Retaliation for voicing concern over unsafe pratices

[Keysnurse2008]

Hi,

I am looking for some insight into retaliation acts by employers.I am a RN in a ICU setting at a major teaching hospital.I have been a resource to my entire unit.I received a promotion only weeks ago.I received a email from my unit manager only hours before she fired me "thanking me" for my dedication to the new nursing staff. I have never been written up, never a verbal warning.My evaluations have been excellent in all my years at this hospital. Until this past month....

I voiced my concerns over some incompetency acts performed by a coworker-nurse. These were acts that were not merely mistakes...they were acts that could have resulted in patient death. I tried to set a meeting with my nurse manager to discuss this nurses incompetent level of function...and I was met with a date to come in for a termination meeting...mine!

This nurse was the nurse managers best friend and recently was her assistant manager.She had done office work for years and had not taken care of any actual patient in years. When she opted to go back into staffing she "refused " to "accept" any orientation....and so she was left to learn by trial and error.In a ICU setting...thats just wrong!Othernurses had complained to the nurse manager to no avail...but I am a lil different.I have a history of being a strong patient advocate and I had told the nurse who was functioning incompetently that I was left with no choice but to go to our risk management dept re: her unsafe pratices.Hours later....I was "fired" for an alledged documentation error. This same kind of documentation error has resulted in no disciplinary action for other employees.Secondly ...my chart had been altered after I left...so I actually never had a documentation error.I dont know what to do. I have been a model employee for years.I have asked for dispute resolution....but they keep postphoning the dispute resolution hearing. What actually happens in a dispute resolution hearing? Are they a sham?Do you have any advice? I feel like I have been incredibly niave.Like I should have seenit coming...but didnt.

Any advice/insights on what to do?

[lindarn]

So what if the CNA has been forced to strike to get some one's attention.They have nurse patient ratios, and some of the highest pay in the country.

In Spokane, we are unionized with the most worthless union on the planet, the Washington State Nurses Association. These nim rods, with the union's approval, voted in a new contract that gave them a whopping 5% raise, (don't spent it all in one place), and a 20% increase in their medical benefits. They also did not get the retoactiv e pay from 12/31 -3 30, because the hospital said it was their fault that the negotiations got started late, which was a bold face lie- the hospital wanted to delay because they had some administrative thing going on, and asked the union if they could delay. None of this was brought up by the union, and they allowed the hospital to deny the nurses three months of retroactive pay.

But this is Spokane, and the earth is still flat here, if you know what I mean. There are too many nurses who have spouses who are unemployed, or underemployed, and many are the sole support of their family. They have no guts to fight the hospital, or dump the union that they have. Most have never belonged to unions, and/or their families haven't either, and wouldn't know a good union if it came down from the sky and hit them on the head. The attitude is, "well, they are better than nothing". How wrong they are.

New nurses leave before the ink is dry in their diplomas, and never come back. The $&!# will hit the fan as the older nurses start to retire en masse.

I know all about being victimized by a hospital. My retaliation was to start a Legal Nurse Business. My "references", are my clients who I help win multimillion dollar cases. Have you thought about starting your own business? Then references from abusive employers don't matter. You own personal work, and the good job you do, the repeat business that you obtain, is your reference, and evaluation. Just look on the Entrepeneurs threads, and get some ideas. There are many things that you can do as your own business with a nursing background. Take some classes at your local community college on marketing, and running a small business, also check with your local Small Business Association, and get advice and tips from them. There are lost of helpful sites to get you going. Just don't give up. Hope that this helps! Don't give up and get discouraged.

Lindarn, RN, BSN,CCRN

[Keysnurse2008]

That's just it.....ONE NURSE....ONE PHYSICIAN can not "do" anything. To strengthen employment law in the states where it is weak it will take lobbying.It will take cases that "shock" these senators into activation...it will have to personally touch some of their lives for it to matter. Maybe senators who have had to watch their fathers /mothers/children suffer bc a physician or nurse was not competent enough to safely provide care/or reconize early warning signs that could have made their loved ones outcome much better.It will take families coming forward with stories of sentinel events that could have been prevented if the nurses and physicians "voices" had of been heard by these risk management departments when they voiced their concerns over a coworker.If you are asking if I am now inspired into activation...then yes I am! I didnt know how widespread the problems like mine were.My action...legally....will be dependant on the actions this HCF takes to either protect a NM's& friends unethical and illegal actions that can publically damage their credibility or their actions in righting a wrong. They have patient safety policies, nsg bylaws, conduct policies, ethics policies and state statutes, common law torts, antiretaliation policies, risk management policies etc etc......that dictate "what" they should do.Atthis point....I am awaiting their decision.

