Pending write up

Larry in Florida · Jul 21, 2007

Hello,May I vent and get suggestions please ?!?!
Iworked in the ER for 6 six years, transferred to ICU for the last 2 yrs and 4 mos.
My first evaluation was last year and it said thing like having trouble adjusting to unit routine, still learning my critical care role,etc.
So I was hurt and I was somewhat confused but okay I gave them the benefit of the doubt.
It has been 1 yr and 4 mos and the following occurred. This years evaluation has not been done yet.
I was in a pre code controlled situation where we intubated a pt , then we were going to place a a-line and cvl. Shortly after intubation we started a sedationdrug drip with little control so the doctor ordered a dose of of a neuromuscular blocker . I drew up the ordered dose and medicated the pt .
Long story short 4 days later I was called to the managers office and 2 managers where there and said the following.
It is the perception that you give more medicines or extra medicines.What do you think? Apparently someone in the room I suppose it was another nurse reported that she watched me pull up the drug from the vial, asked me if I diluted it,which she reported that I said no, and then proceeded to watch me give 100 mg not the ordered fifty by reporting that I pushed it all.
I was asked: How much did you give, did you dilute it, did you throw the vial away, did I answer no when I was asked if I diluted it.
I replied that I did not remember if I diluted it although I did frequently dilute drugs,that I did not remember being asked about dilution by another person in the room. And that I did not know how to answer the questions as I simply drew up a dose to the best of my abilty and medicated the patient.
I was told that there was further investigation to be done, but that I would be given the opportunity to write a reply.
So I sit here thinking was if it was a med error shoul'nt a pharmacy form and the other indicated forms and with couseling be in order? Or is it going to be a big write up and a discipline issue?
I do not remember making a mistake, but another said I did. So how do I respond? Thank you everyone

They are not worth it. Give the two week notice (after you find another job) and live happily ever after. Life is too short for these kind of games. Also I would have asked who made the accusation and If true they should be wrote up also for not stopping or questioning you at the time. Head games there!!

Larry RN.

BluntForceTrauma · Jul 21, 2007

Also I would have asked who made the accusation and If true they should be wrote up also for not stopping or questioning you at the time. Head games there!!
Larry RN.

DITTO!!!!!

jamonit · Jul 21, 2007

To me it sounds like you work with a lot of busy-bodies and that your managers don't have much faith in your abilities. if i were you, i would send out resumes to neighboring hospitals and when you get a bite, go there. you've been a nurse too long to be treated as if you are incompetent. even if it was a dilution error that you didn't catch, the patient outcome was okay (being that he did not die or suffer terrible effects). it sounds like you aren't going to receive a 'fair trial', more like a trial by fire.

if you want to stay in that position, i would sit down and talk to those two managers and ask to have the nurse with the acusations in attendance. talk openly about how you feel like you're being treated there. tell them that you didn't recall the conversation and that you aim to always follow proper protocol, even in the stress of a code situation. let them know that it is your preception that they are discounting your abilities and ask for constructive advice so that you can receive better feedback. i think mediation with the nurse that filed the complaint is necessary if you want to stay in that postion. approach it professionally, i.e. not emotionally, and see how you are treated. if you feel like it's a personal attack and it's a hostile workplace with horizontal abuse, write your resignation.

that's what i would do. let us know how it turns out.

HM2VikingRN, RN · Jul 21, 2007

It smells like bullying. Just get out before they drive you crazy.

brissie · Jul 21, 2007

Ditto to everything said so far. I'm not at all saying you made a med error but if one nurse notices that another is about to make a med error as significant as doubling the dose then they are a poor nurse and an even poorer colleague if they watch you make that error and then go running off to management. No nurse gets through their career without making a med error. I would be on the offensive because there are just too many discrepencies in the accusations and if brought to the light of day then they will not stand.

leslie :-D · Jul 21, 2007

i agree.

this is total b.s.

they're playing games.

if this was true, the other nurse is just as guilty for not intervening.

time for greener pastures.

wishing you the best of everything.

leslie

Icare4u2 · Jul 21, 2007

yup, i gotta go with what everyone else says here. sounds to me like there is someone bent on moving you out.:angryfire i say find another job and tell them hasta la vista, baby!

oldiebutgoodie, RN · Jul 21, 2007

Something like this happened to me in an ICU I worked in . I was there almost a year, and manager would call me in saying there have been complaints about my work. When I asked what were the complaints, who made them, and what patients were they, the manager was vague, the complaints were vague, and she couldn't name any specific instances. More of the nonsense like "not progressing in the ICU role", etc. I never made a med error, never had any specific issues.

The unit was full of gossips and cliques. The manager laid a lot of these complaints on me when I was asking for a leave of absence because my father was dying. Unbelievable how crual and cold she was.

I transferred out of the unit to a Med-surg unit, we work as a team, everybody gets along, and I am much happier. When I left the ICU, there were still nurses there who had not spoken to me although I had been there almost a year.

Get out and have a happier life.

Unfortunately, a lot of ICUs seem to be this way. My friend working in another hosptial said her unit hired 16 new grads, and they all left except 2. Then they wonder why they are understaffed?

Best of luck to you, and pay no attention to these vultures.

Oldiebutgoodie

EmmaG, RN · Jul 22, 2007

What they ^ said.

Don't allow this place to stress you out and question your abilities. Get out of that toxic environment.