Questions about getting fired?

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I am not fired yet, but I feel unsafe at my work place.

I work on med-surg. We have 6 patients per nurse and charge has 6 patients, too.

1 CNA for entire unit (36 patients)

Half of our nurses are LVNs.

This staffing ratio was not a common thing before COVID, but due to staffing issues (everybody is leaving), we have been like this for a while.

I am an RN and due to the staffing issues, I need to take own vital signs(CNA takes 3 patients' vital signs and I take the rest patients'(3 patient) vital signs) and check own finger sticks for my patients. I need to help LVNs' documentation for things that they cannot legally do.

I love my coworkers my RNs, LVNs, and CNAs have been all good, but just the staffing issues give me an anxiety.

What if I make a mistake due to this unsafe environment and get in trouble?

Would they understand this situation because we have been short staff? or would they just fire me and get my license suspended right away?

Does getting fired affect a lot on getting a new job?

Thank you.

Specializes in Critical Care.
8 hours ago, Cardiac-CovidRN said:

We have been bleeding nurses. We are taking up to 8 patients (open-heart, vascular) on my cardiac unit, along with med-surg patients, along with patients that just need a room. Our staffing is horrible and we are running with 1:7/8 ratios. It's incredibly unsafe due to the complexity of the patients. Unfortunately, this is happening everywhere. As long as it's not a major mistake and you own up to it, you should be fine. Myself and so many others have voiced our concerns but nothing happens. They're constantly begging us to pick up extra shifts. I worked 13 out of the last 14 days, each day 12-14 hours. Burnout, physical and mental stress, and emotional fatigue are plaguing the nursing field. Last year we were heroes. This year... ?‍♀️.

I don't believe every hospital has such ratios.  I would be looking for another job.  They don't listen to you or respect you, but are pressuring you to pick up.  Don't work yourself to death!  It increases your stress, lowers your immune system, increases your chance of illness and increases your risk of making a mistake.  Nurses have to learn to say no!  Don't let them guilt trip you into working more than you want.  If you haven't become assertive enough to say NO, then at least don't answer your phone.

They have options.  They can get travelers or agency or hire more nurses.  It is just cheaper to have a few nurses and even with OT and bonuses, still cheaper than travelers or hiring adequate amount of staff in the first place which is why many places do this.

Last year the feds gave billions of dollars to hospitals and this year with the mass exodus of nurses due to poor working conditions, the hospitals are again crying "poor" and state and federal govt are bailing them out giving them millions of dollars to pay for travelers! 

So don't let them use you and take advantage of you!  Take care of yourself, the govt isn't going to bail you out if you get sick or injured and can't work and pay your bills.  Put your own health and safety first.

Get your finances in order start with an emergency fund of $1,000 minimum, and save an F* Off fund so you can always walk away if you want or need to!  Start looking for a better job, read about the health systems in your city.  Read the business journal and local news, research nurse reviews on glass door and indeed.  Talk with and network with fellow nurses that work at other health systems.  I don't believe they are all that bad as the one you are currently working in.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
7 hours ago, brandy1017 said:

Sadly if you do have malpractice insurance there is a greater chance of being sued as lawyers are looking for money.  They love if they can find a nurse made a mistake as they can go after the deep pockets of the hospital and usually will only sue nurses if they have their own malpractice insurance as otherwise there is not much money to get.

When I was still a new nurse a patient fell, I answered their call light and we lifted this pt to a WC and got the pt to bed.  The pt had a injury and sued the hospital.  Even though I was not the patient's nurse I was told by the attorney the only reason they didn't sue me was because I didn't have malpractice insurance.  We had a deposition with all parties involved and that was the last I heard of it.  I assume the hospital settled with them.

Whether a nurse has is not public information. If/when a nurse is named in a lawsuit, they have no idea whether or not she carries malpractice insurance. 

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1 hour ago, klone said:

Whether a nurse has malpractice insurance is not public information. If/when a nurse is named in a lawsuit, they have no idea whether or not she carries malpractice insurance. 

^^ this. Oh, and I never ever mention it at any of the places I've worked that I have insurance. Not that I'm paranoid but yeah I'm paranoid.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I would NEVER work without . The idea of losing everything I own and having every paycheck (if I am allowed to work) garnished is too much to take. That and I cannot afford a lawyer on my own.

It is true, institutions have insurance. BUT they can drop you like a HOT POTATO any time they feel it prudent, leaving you to defend yourself.

I know nurses who have been sued. They never had to pay out but they did retain and pay lawyers. They had insurance. They were not sued because they did. They were sued because their names were on the chart during the period of time of concern to the plaintiff team.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
4 hours ago, klone said:

Whether a nurse has malpractice insurance is not public information. If/when a nurse is named in a lawsuit, they have no idea whether or not she carries malpractice insurance. 