Beyond that...I am personally inspired into proactivation of my state nsg association and will be a very involved member and am open to any other avenue that could strengthen patient safety and employment law, and whistleblower provisions.

[Keysnurse2008]

so what if the cna has been forced to strike to get some one's attention.they have nurse patient ratios, and some of the highest pay in the country.

in spokane, we are unionized with the most worthless union on the planet, the washington state nurses association. these nim rods, with the union's approval, voted in a new contract that gave them a whopping 5% raise, (don't spent it all in one place), and a 20% increase in their medical benefits. they also did not get the retoactiv e pay from 12/31 -3 30, because the hospital said it was their fault that the negotiations got started late, which was a bold face lie- the hospital wanted to delay because they had some administrative thing going on, and asked the union if they could delay. none of this was brought up by the union, and they allowed the hospital to deny the nurses three months of retroactive pay.

but this is spokane, and the earth is still flat here, if you know what i mean. there are too many nurses who have spouses who are unemployed, or underemployed, and many are the sole support of their family. they have no guts to fight the hospital, or dump the union that they have. most have never belonged to unions, and/or their families haven't either, and wouldn't know a good union if it came down from the sky and hit them on the head. the attitude is, "well, they are better than nothing". how wrong they are.

new nurses leave before the ink is dry in their diplomas, and never come back. the $&!# will hit the fan as the older nurses start to retire en masse.

i know all about being victimized by a hospital. my retaliation was to start a legal nurse business. my "references", are my clients who i help win multimillion dollar cases. have you thought about starting your own business? then references from abusive employers don't matter. you own personal work, and the good job you do, the repeat business that you obtain, is your reference, and evaluation. just look on the entrepeneurs threads, and get some ideas. there are many things that you can do as your own business with a nursing background. take some classes at your local community college on marketing, and running a small business, also check with your local small business association, and get advice and tips from them. there are lost of helpful sites to get you going. just don't give up. hope that this helps! don't give up and get discouraged.

lindarn, rn, bsn,ccrn

lindarn....i have thought about becoming a lrnc...is that kinda what you are describing? as far as a job......i am an excellent cc rn and had no problem finding another job in my field. but...as i get a little older i do look at other things that might interest me.tell me a little bit more about what you do...and some of the ones you have helped.i am seriously interested.

[Sheri257]

In Spokane, we are unionized with the most worthless union on the planet, the Washington State Nurses Association. These nim rods, with the union's approval, voted in a new contract that gave them a whopping 5% raise, (don't spent it all in one place), and a 20% increase in their medical benefits. They also did not get the retoactiv e pay from 12/31 -3 30, because the hospital said it was their fault that the negotiations got started late, which was a bold face lie- the hospital wanted to delay because they had some administrative thing going on, and asked the union if they could delay. None of this was brought up by the union, and they allowed the hospital to deny the nurses three months of retroactive pay.

But this is Spokane, and the earth is still flat here, if you know what I mean. There are too many nurses who have spouses who are unemployed, or underemployed, and many are the sole support of their family. They have no guts to fight the hospital, or dump the union that they have. Most have never belonged to unions, and/or their families haven't either, and wouldn't know a good union if it came down from the sky and hit them on the head. The attitude is, "well, they are better than nothing". How wrong they are.

I better stay in California. From what you guys are saying, unions in other states (and countries) suck, with few exceptions. :uhoh21: CNA usually gets 8-10 percent annual increases in their contracts.

I have a question Linda: How bad is the nursing shortage in Washington? Because in California, RN's can pick up work the next day if they want to ... making it much easier to strike. Is this not the case in states like Washington?

Granted, the shortage has always been worse in California, and the union sponsored ratio law has increased job opportunities even more but ... even before the ratio law was passed RN's could always find work while they were on strike. Is this not the case elsewhere?

Or ... are people just not interested in striking at all.

