try to make the best of the situation and have sympathy for all parties.

Remember to always act with humilty toward those with power over you. Never burn any bridges and never take any situation for granted. Also, I agree with the advise not to try and defend yourself to your new job because they'll see you as a troublemaker who might make trouble for them. Also, never act alone when trying to confront a situation. Always try and gather information before hand as to what support you might have. At a place as unhealthy as you describe, discretion is the better part of valor. Better to quietly resign in good graces than, as the above poster says, give them the knife to stab you in the back!

If I were you, I would try to get a fresh start in a facility that you know will hire you, stay a year, keep your mouth shut, be exemplary in the eyes of management, then go for the job you want.

Sincerely, Jan

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2005

As far as i know employment records are supeonable in court. Maybe having a chat with a lawyer isnt a bad idea. If your employment records dont indicate there is a reason for them not to rehire i dont think they have a viable reason to show no eligablility for rehire other than to slander you. Plus you will have your employment record from them to show other perspective employers if you need to.

Unfortunately you stepped on some toes and it hurt. Not just the administration but you too.