I am looking for some insight into retaliation acts by employers.I am a RN in a ICU setting at a major teaching hospital.I have been a resource to my entire unit.I received a promotion only weeks ago.I received a email from my unit manager only hours before she fired me "thanking me" for my dedication to the new nursing staff. I have never been written up, never a verbal warning.My evaluations have been excellent in all my years at this hospital. Until this past month....
I voiced my concerns over some incompetency acts performed by a coworker-nurse. These were acts that were not merely mistakes...they were acts that could have resulted in patient death. I tried to set a meeting with my nurse manager to discuss this nurses incompetent level of function...and I was met with a date to come in for a termination meeting...mine!
This nurse was the nurse managers best friend and recently was her assistant manager.She had done office work for years and had not taken care of any actual patient in years. When she opted to go back into staffing she "refused " to "accept" any orientation....and so she was left to learn by trial and error.In a ICU setting...thats just wrong!Othernurses had complained to the nurse manager to no avail...but I am a lil different.I have a history of being a strong patient advocate and I had told the nurse who was functioning incompetently that I was left with no choice but to go to our risk management dept re: her unsafe pratices.Hours later....I was "fired" for an alledged documentation error. This same kind of documentation error has resulted in no disciplinary action for other employees.Secondly ...my chart had been altered after I left...so I actually never had a documentation error.I dont know what to do. I have been a model employee for years.I have asked for dispute resolution....but they keep postphoning the dispute resolution hearing. What actually happens in a dispute resolution hearing? Are they a sham?Do you have any advice? I feel like I have been incredibly niave.Like I should have seenit coming...but didnt.
I hope the facility who terminated you gets turned every which way but loose by your attorney.:angryfire
Poor TNNurse. You are living a nightmare! I am going to slip you some mental coffee.
Honey, I hear you, hundreds of miles away, in Florida. Ditto Ditto Ditto: A staff nurse in ICU - who chose to remain at the bedside. I got terminated a few weeks back, and reported to the BOH. I was given the axe just days after being lauded for accurate documentation, leadership, and excellence in my years of service (perfect attendance, great attitude etc.). The rest of the "herd" -- my coworkers -- froze in place. No one spoke up for me. There was no "dispute resolution," no rejoinder to the slanderous comments of a physician who killed a patient with his incompetence. There was no bargaining. Just fabrications on the part of my boss and her boss.
Over and over I ask myself, Why? The most proximal event (closest in time) was that I complained in an incident report that the physician was accusing me of lying, as a smokescreen to cover up facts a, b, c etc.
Of course, the style of the Axe-ecution would make Dilbert puke. I was told, "have a nice vacation." When I got back, there was no job.
Luckily, there are two other Old Nurses still working who report regularly on the spectacular turnover in the place (>70% annually). So far, it's been very quiet in the herd. The lions are still hungry, after all.
The Director Of Nurses put words in my mouth and fired me for "saying" them. An unsigned (by me) Personnel Report was filed to the State, re-stating the fabrications. How's THEM apples!
A toxic environment will not change by the actions of a single unarmed individual. Toxic environment knows what it is, singles out competence and gets rid of it to preserve its own existence: to whit:
"Oh there's such a high turnover here, we just keep the number real quiet!"
"Our recruiter just can't keep up with the demand!"
My immediate boss is supervising her dear best friend, who imitates her in every way: choice of pets, clothing, hair color and country of origin -- plus: cruises, house swapping and socializing together. The "teacher's pet" is not only a mule's orifice, but likes to intimidate other staff -- to the point of angry tears. All, of course done when her Sugah Mamma is on a day off.
I bet you feel wrong and wronged, and have searched in the attic of your mind for any kind of off behavior on your part.
Does this help? You were working without body armor! You were a fool to trust anyone in a suit! They KNEW that other nurse wasn't doing her job, but they kept her there because they are in the habit of not doing THEIRS. Your complicity ("Silence") puts you into THEIR conspiricy.