[Sheri257]

That's just it.....ONE NURSE....ONE PHYSICIAN can not "do" anything. To strengthen employment law in the states where it is weak it will take lobbying.It will take cases that "shock" these senators into activation...it will have to personally touch some of their lives for it to matter. Maybe senators who have had to watch their fathers /mothers/children suffer bc a physician or nurse was not competent enough to safely provide care/or reconize early warning signs that could have made their loved ones outcome much better.It will take families coming forward with stories of sentinel events that could have been prevented if the nurses and physicians "voices" had of been heard by these risk management departments when they voiced their concerns over a coworker.

I disagree. There are news reports of medical malpractice every single day ... yet what have the MD's done? They've changed the laws in their favor. It's much harder to sue a doctor for malpractice today than it was 20 years ago. Legislators didn't really care if they were harming anyone.

The bottom line for change is: it requires money and organization. But most RN's ... including you guys .... can't agree on how it should be done so ... in the end, nothing happens.

Look at what you guys have been arguing about here: you can't even agree on the question of unions. And even if other nursing organizations are supposedly better, they haven't done anything for you except collect your dues money. They're just as bad, if not worse, than the "evil" unions you describe.

So if you guys are at a stalemate here ... how do you expect other RN's to unify and do anything if you can't do the same thing yourselves?

This is the problem with nursing right here on this thread. Every one of you has been wronged by the system in some way yet ... no one can agree on what the solution is. So .... another 20 years will go by ... and nothing will happen.

[lindarn]

Lizz,

I am proud to say that as a Legal Nurse, I belong to the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, and we fought off I-330 this November, which was a state initiative that would have severely curtailed the ability to bring a medical malpractive law suit against a physician or hospital. Tort reform made a mess in Florida, where it was passed. I was appalled at the scope of the Initiative, and what they were trying to slip in, thinking that no one would notice. The attorney members of the WSTLA obtained a table at the State Fair in September, to educate the public. If anyone is interested, you can go to the WSTLA web site, and see if there is still a link to the issues about this. It was a tough fight, but eventually, the citizens of Washington saw through the lies of the insurance companies, and the Medical Association. You can demonize trial attorneys as much as you like, but you will never know when someone you love has been injured by a negligent physician. Most are not like that but it takes just one. I could write a book.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

[Sheri257]

You can demonize trial attorneys as much as you like, but you will never know when someone you love has been injured by a negligent physician.

I hope you didn't think I was demonizing trial lawyers because, I actually support them. I was just pointing out that MD's have been very successful with all of this "tort reform" BS, although I'm glad to hear that Washington is an exception.

[sashakoko]

I feel you did what you had to do as a good patient advocate. You made the unit manager and Risk Management AWARE of the serious patient safety issue in good faith. The consequences to the above action are very unfair, unexpected, and totally devasting for you. You have a clear conscious, an excellent nursing background, and the courage of your convictions. You need to just move on to a "Patient Oriented Healthcare Facility" that puts patient safety as a major priority, and requests / supports employee's input regarding same. Perhaps the other nurses in Texas work in such a Healthcare Facility, and could communicate with you.

You must have heard somewhere that "Nurses eat their Young", and most nurses have witnessed this in their career. You experienced it. OUCH.;

Also "Be aware of who's sleeping with whom in any organization ",which is not easy to discover.

I need to congratulate you for "Doing Right by the Patients in your ICU" who are not aware that they have a "Patient Advocate Angel Nurse".

Carry on Nurse, and my best wishes for your future.

"A wing and a Prayer can take you anywhere". Go for it.

sashakoko

[katfishLPN]

Lizz,

I am proud to say that as a Legal Nurse, I belong to the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, and we fought off I-330 this November, which was a state initiative that would have severely curtailed the ability to bring a medical malpractive law suit against a physician or hospital. Tort reform made a mess in Florida, where it was passed. I was appalled at the scope of the Initiative, and what they were trying to slip in, thinking that no one would notice. The attorney members of the WSTLA obtained a table at the State Fair in September, to educate the public. If anyone is interested, you can go to the WSTLA web site, and see if there is still a link to the issues about this. It was a tough fight, but eventually, the citizens of Washington saw through the lies of the insurance companies, and the Medical Association. You can demonize trial attorneys as much as you like, but you will never know when someone you love has been injured by a negligent physician. Most are not like that but it takes just one. I could write a book.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

I wish you would write a book. I for one would read it...and buy it!

