Placed on Performance Improvement Plan - What should I do?

The same thing happened to me recently. I was an ICU nurse for over 20 years, spent my last 7 years in one unit then transferred to another hospital, same job. All of sudden I was getting written up over crazy things. Should have seen the writing on the wall. I was fired for a very minor med error which I reported and no harm came to the patient, doctor was not upset. I was upset because making med errors is not at all typical for me. But, they were just waiting for me to do something wrong. It was horrible. I think some hospitals are just viper pits full of nasty people. I don't know if its possible to get over it.

I have seen this happen over and over to so many people. Yet others make significant errors and there are no consequences. I just don't understand why this is happening to good nurses. All I can say is the degree of negativity and just plain nastiness in the profession has escalated in recent years. When I first started nursing, we worked as a team, our managers supported us, we actually had fun at times and I don't mean we had fun by hurting or being cruel to others. That is not funny. Had I known it would turn into a profession of Mean Girls one day, I would never have chosen the profession. What appealed to me about it was the caring, the camaraderie, the teamwork, the pulling together for a greater purpose outside of our own little worlds. I wish I knew the answers as to why this is happening. In the meantime, I feel for you. You have my support. Know that you are not alone.

The same thing happened to me recently. I was an ICU nurse for over 20 years, spent my last 7 years in one unit then transferred to another hospital, same job. All of sudden I was getting written up over crazy things. Should have seen the writing on the wall. I was fired for a very minor med error which I reported and no harm came to the patient, doctor was not upset. I was upset because making med errors is not at all typical for me. But, they were just waiting for me to do something wrong. It was horrible. I think some hospitals are just viper pits full of nasty people. I don't know if its possible to get over it.

The other thing is that you were honest and accountable and showed integrity in reporting your error. I think the lesson learned here is that it does not pay to be honest, accountable, ethical. This behaviour is punished not rewarded. Maybe that is why the profession has been blindsided by nurses with the diametrically opposite qualities. The last 2 places I worked were viper pits, totally.

You can get copies of everything, but if you live in an at will state, the hospital can fire you for any little thing. All nurses do something wrong eventually and then they'll just use that little thing to get rid of you. They can even lie and you have no recourse. I know a nurse who was fired for being a minute late. She had worked for the hospital for years. Her new manager kept track of her tardiness - only a minute or two a few times over the previous months. On her 4th time, she was fired on the spot. The housesupervisor had to be a witness when she was fired. The house supervisor was in tears afterwards over how the fired nurse was treated.

You can get copies of everything, but if you live in an at will state, the hospital can fire you for any little thing. All nurses do something wrong eventually and then they'll just use that little thing to get rid of you. They can even lie and you have no recourse. I know a nurse who was fired for being a minute late. She had worked for the hospital for years. Her new manager kept track of her tardiness - only a minute or two a few times over the previous months. On her 4th time, she was fired on the spot. The housesupervisor had to be a witness when she was fired. The house supervisor was in tears afterwards over how the fired nurse was treated.

If you take the long view on such things, that manager did her a favor. Now she's out of that snakepit while the manager is left behind. I got fired from such a place early in my career and although it hurt to be fired, I had the last laugh when I heard my manager was forced to leave the facility accompanied by security. So sad; too bad.

Yes it is so true. What goes around comes around. So all we have to do is wait and, as you said, be grateful we got out of the snake pit before it destroyed us. Keep smiling and keep laughing.

Your story is similar to mine.

Even back then, it was obvious to me that my managers were untrustworthy.

I just wanted to tough it out....just because. For the principle of the thing.

Getting fired, with a terrible reference can be devastating in the nursing world. And even worse if you're in a state where your terminator is automatically reported to the board.

Follow your intuition, and good luck to you.

If you go to IOM's Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming The Workplace of Nurses the chapter on patient safety culture has a description of the adversarial relationship between staff and management. The National Patient Safety Foundation's study From The Eyes of The Workforce also discusses it. Sounds like you are an exception. Maybe you should publish on your successes. I assume your unit would have good staff satisfaction and patient safety culture scores. Maybe this nurse should come work for you.

Learn from your mistakes. I was fired from my dream job not for performance but for something I said. I learned to keep my mouth shut and trust NO ONE with your opinions. Learn everyones personalities 1st. Good luck.

So true! I learned this the hard way. everyone complained about one person and I spoke to the Director about him( non nursing). It backfired on me! NO one not any of the ones who said they had my back not ANY one of them backed me up. They let me take the fall. I am so disgusted by all of them. It mad me look crazy. And the Director lets this person do whatever he pleases. Whatever. And do not talk to him about his behavior So staff complain and says they support me and will stand by me and I approach management and nothing is done, Then management does not want me back and the SAME staff that agreed I talk to management about this person, that same person then texts me a say I am not a good fit!! Wha the heck? And management said she will take me back and all is well, but then says she does not want my services and good luck out there! Whatever. Their day will come - that managers and that co -workers. i have learned to shut up and to trust ANYONE. I was bitten.

So true! I learned this the hard way. everyone complained about one person and I spoke to the Director about him( non nursing). It backfired on me! NO one not any of the ones who said they had my back not ANY one of them backed me up. They let me take the fall. I am so disgusted by all of them. It mad me look crazy. And the Director lets this person do whatever he pleases. Whatever. And do not talk to him about his behavior So staff complain and says they support me and will stand by me and I approach management and nothing is done, Then management does not want me back and the SAME staff that agreed I talk to management about this person, that same person then texts me a say I am not a good fit!! Wha the heck? And management said she will take me back and all is well, but then says she does not want my services and good luck out there! Whatever. Their day will come - that managers and that co -workers. i have learned to shut up and to trust ANYONE. I was bitten.

Meant to trust NO ONE!