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I ran across a video on Facebook by Nurse Erica. In England, a nurse impersonator was working in the NICU for about four months before she was caught. She was charged a fine based on the amount of money she earned as a fake nurse. I feel like this policy should be adopted in the US. What do others think? Video link: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1H64RbYfYo/

Part of this manager's behavior (trying to get employees to "spy" on each other, delving for details about an alleged affair between two employees) is simply part of being a terrible manager who should not be in charge of Dunkin' on a slow day, much less a unit full of sick patients. But part of this could come back to bite this manager in the butt legally. By spreading rumors about employees allegedly being on drugs (with presumably no other evidence of the employee being impaired), the manager is giving the employee a reason to take her to court for slander. Additionally, if the employee actually showed signs of practicing impaired, that is the manager's job to deal with. Asking the other employees specific questions (possibly with someone from HR as a witness) would be part of dealing with it. Gossiping and spreading rumors with other employees would be the opposite of dealing with it. On top of this, Substance Use Disorder is a protected disability. To be clear, this does not mean the ADA allows an employee to show up to work high/intoxicated. It means that, for example, if an employee has a history of alcoholism but is stable in treatment (example: taking Naltrexone, attending AA meetings, etc) and has never come to work intoxicated, it would be against the law for the manager to use the employee's alcoholism to make employment decisions. ADA protects not just employees who have a record of having a protected disability, but also those who are perceived as having a disability. By spreading rumors about employee drug use (without there being any concerns about the employee coming into work impaired), the manager is making it clear that she perceives the employee as having a disability (even if she is not addressing this perceived disability in a proper manner). Going by just the manager's perception that the employee is on drugs, without any objective facts backing this up, can put the company in hot water legally. Your manager sounds like a piece of work.

I also have ADHD. My first nursing jobs were in SNF. I have made the transition to hospital work. Hospitals suck in their own way, but it's a major improvement over SNF. The patient ratio is a big one. The fact that you are getting an orientation that spans several months, plus the fact that you are bound to already know how to do some of the tasks, will give you time to ask (or look up) exactly WHY these tasks are done, which can aid in both retention and critical thinking.

Hello, thank you for your response! And most definitely. I wouldn't say clients always have stability (in my profession, outpatient clinicians can be under more strain due to shortage of inpatient facilities), but there's been a definite improvement! For the sake of comparison, when I worked on that detox unit that I was fired from in 2023, if a client was saying during their intake interview (often before withdrawal symptoms hit; it was not uncommon for clients to use substances prior to coming in to get them through the intake interview) that they wanted to go to an inpatient program, then changed their mind a few days into their detox stay, the manager would assume this is because a staff member... I don't even know... put the idea into their head? Turned them off of the idea of rehab somehow? I don't know if part of it was the fact that this company also owned several residential rehabs, or if she was just worried about looking bad if clients came in seemingly motivated to do a residential program, then changed their mind. She lived in some kind of fantasy world (and also claimed to have like 20 years experience working with clients with Substance Use Disorder). Meanwhile, there would be people coming in to detox off opioids, request Suboxone to do this and decline the Methadone protocol. And then when they start to experience withdrawal symptoms (not full withdrawal), continue to decline Methadone but not stay and wait for Suboxone either and would leave AMA and flat out tell staff that they were going out to use. And then you have the people who consider the 5-day detox stay an "inpatient" program (so would write on their paperwork that they want inpatient), despite staff clarifying this. It just was not sustainable to work with people who struggled to that level with Substance Use Disorder without any kind of supportive management. The detox unit is a locked unit, and there are, by necessity, many restrictions that a patient on a traditional hospital unit would not have to contend with (example: cell phones confiscated upon admission, witnessed shower, belongings locked up and kept away from the patient, no paintings on the walls because, before I started working there, there were incidents where people hid contraband behind pictures). I often wondered if some of the management were attracted to having that level of control over clients, leading them to choose this job. However, when it came to dealing with employees who could leave at the end of their shift and were legally required to receive pay for overtime worked (another issue at this company, which I had to fight to get taken care of... before I apparently made death threats), they did not have a clue how to navigate even the most rudimentary work-based interactions. After that job, I worked in community health, which was also stressful due to the insanely high workload but not nearly to the level of working in that detox. The direct supervisors there were supportive and helpful. And the medical director in charge of MAT would micro-dose Suboxone if clinically indicated (this was not done at the detox, and I thought that was the most brilliant thing ever). And the community health job enabled me to become independently licensed, which led me to get my current job focused on my specialty with a higher pay and smaller caseload. It feels like in my current nonprofit job, problems are things we solve together, rather than things to blame on other people. That makes all the difference when you're working with clients who have varying levels of mental stability.

