dmwRNpa

I just wanted to update all you guys out there who were pulling for me. Thank you for all your support, I greatly appreciate it. Today I got a call from my employer, telling me to come in at 3pm for a meeting. My fate. I notified my mom and we began trying to contact my attorney (we later found out he was in court and was not accepting calls). So I ventured in alone. I have been terminated from my position. They stated: Major offenses are any violations of hospital or safety rules of such degree that continued employment of the individual may not be desirable. The following are examples of offenses which will subject and employee to immediate discharge without warning, without notice, and without pay for notice. Dishonesty, including theft or misappropriation or the attempt of, or unauthorized possession of hospital property, possession of a controlled substance by employees. In light of the serious nature and consequence of these major violations, and in accordance with hospital policy on discipline, you are dismissed from your position as Registered Nurse effective today. So, there we have it. I am seriously behind on my bills, and now I have no job. I have already started a job search. I talked with my attorney and he agrees that we have a good chance at a discrimination case against the hospital. I was off on a medical leave for three months, I came back in mid January. I have some work restrictions enforced by my physician for my well being, and they were unhappy with the restrictions. Normally they watch people for months before even acting on a case like this. I make one mistake, and they fire me. Fishy to me. Just wanted to update all you guys. Thanks for the support again

We had some first semester nursing students on my unit. I normally enjoy having the students there, I love to show them interesting things that they may not see. Well, one particular day, we had a group of green students, it was they're first real day on the unit, and their task was to bathe their patients. They were paired up to make it easier. Two students had one of my patients. I was running around trying to get my AM care done, and I noticed one of the students standing in the doorway of that room looking like a lost puppy. When I asked her what was wrong, she said she needed her instructor. I explained that I was willing to help. She explained to me that she didn't know what to do with this thing on her patients leg. I tried to figure out what this "thing" was, but I had to look for myself. It was a catheter strap. I had to chuckle. The student was afraid to touch it, she thought it was going to rip the foley out if she moved it a little to wash under it. I thought that was so cute.

I was a housekeeper for a long time, and I would observe the nurses. When my hospital started offering tuition forgiveness, I took it up, because after watching the nurses, I decided that it would be good for me. I'm good with people, I'm responsible, I'm caring. I went through the nursing program, which is difficult, I won't deny it. But its soooo worth it in the end. I agree with the other posts when they say try being a nurse aide first. You work along side the nurse and it really gives you a feel for what nursing is like. Now granted, some days will be better than others, and there are problems that arise, and you might not get along with all your coworkers, but that happens with any job. I worked as a nurse aide while I went to nursing school, and I found a great group of nurses that kind of took me under their wing and showed me some interesting stuff before I learned it in school--it was nice to have an advantage. And it helped on the clinical unit also. Give it a try, if you like being an aide, you will most likely like being a nurse!

I love the way it gives me gratification--helping another person in need. I love the way they thank me for going out of my way to make their day. I love the way the family appreciates the staff for doing a job well done. I love the way it is so different day to day, its never the same thing twice. I love the way I can go anywhere and still have a job. I love the way it makes me feel when I have had a good--or bad--day, like I made a difference in someones life, even if its on the miniscule side. I love my job, thru thick and think :)

No, it doesnt get easier, persay. It gets easier to deal with, but in all reality its always going to be hard. You imagine the family and their grief, and that makes it hard also. But it is part of life, you are born, you live, and then you die. Its amazing sometimes how fast people deteriorate. I was devastated with my first patient death. Now I can deal with it in a professional manner, but I still feel badly for the grieving family and friends. Keep your chin up, it all works out for the best in the end.:balloons:

I would have to agree with the rest of the bunch, post CVA quadrapalegic

I have been wondering if this could be discrimination. When I went back to work, I had some restrictions on me, such as I can't work nights or be mandated due to my psyche problems. When I went in to hand in the necessary paperwork for this, no one was available to hand it to other than the secretary. When I went back 1/2 hour later to make sure it was delivered to someone, it was laying on her desk, my name side up, and she was not in the office. Anyone could have read that, and it was filled out by my MD with all my diagnoses on there. My direct manager is supporting me, fighting for me, but it seems like everyone else is against me. Hopefully tomorrow (monday) we will get some sort of answer.

