Fired before the 1 year mark, now unemployed for six months. Please help.

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Julius Seizure

1 Article; 2,282 Posts

Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

I was doing a great job, getting wonderful reviews and my preceptorship was sailing along.

And then I had a problem.

One of my patients, a young guy about 19, was a prison inmate with an ankle bracelet on. He had severely chronic cystic fibrosis all his life and was constantly in and out of the hospital. And the end of one of my shifts I played video games with the him, trying to help him with his depression. And that was where the problem started. He latched onto me and over over the period of the next week and a half began stalking me through the hospital systems; he manipulated people into letting him use their staff phone. I would be floating on another floor and I'd still be getting calls from this guy. His manipulative behavior escalated, he began to refuse treatment and his medications, saying he had to be treated me. Out of the blue I was called into HR and let go. I thought that by keeping my preceptor and charge nurse in the loop I was doing the right thing. But this patient was manipulating things in the background that I didn't know was going on.

The disappointing thing in all of this was someone should've stood up for me but didn't.

I learned a lot of lessons from that encounter, the most important being to give compassionate care but not to get too close to people.

I am a great nurse, I did a great job, I got great reviews but I was put in a no-win situation.”

This is what you say when people ask why you were fired? I would definitely not say all this. Its just way too much, first of all. When you say so much, it sounds like you are trying to explain away the mistake that you made, and then at the end saying that "someone should've stood up for me but didn't" REALLY makes it sound like you don't take responsibility. While everything you tell in this story might be valid, it is definitely not what I would say when trying to make a good first impression.

Keep it simple. What TriciaJ said is good: you were trying to be compassionate to a manipulative patient, gave a small gift, and learned from your mistake that professional boundaries are very important.

10/11/17 Update:

Last week I did something that I should have 100% ABSOLUTELY done months ago. I called the Career Services Director at my old nursing school and asked her for help.

(This question has probably been asked many times on this forum; I am in no-way a legal expert and this may only apply in Texas) The Career Services Director at my former school told me recruiters can only ask future employers two-sometimes three- questions:

1). Did this person work for this company?

2). What time frame did this person work for this company?

3). Is this person rehire-able? (I was told 90% of the time this question is NOT asked but on the slight chance it is I thought I would include it anyway)

The Director instructed me to state I was fired due to repeated absences and tardiness related to a family emergency - that although I found my job important my family always takes precedence. I was also told that it would be an illegal interview question if I was pressed further or asked to explain the situation.

(I also have Asperger's/HFA so I'm a little slow when it comes to understanding people) I was also explained that in this profession a great job is a great job and if you find yourself in a crappy one you can move immediately, hence the high turnover rate for our profession as a whole.When I did have a job as a nurse I saw people leave left and right or go to float pools or go agency or per diem, a lot of which still confuses me but that's another subject for another day.

I've gone to two interviews since then and both times I've explained the firing due to a family crisis and quickly moved onto the next set of questions.

All in all (for me) I think this is case closed.

And @TriciaJ, RN: I'm really trying to work on the negative self-talk. I'm working with my former pediatric psychiatrist to find an adult psychiatrist & psychologist who work with young adults/adults with HFA. Even when I was working my life was out of control as I was basically a social hermit who was on the verge of having a panic attack from just leaving my apartment. I went to work, came home, drank, ordered takeout, and worked. It was a pretty terrible way to live; in fact, it wasn't living, it was just surviving. The hard truth I had to realize was I had Asperger's/HFA as a kid; I went to school, studied, worked out, studied...I LOVED school, life was great. And then I graduated and I took this job far away from home in a town where I knew no one.

The job was just a band-aid. And that band-aid was ripped right off the skin at full force when I got fired.

Anyhow now in addition to my psychiatric team I'm also going to intensive outpatient therapy three times a week to try and get this 'fogginess' surrounding my brain out of my life.

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