Is admin leave a way to basically terminate you slowly?

[Lorie Brown RN, MN, JD]

Without going into too much detail, my patient declined the AM shift prior leading up to PM shift. So I was handed off a patient in decline and it was discovered on my shift. I was not able to conduct a full neuro assessment during AM meds.

They put the PM shift and me on admin leave pending an investigation. I was told there would be a non-punitive meeting to discuss improvements, but nobody has mentioned a day for this. The final decision could be counseling, write up, PIP, termination.

I guess what I’m asking is, are they basically choosing who to terminate? Is it still possible at this point they are going to give us each a plan to follow, and return us to the floor? And since I wasn’t even there when incident occurred, yet I was there during discovery, would I usually be the person to blame?

Is admin leave a way to basically terminate you slowly? I’ve worked for this corporation 2.5 years, no write-ups.

Thank you

Dear Placed on Administrative Leave,

Thanks so much for reaching out to me. I suggest you contact an employment law attorney in your state to assist you with this matter.

Wishing you the best,

Lorie

[caliotter3]

It also would not hurt to brush off the resume and start looking at new job prospects.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

They are likely conducting a thorough RCA. There's no point in scheduling a meeting until they have done that. Next steps will be determined, hopefully based on a model that does not punitively punish nurses who made an honest human error. Good luck.