You did the right thing. Take a bath. Go on. Learn from this.
I have engaged an attorney. It's expensive to defend my license. I will use my good sense in calculating how far it should go.... cost/benefit. I am an OLD nurse (58). I have the luxury of low overhead in my life. .. husband and sister feel I should not spend my savings to sue the hospital and physician for slander, because of the low dollar return. The lawyer wants to make money. Who has the money? The doctor. Who has even more money? The hospital. The hospital in question, part of a chain, has an annual budged for legal matters in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. At any one time they are managing FOUR THOUSAND CASES a year. I am bringing all this to the table with the attorney, whose middle name is Pitbull...
Did you not know that for-profit medicine is a cess-pit of corporate politics? The patients are of least concern, if any. Professional nurses work this arena with the tools of law, truth, intelligence and science. There is no other real help. Unions? They got burned with our bras in the 60s, but remember, I am old. Old Nurse.
If we give the fox permission to "manage" the henhouse, he eats fresh chicken every night of the week. Nursing has not taken control of its own profession. As long as we are wide-eyed DEPENDENTS of the system rather than its OWNERS, nothing will change.
I accept that subservient position to obtain money and time off. I forgo my rights under the constitution of the USA to be an Employee in a For Profit Institution. The fact that I am a compassionate, ethical healer with talent, experience and education is thrown out the window by the bean-counting managers who control the purse strings of an institution. Anything else you may hear is just background music that was written-for-hire by other salaried slaves, who are neither compassionate, nor ethical, nor talented, nor experienced, nor educated!
I love to help and to heal. I hope this helps. I hope it heals.
In 35 years of bedside nursing, I have always wondered, who nurses the nurse?
First, just let me say that I am a first semester student in an RN program nearing the end of the first semester. We recently covered legal and ethical issues. I find your story fascinating on many points.
1. When I first started my first clinical rotation at a local nursing home, the manager of the nursing home has us watch a video. In this video, a deputy attorney general for the state of California informed us/me that it is my legal obligation as a nurse (student or RN) to inform the state and supervisor of any situations that go against the nurse practice acts. I/we could be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He personally said that he would go "after us". He also explained that the patient and the public needed to be protected from incompetance and errors in care that cause injury.
2. In my first semester, the point that a nurse is an advocate for the patient was repeatedly hammered to me. So much so that the students caused quite a stir when we did clinical rotation at a local hospital. Our instructor told us time and time again that hospital protocol must be followed for various issues. RN's were taking datascopes (vital sign machines) into patients with MRSA and then moving on to other patients with the same machine without disinfecting it. Some were using their own stethoscopes when protocol for MRSA patients was to use a disposible one. At first, we were like, "were just first semester students". But...patient advocacy, legal implications, and high MRSA rates at the hospital made us do something. One RN even was flippant about the dangers of spreading MRSA, paraphrase:"its way overblown and can't be spread that easily." We began informing our instructor, who began talking with the nurse manager of the floor. We didn't want to get anybody in trouble. We just wanted to provide the highest quality and safest care to the patients. One CNA started to come out of MRSA patient's room with a datascope without cleaning. I told her that she may not be aware of the protocol. I told her what it was. I told her that I would love to take care of disinfecting the machine for her. She thanked me.
3. With respect to wrongful termination, they must prove that they had followed the policy for termination protocol. In addition, this protocol must be one that is "reasonable and similar to other like institutions in the area."
It appears that this is a personal issue with the manager. It sickens me that your manager is not an advocate for patients. She is not even an advocate for the hospital. The hospital has lost a good RN for no reasonable reason. In addition, her friend endangered patients, staff, and the hospital with focus on appearance. She perhaps thought that reorientation was beneath her. "I put my time in and I should have to do it." How selfish and stupid. The vast majority of us would not have a problem with reorientation. Most would be mortified by not doing it. Technology and treatment change. My instructor had not been on a working floor for 3 years and she was amazed at the change in tech/Tx.
