I'm in my last semester of nursing school and currently work as a clinic assistant. I've been at my current job as a clinic float for 3 years and was on track to have a great recommendation from my manager. I've been super stressed lately, and yesterday as I was working with a difficult patient I lost my cool--just a little bit (nothing too terrible, but I was definitely short with her). The patient proceeded to call the clinic and request the manager to report me. The manager wasn't in, but I let the patient know when should would be able to contact her.
I definitely could have done things differently. I've had excellent feedback consistently about my patient care and customer service since I started working there. I know how to handle a difficult patient and have handled many in the past. This one caught me off guard. I don't know the other staff at that clinic well, and they witnessed my less-than-stellar customer service. But, the two other clinic assistants also told me the patient had been very rude to them during the visit.
I'm really worried about my job, and about the manager's perception of me. I'm worried about having something negative happen so close to graduation, when I will be requesting references from my current employer. I know I was in the wrong (even with a difficult, rude patient) and I just want to do the best I can going forward. When I told my partner about this he said it has happened to everyone at least once. Has anyone else been in this situation? How did your manager react? What was the outcome?
