acparry

This sounds like unfair dismissal and you deserve to be upset! definition: "Wrongful dismissal, also called wrongful termination or wrongful discharge, is a legal phrase, describing a situation in which an employee's contract of employment has been terminated by the employer if the termination breaches one or more terms of the contract of employment, or a statute provision in employment law. Is this in USA or Canada? in either case - contact your local ombudsman, fare labor standards act or employee standards office.

yes. It is not easy to report a fellow nurse. Our obligation is to safe patient care, not to protecting our colleagues. I did it once about 15 years into my 35 plus years nursing. I was a casual RN working with a regular night nurse who was inappropriately heavy-handed with patients. I asked myself "what i would want if one of my family members was treated like that" - or as in your case, missing a medication they needed. Not everyone has a straight/north moral compass or sense of duty to care. In another hospital's ICU situation, I refused to be charge nurse for the night shift because it also meant being in charge of all the ventilators - there was no RT, no RN supervisor who could manage vents, no doc, no intern - just me. I called RNAO and asked someone what to do. I was advised the following - "In a court of law, you would be asked to dismantle a ventilator and put it back together - if you don't think you can do that, then do not put yourself in the RN in charge". So - I spoke to the ICU head nurse and she rescheduled. Needless to say, I was ridiculed by some other nurses. I held my head high, did my best at work and was grateful that I would be soon returning to BScN studies and would not have to work there for much longer. If I was you, I would probably go to a nursing supervisor first, in case the head nurse is not keen to follow your claim or is intimidated by the process ("tone at the top" as they say...). State just facts - do not pass judgement; ask to keep your name out of it until absolutely necessary. If the climate in the hospital/work environment does not seem supportive of reporting (i.e."nurses eat their young"), then call your Nursing Association or licensing body before proceding. Peer pressure is a ***** and no one wants to be labeled a narc. But ask yourself - in 20 years what action will your future self be proud of?