Please for the sake of all your fellow nurses and those looking up to you guys (student nurses), don't be afraid to seek legal counsel and pursue this. You are worth it and the profession needs to have this kind of crap removed.
Good upper management should take a look at the facts of this case and be disturbed.
With the RN shortage, a good upper management person will not tolerate this kind of stupid, selfish drama by lower manangement. Plus.....hospital attorneys will be livid at the possiblity of an unnecessary lawsuit.
I'm sitting here thinking....I can't believe I got so worked up over your story. It seems like I have not got so worked up about anything for a few years. I'm really liking the decision I made to become a nurse.
With the facts that I read, you are right. Don't back down but be professional. Don't get into the drama of all of it.
Dear TNNNURSE: I feel for you. I admire your tenacious ethic to patient advocacy and your unyielding honor. HAUNTED and PANHANDLER have given you the most valuable advice, inasmuch as nursing in TEXAS or anywhere in the SOUTH is a heartache for any of us who are committed to a truly high standard of practice.
I too am an old nurse (63 years old) and have been traveling for the better part of 15 years. I was in horrible situations in hospitals in FL. and TX. The "mission statements" of hospitals are for show; the corporate mentality that dominates has no inkling of what critical care and lifesaving encompasses. Their only interest is the bottom line and protecting the corporation. To maintain our professional standards of practice is only to burden ourselves with a load that drains our strength and resolve to remain professionally committed to those who entrust their care and their lives to us, our patients. I personally have gone over heads to literally save my patient's lives. However those events took place in facilities in which nurses were represented by unions (in the Northeast). HAUNTED is an agency nurse, without the protection of a union, but the prevailing mentality in California is one in which nurses stand united (look at how they effected the Schwarrzenager referendums). She is indeed a tuba-blower, one whose advice is priceless, if we practiced in a state in which RN's stood together and united. Unfortunately, given the human factor in all of us, there is always the human frailties of character flaws in individuals. What I have noticed in my old age is that we are divided, because of our humaness to believe that we are "professionals" and "beyond" needing the blue collar protection of union representation.
As long as we perpetually believe the type of insidious propaganda that appeals to our egos subliminally, and not see through the facade, we are doomed in our ethical tenaciousness to protect and heal our patients. Unfortuanately there will always be those who have compromised all of their honor and ethics like your nurse manager and her cohort. You are indeed generous to percieve the RN who accepted a critical care position on a learn as you go condition as one who was being "set up for failure" by the hierarchy. No, that RN was as devoid of ethics, standards, and patient safety as those in the corporate structure for allowing such an event to transpire.
I myself hope that you take the advice of HAUNTED, but that is anathema to the prevailing mentality in Texas. Inasmuch as I know that is difficult for you, I hope that you indeed find a "pitbull" attorney, for no other type of representation will begin to chip away at the arrogance of those who protect a corrupt system.
In the meantime, salve yourself with the healing advice of PANHANDLER.
First, just let me say that I am a first semester student in an RN program nearing the end of the first semester. We recently covered legal and ethical issues. I find your story fascinating on many points.
1. When I first started my first clinical rotation at a local nursing home, the manager of the nursing home has us watch a video. In this video, a deputy attorney general for the state of California informed us/me that it is my legal obligation as a nurse (student or RN) to inform the state and supervisor of any situations that go against the nurse practice acts. I/we could be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He personally said that he would go "after us". He also explained that the patient and the public needed to be protected from incompetance and errors in care that cause injury.