I was told at the deposition that I would have been sued if I had by their attorney.  I was totally shocked as I had done nothing wrong.  I had simply answered the call light, found the patient on the floor and called for help to lift the pt up and put the pt in bed.  I wasn't even the pt's nurse!

Over the almost three decades of nursing I and my coworkers have had many patients fall and I've never been involved in a deposition again.

Sadly there is a law firm Miller & Zois personal injury lawyers that have made it their mission to I guess try to shame nurses and doctors by releasing their taped depositions on Youtube.  I was shocked when I discovered this.  They even made their addresses public.  One of the nurses wasn't sued as she didn't have malpractice insurance, but was still deposed and put on Youtube.

I'm not telling people not to get insurance.  I'm just telling what happened to me.  Also as I mentioned before you want malpractice insurance that covers other issues besides strictly malpractice in case of any BON problems.  I'm not sure all do assist with BON complaints, but I would investigate first.  In later years we nurses had malpractice insurance thru the union too and it came out of our union dues, but it was automatic and I never saw it or the specifics.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Folks, we're talking $10 - $15 a month!  Dag!  My monthly auto insurance is 10 times per month. That's right - $125 per month. And you can't drive without it.

Sorry - off topic.

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Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.
On 8/27/2021 at 9:34 PM, Leader25 said:

When the unit was short or very busy and we were stretched too thin,and they were not even trying to get more staff ,we would call supv informing her we were filling out a UNION  unsafe staffing form in triplicate,every nurse signed it,office,DON,Ceo got copies.It was our only protection if things went sour .We sometimes got harassed big time for signing it ,doctors too[they signed trying to help us].Sometimes help suddenly materialized with the threat of unsafe staffing form.

 Hang in there,document the incident,do not discuss with anyone.

This is the best advice to date. Document, document, document. Be sure that no patient name or other identifying data are included so they can’t ding you for a HIPAA violation (this is the official list from https://www.hipaajournal.com/what-is-protected-health-information/ ).

Names (Full or last name and initial)

All geographical identifiers smaller than a state, except for the initial three digits of a zip code if, according to the current publicly available data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census: the geographic unit formed by combining all zip codes with the same three initial digits contains more than 20,000 people; and the initial three digits of a zip code for all such geographic units containing 20,000 or fewer people is changed to 000

Dates (other than year) directly related to an individual

Phone Numbers

Fax numbers

Email addresses

Social Security numbers

Medical record numbers

Health insurance beneficiary numbers

Account numbers

Certificate/license numbers

Vehicle identifiers (including serial numbers and license plate numbers)

Device identifiers and serial numbers;

Web Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)

Internet Protocol (IP) address numbers

Biometric identifiers, including finger, retinal and voice prints

Full face photographic images and any comparable images

Any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or code except the unique code assigned by the investigator to code the data

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On 8/19/2021 at 4:01 PM, pecantreechipmunk said:

what-happens-if-nurse-mistake-due-unsafe-environment.jpg.0ca4dc537ae34e978ecea7bf72951552.jpg

I am not fired yet, but I feel unsafe at my work place.

I work on med-surg. We have 6 patients per nurse and charge has 6 patients, too.

1 CNA for entire unit (36 patients)

Half of our nurses are LVNs.

This staffing ratio was not a common thing before COVID, but due to staffing issues (everybody is leaving), we have been like this for a while.

I am an RN and due to the staffing issues, I need to take own vital signs(CNA takes 3 patients' vital signs and I take the rest patients'(3 patient) vital signs) and check own finger sticks for my patients. I need to help LVNs' documentation for things that they cannot legally do.

I love my coworkers my RNs, LVNs, and CNAs have been all good, but just the staffing issues give me an anxiety.

What if I make a mistake due to this unsafe environment and get in trouble?

Would they understand this situation because we have been short staff? or would they just fire me and get my license suspended right away?

Does getting fired affect a lot on getting a new job?

Thank you.

If possible go PRN, you will still get the hours. You'll be more appreciated and won't have to be committed. They should be paying you more for the extra work. 

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On 8/28/2021 at 12:31 AM, brandy1017 said:

Sadly if you do have malpractice insurance there is a greater chance of being sued as lawyers are looking for money.  They love if they can find a nurse made a mistake as they can go after the deep pockets of the hospital and usually will only sue nurses if they have their own malpractice insurance as otherwise there is not much money to get.

How would they know if you have ? 

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
12 hours ago, summertx said:

How would they know if you have malpractice insurance? 

They don't, as I mentioned earlier in this thread. This is a common fallacy. 

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