PediRN

Oh my, I'm a supervisor in acute care and my base pay is $42/hr. Tell me where you're working :)

Call the hospital and ask them what their policy is for appealing a termination. If you belong to a union they can help you with this, otherwise call HR direct. Then DO IT in a timely fashion (whatever the policy states). What will probably happen is that you will then either receive a denial, or a meeting with a higher-up. If denied, your only recourse is to try to get them on a human rights violation, otherwise if you're in an employment at will state, they can terminate you for any reason as long as they are not discriminating against you based on any of the protected classes of individuals (i.e. sex, race, disability, etc). They ARE NOT allowed to contact other potential employers, you might want to seek a lawyer's advice about that. Most states have a free lawyer referral service, you can also google your hospital + lawsuits + wrongful termination and see what comes up. You may not be the only one to whom this has happened. Hope this helps, good luck

For that type of job I would definitely go for your MHA. You might also want to consider a combined degree (MSN/MHA, MSN/MBA).

That's basically exactly what I do. A few questions.... Who monitors restraint use? Is it done unit by unit or do you take part in that? What is your pay (feel free to pm me if you don't want to post it....then again, if I'm being too nosy, don't worry about it!)? How much experience does the position require? Do you employ resource nurses (rapid response)? At night? I'm sure there's other questions, give me time!

Ridiculous. If I were you I'd take my experience and certifications elsewhere. Sounds like a no-win for you. EVERYONE needs experienced L&D nurses.

I agree with the above poster. If you present the termination as a learning experience and you don't badmouth your previous employer, that goes a long way. You can also just say that it didn't work out, it was a poor fit, you realized it wasn't for you, etc. You don't have to come out and say you were fired. Spin, baby, spin.

It is a really interesting job, never the same night, lots of interaction with lots of different people. I was a nurse manager for about 6 years before this job became available (at a different hospital). I have a BSN. I had about 6 weeks of preceptorship, mostly on nights, and I thought it was enough. I realized soon after I started that most of the situations that confronted me would be unusual and hard to prepare for, and I was right! I have a lot of authority with staffing, but have to adhere to a budget, based on a grid, which is based on census. We're heading in the direction of acuity based staffing via optilink, but it's a slow process. I think my management background was invaluable in that it gave me the tough skin, however, I also think that the most important thing to have as a nursing supervisor is common sense. I also always ask when faced with a difficult staffing/bed management decision, what is best for the patient? That maxim seems to steer me in the right direction most of the time. Luckily I have a boss that tolerates mistakes as long as you are accountable and truthful, so that helps.

Any other nursing supervisors/bed managers of acute care hospitals out there? I'd like to network a little and get some feedback on a couple of things... I am a nursing supervisor at a 300 bed acute care hospital. I work 7p-7a. I am responsible for staffing and bed management and all the other disasters that befall a hospital at night!!

The only fair policy in this instance is zero tolerance. Fire a few people and the dye will be cast.

Simmer down kids. This is the age old nursing debate...i.e. "Nobody else works as hard as I do". I realize that the OP was put in a dangerous position, there is no denying that. From my own experience, I have often found that when staffing is bad, it's due to poor planning on the part of the unit management, not the supervisor. By the time I get to work at 7pm, most of the staffing decisions have been made already. I in turn make the decisions for the day shift. I think OP needs to focus less on what the supervisor didn't do and more on what could have been done to prevent this situation from happening, and to prepare herself if it happens again (as was previously mentioned, not accepting the assignment is a perfectly good alternative.). Maybe the supervisor is lazy, maybe she could have helped, but the important thing to remember is that you never should have been put in that position to begin with. And if the supervisor did help you, and you got through the night (or day, I forget which) unscathed, and no complaints were voiced, then your manager was just given carte blanche to do it again. I try really hard not to enable the staff. I will work tirelessly with them to figure out solutions to their problems, but I think that by jumping in and doing patient care, the supervisor may have done more harm than good in the long run. Just my humble opinion. Please stop fighting, y'all.

If YOU had a poop explosion I'd definitely help out....and fetch ya a pair of scrubs too.

Thank you. I supervise a 220 bed acute care hospital and my duties include bed management from the ED, PACU, and direct admits into and through the hospital; verifying that patients are where they are supposed to be based on their acuity, dealing with pt and family complaints, responding to every code/trauma/alert/PAMI/stroke alert, starting IVs on the impossible to stick pts, tracking down central supply when they don't answer their pages, staffing/covering sick calls, data entry of all of the above; so NO, I'm sorry, I don't have time on an average night to help out with routine tasks on a floor that the manager didn't bother to staff correctly. If I'm not doing anything else, I am happy to help turn a pt or wipe a butt, but if my pager goes off with a code blue or a trauma, you bet your ass I'll be off and running.

Many nurses I know, psych or otherwise, have mental health issues. We are a very high risk field to be in.

God, that sounds like a horrific situation....I'm surprised you've lasted this long!! Absolutely file a grievance...just make sure you have dates and facts to back your claims. Look at it as a trial with her as the defendant. When I was still a unit manager, a staff member yelled at me for something. When I told my supervisor about it, I said "She should respect me as her nurse manager" and my supe said, "She should respect you as a human being". You deserve more respect than this woman is giving you. Good luck...let us know how it goes!

night house supervisor in CT. with night diff, $60/hour.