2. In my first semester, the point that a nurse is an advocate for the patient was repeatedly hammered to me. So much so that the students caused quite a stir when we did clinical rotation at a local hospital. Our instructor told us time and time again that hospital protocol must be followed for various issues. RN's were taking datascopes (vital sign machines) into patients with MRSA and then moving on to other patients with the same machine without disinfecting it. Some were using their own stethoscopes when protocol for MRSA patients was to use a disposible one. At first, we were like, "were just first semester students". But...patient advocacy, legal implications, and high MRSA rates at the hospital made us do something. One RN even was flippant about the dangers of spreading MRSA, paraphrase:"its way overblown and can't be spread that easily." We began informing our instructor, who began talking with the nurse manager of the floor. We didn't want to get anybody in trouble. We just wanted to provide the highest quality and safest care to the patients. One CNA started to come out of MRSA patient's room with a datascope without cleaning. I told her that she may not be aware of the protocol. I told her what it was. I told her that I would love to take care of disinfecting the machine for her. She thanked me.
3. With respect to wrongful termination, they must prove that they had followed the policy for termination protocol. In addition, this protocol must be one that is "reasonable and similar to other like institutions in the area."
It appears that this is a personal issue with the manager. It sickens me that your manager is not an advocate for patients. She is not even an advocate for the hospital. The hospital has lost a good RN for no reasonable reason. In addition, her friend endangered patients, staff, and the hospital with focus on appearance. She perhaps thought that reorientation was beneath her. "I put my time in and I should have to do it." How selfish and stupid. The vast majority of us would not have a problem with reorientation. Most would be mortified by not doing it. Technology and treatment change. My instructor had not been on a working floor for 3 years and she was amazed at the change in tech/Tx.
Please for the sake of all your fellow nurses and those looking up to you guys (student nurses), don't be afraid to seek legal counsel and pursue this. You are worth it and the profession needs to have this kind of crap removed.
Good upper management should take a look at the facts of this case and be disturbed.
With the RN shortage, a good upper management person will not tolerate this kind of stupid, selfish drama by lower manangement. Plus.....hospital attorneys will be livid at the possiblity of an unnecessary lawsuit.
I'm sitting here thinking....I can't believe I got so worked up over your story. It seems like I have not got so worked up about anything for a few years. I'm really liking the decision I made to become a nurse.
With the facts that I read, you are right. Don't back down but be professional. Don't get into the drama of all of it.
Peace
Genhen
This may be small, but I have noticed that in school you learn this rule and that rule for patient care (I'm talking about CNA's) but as soon as I got on the floor, it was a whole nother story. My very first, experience with this was when I was to shadow another CNA. This woman ran one pan of water and proceeded to wash the entire hall with one pan! I think, she may have changed wash clothes, but that doesn't make any difference does it? Back on topic, at my job at a nursing home, we had a patient on isolation and as we learned in classes, you are supposed to use paper plates and throw them away inside the room for these kinds of patients. When I mentioned this to the nurse, her response was he has an infected wound and that's why he was on isolation. Is that even right? I also had to take is vital signs and she said to just use the regular tools to take them. Procedure is hardly ever followed in nursing homes. I'm sad to see it's no different in hospitals. Why have rules if you aren't going to follow them?
one of the sad things being an rn is that we all talk a good talk until the crap hits the fan.many a nurse over the yrs has had the same complaints i have had.unfortunately,when confronted by the manager i seem to do most of the talking.here is the reason,nurses by nature are nonconfrontational.we are so used to comforting or helping people we just want to complain but not go the extra mile to report poor performance or downright dangerous behavoir because if mr/ms poor nurse loses her job who;s going to feed /clothe her family?but.....what about mr pt??!!!doesn;t he deserve at least moderately skilled nursing care?reporting a dangerous situation or pattern of nursing is the least we can do to safeguard the pt;s in icu!i wish you good luck and pray that your hospital sees beyond that manager and looks at the bigger picture.if you truly are well respected by your peers than all will work out if you desire reinstatement...god bless..