Hi everyone! I really need to get this off my chest and get some responses back on your opinion of the problem. I was off work for 3 1/2 months for some personal problems. When I returned to work, I am not allowed to work nights or be mandated. Soo, the hospital I work at said this is a disability. So I had my MD fill out the paper work which included a detailed summary of my problem. I just got back into the swing of things, and now I have a major problem. I was working evening shift, and it was really busy on my med-surg unit. Patient A asked for a pain pill, and so did patient B. I knew it wasn't time for patient B's pain pill, but I went into the med room to get patient A a pill. I got into Pyxis, our computer system for medication distribution, scrolled down to my patient and selected Vicodin ES. When the drawer opened, I removed one pill, opened it, and placed it in the cup, but the cup tipped and the pill was ont he floor. SInce the drawer was still open, I accidently hit cancel all meds, which cancels my action and makes the machine still think that theres the original number of pills in there. In my case, there were four, I took one but it fell, so now theres three, but since I hit cancel all meds, the machine thought it had four still. My nurses aide came into the room and told me that pt C was climbing out of bed again, and pt D was coughing so hard she was throwing up. I was now in a hurry to go help her out, so i put the dropped pill in my pocket until I could call pharmacy and figure out how to fix the problem in the pyxis machine. I created a discrepancy because I still had to remove a pill and the true number was different from the machines number. The night just got worse from that point. I spent a good part of my night on the phone, with every ones family members, three different doctors on different patients, attempting to keep my Houdini in bed, etc etc etc you all know how it goes. I totally forgot about that pill!!! The next day, I go to work, and I get called to HR. I'm instantly placed into a state of panic, what did I do wrong, did I get a serious complaint against me (I had a pt not happy with me the week before), was I being sued, I mean a million things were going thru my mind. I practically ran to the other side of the building to get to HR. When I got there, I was out of breath and scared to death to hear what was going on. When they told me it was over this discrepancy, my mind went totally blank. I didn't remember what I did with the pill, and I didn't have it on my person. Since I didn't know exactly what happened to the pill, and I didn't have it to prove that I didn't take it, They placed me on administrative leave of absence, unpaid. They told me that I could get either probation or I could be let go. I got hysterical. I had to call my mom to come get me, I was so upset that I couldn't function. My manager had to stay with me as long as I was in the building, which was embarrasing. I took an extra nerve pill while waiting for my mom to come get me. I just sat there and cried, telling her over and over that I didn't take it, I would rather die than risk my job. I love my job, and I've been with the company for six years now. When my mom got me home, I took my managers advice and checked my uniform from the day before. My mom was a witness. We checked all the pockets. I had a shirt that has double slit patch pockets on the front. I always use the pockets closest to my body, never the ones further out. We found the pill in the front pocket. I was so happy that I cried. My anxiety medicine had kicked in,and I remembered the entire incident from the night before. I immediately called the hospital, requesting to talk to the head lady in HR. I explained to her what had happened, and she told me that its fishy since just an hour and half ago, I didn't know what happened to it. But its the truth. I'll swear on a Bible, I'll give hair sample for drug testing, whatever they want. I'm not a drug abuser, never have been. And the thought that they are suspicous of that makes me upset, but I can see where they are coming from. Its been over a week since this happened. Its been more than five days. I still haven't heard anything yet. The waiting is killing me. Just the thought that I could lose my job is driving me insane. Has anyone else dealt with anything like this before, what came of it, or does anyone have any suggestions for me? I could really use all the support I can get at this point. Thanks

i've worked on the same unit since i was in nursing school. i loved the unit at first, but after 6 years, it got really stressful. we, as i am aware many facilities are dealing with, were severely short handed, and it always seemed to be the same people getting mandated. i was mandated at least once per pay period! i was putting in about 10-15 hours of overtime per week. i was starting to dread coming to work, and i was becoming very unhappy with my job. :uhoh21: i went to my doctor, and he recommended that i go talk to my therapist to get some stuff off my chest. sooooo, i did. i didn't want to at first. but once i got there and started talking, i started to cry, and then sob. i was so frustrated. i hadn't really realized that i wasn't sleeping, and my whole body was paying the price for it. she recommended me to take a leave of absence for a few weeks, just til i get on some meds to help stablize my moods. i was agreeable to that. but once we started working on the problems, more and more kept coming up. i ended up being off work for 16 weeks all together. i was bored at first, but then i found other little ways to keep myself occupied. i made a careplan book, full of careplans that i can use when i can't seem to think to make a good careplan. i read chicken soup for the nurses soul (wonderful book!) i did little things to keep myself occupied and remind myself why i chose nursing as my profession. well, since i was off work for more than 12 weeks, they posted my job up for bids. i was upset at first, but then i started to think about it. maybe this was a good thing. my doctor suggested i return to work part time for a few weeks. so i talked to hr about that, and they said if i do that, i have to bid on a part time job and discuss with that manager about changing it into a full time position in time. i did just that. i looked to see what all jobs were open to me, and there were only three to choose from. icu, stepdown, and a med/surg. i thought about it, contemplated, prayed, and talked to my husband about it for a week or so, and chose to talk to the med/surg manager. she was very nice, i can't believe that i really never knew her before or even talked to her. she was willing to work with me and my part time to full time situation. i started on that unit on monday. i went from a chaotic orthopedic unit where you never got to stand still let alone sit for your shift to a steady medsurg unit. i loved it my first day. i was frazzled at first, only because i was having some anxiety issues. but on my second day, it went a lot smoother. for the first time in ages, i got to punch out on time. and that was with a full patient load. i felt good. i got to talk to my patients, i got to talk with other nurses and staff, i got to help the aides when they needed it. i left work with a smile on my face. i went from almost burned out, to being refreshed and ready for the job again. i love nursing, i love the rewards it can bring. its good to be back!

I'm so sorry to hear that. I will keep you in my prayers, and your family also.