I had one pt with ctcl...horrible disease. he was treated at yale with reasonably decent results. tell your friend to enroll in clinical trials, probably her best bet.

this question has come up before. All I have to say is, once nursing management starts discriminating against pregnant employees, they're going to be in a world of trouble, being that the profession is still >90% women and we're trying to recruit younger nurses.

Hokey, dokey. Nursing supervisor here (don't hate me on that basis alone). A few things to mention, and I may jump around, so bear with me. 1. If someone calls in sick, I give them the benefit of the doubt, and tons of sympathy. If they're truly sick, they'll appreciate it, if they're faking, hopefully they will feel a little guilty. 2. Habitual sick callers, we know who you are. There are such things as patterns, and when you call in on mostly Sundays or mostly Fridays, we're gonna say something. 3. Call in relatively early. Every hospital differs in policy, but most run in the "90 minutes to 2 hours before the start of your scheduled shift" region. Don't expect me to be happy and sympathetic when you calll in at 0600 for an 0700 shift. 4. If you think you won't be in the next day (legitimately, not "I'm going on vacation and my flight leaves tomorrow", if that's the case, don't tell even your best friend, 'cause it WILL get back to us), let your coworkers know so they have a back up plan. Working as a team goes a long way in endearing yourselves to the Supervisor. Saying, "I'm not feeling too hot, but Susie said she'd come in for me tomorrow if I need her to" will make all of us happy. Unless you work in one of those hospitals who don't replace sick calls, which indeed sucks. 5. See if your hospital would institute a call system. Everyone takes call one day or night a week to replace sick calls. You get paid a nominal amount if you're on call, time and a half if you wind up coming in. 6. Some of us don't mind helping out. We can't usually take a full assignment, as we have other duties, but we can help with specific tasks, i.e. wipe a butt, run the labs down for me, transport a pt to CT scan, etc. We were all staff nurses once (contrary to what you may believe), and we know that its the little things that can make all the difference. 7. PLEASE don't go into the gory details about your illness. THere's nothing worse than someone COCAFing their stools to you at 4 am. Okay, maybe getting puked on, but its a close second. Be brief and to the point. Stomach virus, bad cold, threw out back, all good excuses. 8. Any suggestions? Give them to us. Nurses getting married, buying houses, having their 4th kid, always good fodder for OT. Let us know. 9. And no, I personally do not want you there if you're dripping snot out of your nose or running to the bathroom every 2 seconds. But if your throat's a little sore, or you had one loose BM yesterday afternoon, you're probably okay to come to work. 10> NEVER EVER give people issue about child care. Its tough enough when you have a sick kid at home, the last thing you need is flack from the supervisor or your coworkers. I hope it helps.

tripped over baby barrier. my husband asked if he should adult proof the house. I shot him

Thanks everyone for your kind words. The pain is much improved. I saw my surgeon today and told him very kindly that he was not at all helpful Friday evening in the ER. He was appropriately contrite. Anyone else have any input? I would greatly appreciate it.

fx my distal radius last monday. had closed reduction and internal & external fixation done on friday. unbelievable pain, 10/10 most of the week. After ambulatory surgery was given dilaudid for pain. 4 mg q4h wasn't touching pain so I went to the ER. Got 1 mg X 3 IV dilaudid (spread out over 4 hours) which brought pain down to 3/10. Was sent home with same rx, orthopod said "4 mg dilaudid would knock me out, any more than that could stop your breathing". Decided on my own to increase dilaudid to q3h to try to stay ahead of pain. woke up after 2 and 1/2 hrs once again pain 10/10. called covering md who said to take 6 mg q3h. still had pain after 2 and 1/2 hours. went back to ER next morning, now the entire staff is giving me that "drug seeker/ frequent flyer must be a junkie" look. told them my pain was 10/10, had to wait over 1 hour for any pain relief. finally got IV dilaudid, but had to get 1mg X2 back to back. this orthopod had the good sense to unwrap my arm (offered some instant relief due to bandages being too tight) and do an x-ray, also pressure tested to r/o compartment syndrome. had anesthesia come by to do a pain consult (what a novel idea) who prescribed 10 mg oxycontin bid. pain free now for 48 hours. questions: operating surgeon said that he does these operations all the time and nobody ever experiences this much pain. true? same surgeon says that insurance companies never pay for overnight admits for pain control. true? I know from experience that people used to get at least an overnight admit after these surgeries. Does anyone else here have that recollection? mostly I just wanted to vent after the horrific weekend and relate oncegain how badly it sucks being on the other side. thanks for your time

I manage a unit in the northeast and do not accept snow as an excuse to call out sick. With current technology, we know at least three days in advance that there's a snowstorm coming. Gives you plenty of time to plan to come in early or stay with a coworker who lives close by. I live 40 miles from my job. If I can make it in, so can the majority of my staff.

I had a CF patient once...he was 17 years old and couldn't have weighed much more than 75 lbs. The day before his death, he finally consented to a MS drip to control his pain. We started him at 6 mg/hr. We titrated that drip all the way up to 300 mg/hr. At 250, he stood up and peed in a urinal. I remember going to the pharmacy to get the bag and the pharmacist said she felt like Jack Kevorkian. Why should anyone live the end of their life in pain? When I go, I want to be drugged to the gills if I'm in pain. I agree with the poster who said that they rarely have seen drug-seekers, only pain-relief seekers. Good luck in hospice, Jacel. Let us know how it goes.

All they want is your money. You have to check a box that you took infection control, but they don't require any proof of that.