I just read through this entire thread and first of all I want to tell you how greivous this is to me because I have experienced the same thing, and I too, felt "sad in my heart" as you described in an earlier post...so NO you are NOT corny one iota for feeling that way. First you are stunned, then the sadness and hurt sets in. My heart truly goes out for you and if I were in critical condition or one of my loved ones, I would want YOU as my nurse!
I've only been a RN for 10 years and over the past 3 months I have taken a much needed sabbatical and I really am feeling I never want to work in a hospital again. I have just had it with administration. Its not about the patient or their so-called "values." We all know that its about their selfish financial gains. Managers are rewarded with hefty bonuses if they keep their budget low. I had a manager that was so disgustingly, sticky-sweet, phoney, fake, two-faced, almost angelic looking, but beware! There's a knife hidden under her lab coat. I saw so much unethical behaviors, falsifying of MR, and implying even the good docs were getting old and forgetful...(when they were not), as an attempt for cover-ups. And I am talking about a very well-known hospital.
Yes, I've been railroaded. One time I reported my hospital to a hotline and the next day administration had an impromptu employee meeting on my floor whose real purpose was to locate the whistle-blower and fire them. There were numerous safey issues that they continually glossed over.
My heart is with you TN Nurse. I love nursing. I love the challenges and the satisfaction I get from helping to save a life and make the smallest difference in a person life. But my eyes have been opened in the medical profession...its really not about any of this with the people in charge. Its all about their money and building more buildings and profit, profit, profit! I loved Panhandle Nurses post! Boy did you hit that nail on the head!
Follow your heart and do not back down. If your attorney thinks you can win then go for the throat because I promise you they will go for your jugular. Your ex manager should be FIRED! And anyone in upper management should be investigated and terminated as well. This seems to be difficult to prove however. But not impossible. I would have NO PITY on them, and for heaven's sake get rid of the sentimental attachment to that hospital! Trust me, I have had the sentiments thinking they all loved me, would never hurt me, cause Im one of the best nurses they had, and how often I heard it...but oh yes, I am living testimony thats all a joke.
Nursing in the south sucks. The nurses here, (no offense) have no backbone to unite and make the desparately needed changes. The nurses in California do not take any crap and united and take a look at the wonderful changes they made for their patients and their careers. If I am to stay in nursing I am moving to Northern California and leaving the armpit of nursing here in Florida. If I have to stay here...I promise you I am getting out of this profession. It has been one of the most demeaning jobs in my entire life.
I just got a notice from the lawyer I am hiring to defend my license to the BON: this chap (recommended by the State Nurse's Association) is charging about $400 per hour. He wants a RETAINER of $2K.
THAT is the reality. WHen you get stabbed in the back, you get to pay most of what you have saved from a too-low salary just to have the axe handle removed. For shame!
Ah, what we have abrogated, what we have abdicated! Ah, my sister nurses, take heart's-ease in large doses. Hospital work is: Life in the shark tank. Except that SHARKS are CLEAN.
Like you, I just do not want to believe how deep and how foul the chancre of for-profit health "management" has gotten. Its roots are wrapped tightly around the law itself. Shine some light on it, and you too will smell its stench. Perhaps it is better to walk blindly in, mesmerized by the "benefit package." Perhaps it is better to "yes" them to death, and remove the energy we would otherwise give to the patient to satisfy the nonsense that passes for "administration."
Who's got the cujones to challenge it? We would starve without table scraps from the feast of 50% of the USA Federal Budget that is taken by the Medical Industrial Complex. A famous lady tried to DISCUSS a revision of the status-quo, and was thrown out on her largesse by the US Congress. Politics aside, Mrs. Clinton was brave, but the fight was lost before she turned on the microphone.
The prescription drug, the Medicare and Medicaid messes, are just the top of the iceberg.
