New nurse here. How do I overcome a suspension from work?

[BradenRN30]

I recently got my RN about 5 months ago and have been employed on a medsurg unit. It is a very busy unit that is at times understaffed and it is a lot to adjust to. I started with 2 other nurses and we have all made mistakes, however I made a very big mistake that is resulting in having a 3 day suspension from work . I am horrified that it even happened (dont worry nobody died or was harmed!), and I have definitely learned from my mistake and have completely changed the way I do everything. The problem is that now I am paranoid of making any mistake at all and I fear going to work every day because I am afraid any mistake at all will get me fired. Even though I made this mistake, I still feel as though I am a good nurse, and I always try my best.

I really want to change jobs and work at a nursing home because I realize that maybe I am just not cut out to be a medsurg nurse on a very busy unit. The problem is that I do not know how to go about applying, since I am not sure if I should put my current employer on there or not. I know that I will not get a good reference from them, so I am tempted to leave them off since I have only worked there for 5 months. Is this dishonest to do this? What would you suggest would be my best course of action to find a job that is less hectic and stressful?

Thank you so much for your reply!! This whole thing is very disturbing to me .

[kcmylorn]

How close are you to that 1 year mark- Try applying to another place as a per deim, a second job. Just to have a foot in the door some where else. That way when you are therelong enough, you could get a good referrence from them, instead of the hospital your at.

The problem with the tele you had- I had a similar problem. There were 2 new admits in the same room both were tele monitored. One new admit was mine, the other was another nurses. It was around 5P. The aid is responsible to hook each patient up to the tele box. All the tele boxes are sync'd to a specific bed on the monitor screen. The aid had them flip flopped. The aid is one of the other nurses daughter's who can do no wrong- if she spit on the floor that would be ok in this NM's eyes. well, little princess screwed up(little princess did alot of screwing up, insubordination, refusing to do EKG's when asked and could eat lunch all shift) but both us RN's took the fall for it because it was our job to check and make sure the right tele box was on the right patient. Needless to say: neither one of us received any formal discipline over it just a tongue lashing.. As for little princess-she went about her bratty merry way and kept doing what she does best- mouthing off and nothing!

I can't see a 3 day suspension over this on a first mistake. I can see a verbal warning or a written warning and some remediation with the nurse educator about setting up tele on an new admit, with some help with priority and time managment skills.

[mmm333, LVN]

You need to get into another position, any open position, in acute care, either in the same hospital or preferably in a different hospital. Do not go to LTC, many nursing homes/skilled nursing facilities are stacked against the nurse in so many ways I cannot describe. It does sound like you need to get out of that particular workplace before you get fired. Maybe ask the manager to help you find a different place to go- she might even recommend you in order to get rid of you. I know what it's like to work in an environment where some people ignore each others little mistakes while picking on others little mistakes as a matter of office politics, or because the manager doesn't like how much overtime that person works and gets their cronies to nitpick the person to death. Find a way out, but don't jump from the frying pan into the fires of SNF.

[w&tbid]

12/12

RESIGN! don't let them fire you! I feel your pain. I was too put on suspension but mine was "suspension pending termination" as a new nurse I was devastated, this just happened at the beggining of this year. They didn't want me there. I knew they didn't want me there when among the "many complaints" was one which stated "I didn't smile" *****! I'm working! I'm a new nurse can you guys give a break?! so I quit. I couldn't fight it since this happened at the end of my orientation. End of the year and no job prospects anywhere and no $$$, but I have peace of mind and that is priceless.

You're consumend with worry about this place and the idiot nurse manger is not your friend, believe me, she's looking after the hospital's financial well being, not you, not the patient's well being either, she's looking after the hospital bottom line, aka lawsuit, which will eat the hospital profits. You're expendable!