I started out as a nurse, then I went back to school to become a social worker, and I'm currently independently licensed. No, going to therapy would not hurt your nursing career. Just like any other patient, you would be entitled to confidential treatment. Plus therapy can be very helpful, especially if you find a therapist and modality that works for you. DBT skills saved my life. And as for the worry about being discovered through using the employer-sponsored health insurance, HIPAA also protects you there. Health plans have to keep patient information confidential, too, just like clinicians do. They can't share specific diagnoses with employers. They can share just enough information to collect the money. And they charge you and the employer the same amount every month whether it is used or not and what it is used for. Therefore, information about diagnoses is not something that the insurance company would need to share with the employer in order to get their money.

As you may have seen from previous posts, the most recent hospitals I've worked at were poorly managed at best, abusive at worst. I haven't worked in a hospital since 2023, when I was terminated after being falsely accused of making death threats. Apparently, there was a note, where I allegedly threatened to kill people with keyboards and staplers. HR did a "handwriting analysis" on this note and determined that I was the culprit, despite all of the hospital's charting being electronic and them now having anything handwritten of mine to compare this to. A few months later, they laid off half the unit. A coincidence, I'm sure. I currently work in an entirely different career with better hours and better pay (at least once you become independently licensed, which I did). While hospital work is an option in my profession, the hospital jobs tend to be among the lowest-paying and come with the heaviest workload and worst working environment, leading to high turnover. I currently work at a nonprofit clinic, where I specialize in seeing a certain type of client. There is a different clinic in my area that also specializes in seeing this client population, but this other clinic is attached to a hospital. I frequently receive referrals/recommendations from this hospital-based clinic, because the turnover rate is so high at the hospital-based clinic. Clients would regularly tell me that they had three sessions or so with a clinician there before that clinician announced that they are quitting. Then, the client/family would be told that there is a 10-month wait-list to be assigned a new clinician at this clinic. I've been able to get set up with several new clients just because the hospital system that owns that clinic can't seem to keep staff. (Also, the employees at that hospital-based clinic don't appear to have any kind of specialized training in working with this particular client population, so it works out for everyone that the clients come to the clinic that I work at). So, I've been happy with never working in a hospital again. Yesterday, I was minding my own business, doing yardwork and making dinner with a friend, when I received a letter in the mail. Apparently, I'm a member of a class action lawsuit. It seems that a hospital I was previously employed at (and terminated from) violated state law. According to my online research about this case, this hospital denied having ever done the thing that violated state law. However, their own written HR policies (and documentation that these written HR policies were followed) contradict state law. I had also experienced this hospital doing the same thing to me, though I didn't realize at the time that this was illegal in my state. So the company that owned the hospital agreed to settle. According to the letter, there is a settlement fund to be divided among those who have been affected (terminated between 2022-2024), and there's some other math involved to determine who was most impacted. There is a hearing this Summer, during which a judge will decide whether or not this settlement amount is fair. If this amount is deemed fair, I will be receiving a check for $61. I don't have to do anything unless I want to opt out of the class action suit. Hopefully, this goes through and I get a nice little check to mark the end of my nursing career and hospital work. I feel so vindicated.