By the way I recently moved to Moses Lake after being born in and living in Seattle my whole life. Anyway, that is beside the point, it is just interesting to hear someone else's point of view in the same neck of the woods. Your posts are very informative, keep 'em coming! Thanks

[Haunted]

This little "thread" is part of a whole cloth. It is a cloth of greed and abuse. The only way to fight fire is with fire: our last refuge of sanity is the law of the land. We need legislators to be on our side. The question is, can we bribe them enough or guilt-trip them enough with advertising and lobbying to stop our oppressors, our employers, who allow the everyday business of doing nurses to death.WHO HAS THE CUJONES TO TACKLE IT? WHERE'S THE MONEY TO DO IT?

Three months ago I got thrown out of a job for advocating for a patient's life. Aside from the expensive defense of my license, being denied unemployment, and shunned by the people who used to force me to eat quiche, I want to let you know that I just tried to sign up with a temporary agency. There's a "release" in the application that states in effect I give up the right to legal action against anyone, past present or future who may slander, libel or harass me.

I ain't gonna sign that.

Do you think it's a Stupid Test: ie. if I am stupid enough to sign it, they can feel free to whump me like a rented mule?

huh?

So I am going to revive the little business I had going 5 years ago, doing journals, vanity publishing, studying for my BSN-MSN, tending my garden, and volunteering in counselling senior citizens. What am I saying??? I AM a senior citizen!! I have great tickets current in all the stuff you need to work (right now!), 30 years of experience, I have talent, organization skills, and I can type 120 words a minute. I can nurse circles around anyone out there. I will NOT work for a pittance. I will NOT work where I am not certain that my car will still be there when it's time to go home.

I am withdrawing from the backstabbing narrow-minded pill-pushers in pantyhose..... I just don't fit in. For instance, I'd rather read a book than go to a covered dish supper. If forced to attend, I'd like to bring wine instead of a "covered dish" to THEIR party. Soggy quiche, heavy potato chips and wilted carrots make me puke; besides, I have done the Acute GI Bowling Dance with bad Mayo, and will not eat it unless I have accurate provenance. So this effectively isolates me from "society." Yes, I am wierd. I am too old. I am too pretty. I have too much experience to kiss butt to be allowed to wipe S--t on the night shift.

State Nurses Society, my big white patoootie. There's no help for burnout THERE. THey just want money so they can do what they always do: print platitudes, waste time, and bow down to Big Health Care Medical-Industrial Dollars.

O forgive me, but I do not think that NURSES have the CUJONES to WALK OUT OF THEIR JOB not even for one hour. If we all did that, I bet your little tin cup that we would have the attention of the Big Boys.

Who has the cujones..... do you?

I DO!!!! I AM GOING ON STRIKE TOMORROW!!!! UNFORTUNATELY, I AM REGISTRY AND NO ONE BUT YOU GUYS WILL NOTICE!!!!!

[Keysnurse2008]

You know guys...it would help if we had a little bit more direction on "how" to rectify these problems with attorneys within the state nsg associations.We are "nurses" not attorneys. However..I do agree that some MD's have had success with tort reform to favor them...however...these HCF are still very much wide open...to common law torts when they pratice by "safeguarding" management who do things illegally ...like....disregarding retaliation and whistleblowing laws.I am just extremely saddened by this whole ordeal. I still feel incredibly niave....I have always kinda stupidly believed that in the end everyone really wanted to pratice with high ethical standards.What an eye opener for this very niave nurse.I still feel like an idiot.

[Keysnurse2008]

i want to thank every nurse who posted here.when i first posted here on this topic....i was "in shock"....i thought i had to be the only person in the world this had happened to i was shocked and incredibly niave.it wasnt long though until i recieved emails from md's,rts, rn's ,lpn's,or techs.their stories all were the same.we all have a responsibility to the patients we care for .

when we witness acts that affect patient safety we have a clear obligation to do the ethically correct thing....and be that patients advocate.often times it isnt "well received" by the hcf. but..our first responsibility ...our first loyalty should remain with that that patient.ensuring that patient receives quality care in a safe environment . my advice to anyone going through a event like mine.....is keep a record.dates, times,emails , past evals, .....if you can and it is legally allowed in your state audiotape "questionable" meetings/"questionable peer reviews-for md's.

and...look for other things that are concrete evidence .i...at this time....can not post all the different types of evidence i have...bc as i have said before.......apx 50%of my evidence is only known to me and my atty.and i amkeeping it that way.

but....think outside of the box.keep your evals...keep emails....and keep an open mind.:deadhorse :twocents: :typing