Good luck. I'm sorry you're going through this.

LOL! So how did the rescheduled meeting go?

Oooh! What tone did you end up going for in your email?

I'm amazed that anyone without ED or managerial experience can be hired to manage an ED, even if literally everyone else was dead. Be sure to BCC your personal email address, or forward the email to your personal email address in order to cover yourself. I'm glad I made you laugh and could serve as a spirit animal!

I wasn't born like this. I used to be nice when I started nursing. I'm in a second career now that I like way better and a job I love, but my previous experiences have pretty much made me the Patron Saint of Getting In Trouble at Work. There is literally no healthcare-related workplace dysfunction that I have not experienced. Nowadays, ChatGPT can help craft passive-aggressive emails if you find the act of writing about this nonsense making you angry all over again. No job is worth your health, especially not a job that would hire this clown show to manage things.

I think a few days. Honestly, if you don't hear anything by Friday, maybe it's worth stopping by the HR office in person. It would at least give you some peace of mind going into the weekend. Geez. So the meeting is still happening. I have a certain way of dealing with things, but this may not be feasible for everyone. I'll write what I'd do anyway, and maybe it will be somewhat helpful. I'd be tempted to write an email to this manager, cc'ing the manager's boss and HR, noting the last-minute cancellation after scheduling a meeting for "clinical issues" without further explanation. Also make sure to work in that you were not notified of this cancellation and ended up waiting for twenty minutes logged onto Teams waiting for this meeting to start and were only told of the cancellation after you took the initiative to reach out. Be as petty and passive aggressive as your heart desires and frame this as ensuring that a similar miscommunication is avoided next week. For bonus points, you can add that you have continued to work and precept new nurses without anyone giving you any negative feedback on your clinical skills (if you have past positive performance reviews you can reference, so much the better). Try to sound concerned and mildly disappointed that the meeting was cancelled, as you would have welcomed the opportunity to learn about and correct any clinical issues, especially as you continue to work and precept new nurses. And I would also express in the email that you are concerned about attending a meeting run by two people who had to be reported for inappropriate behavior. State clearly that, unfortunately, given your experiences with this company, you are concerned about retaliation. It is important to cc the manager's higher-up (if there are any) and HR and that you specifically use the word retaliation. I don't see a point in tiptoeing around this issue. I mean, the manager already knows you were the one to make the previous complaints about him and the doctor to HR. Your manager, unfortunately, does not seem like the kind of person who cares about whether or not you got shingles. It is unclear what brought your manager into healthcare or into management and why he has remained in management, despite apparently needing HR to reprimand him for inappropriate behavior exhibited as a manager. Is your manager related to any higher-ups there? Or dating one? Or maybe related to the problematic doctor? This may seem like fanfiction, but from what I see, any of these theories seem more likely than your manager actually being good at their job.

I wonder if it was canceled BECAUSE you contacted HR. When I was working at that one dysfunctional hospital in New Hampshire, where I got in trouble for calling out sick while being a PRN nurse and covering someone's FMLA (which I had agreed to cover several weeks of at the last minute), my director originally arranged a meeting with herself, an HR rep, and some other manager to be held in a conference room. At the advice of a social worker I was friendly with, I contacted HR. Magically, the morning the meeting was to take place, the meeting turned into a one-on-one between me and the director in her office. I guess the morons you work with neglected to follow some HR procedure or other, so HR kiboshed the meeting. But they're morons, so they didn't bother to tell you.

Well said!

Seriously. Did they not know they were reading a post in the Nurses in Recovery thread? Best to assume they simply got lost and wandered in from the rain. In my first nursing job (the one with the pervy DON), there was an ADON who claimed that they were the *only* one who worked at the facility who had *any* compassion and were the *only* one who was a *team player.* It is still unclear how one could be the only team player, since a team would require multiple people on the same team. So your speculation made me laugh.