Our lawmakers are bribed into preventing the enactment of a logical, intelligent healthcare system by paid lobbyists from Big Medicine, Big Sugar, and Big Oil, Big Insurance, and of course, Big Law. These entities 'write' more than 80% of the "news" we "believe." Including, my sweeties, the venerable "AJN," whose mission is to continue the hypnosis. The beauties at that journal also left splinters in my spine. (I was, and I quote from my kangaroo-court Axe-It interview, "too aggressive towards our sponsors," and "too involved in reporting State Nurse Association organizational efforts in local hospitals.")
Any ideas? Any comments?
There is an age-old conflict called "shoes-on-the-baby" whereby we must earn our bread and shut our senses off to the way in which that bread appears on the table. Do our clients pay us directly? Or have we hired a "landlord" to do our dirty work?
There's nothing inherently wrong with making a profit, because it keeps the doors open and the lights on. It's just that our "landlords" have diverted all that "sticky" money into their own purses. Do nurses OWN the hospitals? Of course not, we stick our heads in the comforting sand which blinds us to the financial realities. How can an "administrator" earn so much more money than someone who holds the patient's life in her hands -- literally!! As nurses we trust blindly in our bosses. We are hypnotized by professional mezmerizers to believe in a secure and safe environment. We cannot do nurse functions in a vacuum: we need supplies and institutions to enable us. We want clean floors and linens, we want the electric to work. We want to push that button and have someone come when we get overwhelmed. We are shocked and hurt when they betray us.
I looked in the home-town paper (population 65,000) for a "RN" job today. Every thing BUT: techs, 9-to-5 "administrators" -- staffing clerks; Medical Assistants; Insurance specialists; front-desk receptionists; "floor care technicians," records managers, sanitation experts, QA professionals, Info Technology specialists,Dietary Managers; Activity Specialists; Physical Therapy Aides; Patient Care Tech; Assistant Nurses. We've sold the farm. Our little kingdom has been paved over into a gated community where we are no longer welcome.
The salary for a registered nurse with 20+ years in the field in my town is at 40% of the national median; Rent, cars, food, clothing, are at 110% of the national median. Therefore, I conclude that hospital bedside nursing ain't gonna pay the electric bill this winter!
Something's gotta give. It's time for new ideas. I heard one this weekend: that firefighters, cops and nurses who are ON THE LINE should have tax-exempt status, and the ancillary personnel OFF THE LINE have to pay.
It might answer the 50-year-old NURSING SHORTAGE in record time.
I just got a notice from the lawyer I am hiring to defend my license to the BON: this chap (recommended by the State Nurse's Association) is charging about $400 per hour. He wants a RETAINER of $2K.
THAT is the reality. WHen you get stabbed in the back, you get to pay most of what you have saved from a too-low salary just to have the axe handle removed. For shame!
Ah, what we have abrogated, what we have abdicated! Ah, my sister nurses, take heart's-ease in large doses. Hospital work is: Life in the shark tank. Except that SHARKS are CLEAN.
Like you, I just do not want to believe how deep and how foul the chancre of for-profit health "management" has gotten. Its roots are wrapped tightly around the law itself. Shine some light on it, and you too will smell its stench. Perhaps it is better to walk blindly in, mesmerized by the "benefit package." Perhaps it is better to "yes" them to death, and remove the energy we would otherwise give to the patient to satisfy the nonsense that passes for "administration."
Who's got the cujones to challenge it? We would starve without table scraps from the feast of 50% of the USA Federal Budget that is taken by the Medical Industrial Complex. A famous lady tried to DISCUSS a revision of the status-quo, and was thrown out on her largesse by the US Congress. Politics aside, Mrs. Clinton was brave, but the fight was lost before she turned on the microphone.
The prescription drug, the Medicare and Medicaid messes, are just the top of the iceberg.
Our lawmakers are bribed into preventing the enactment of a logical, intelligent healthcare system by paid lobbyists from Big Medicine, Big Sugar, and Big Oil, Big Insurance, and of course, Big Law. These entities 'write' more than 80% of the "news" we "believe." Including, my sweeties, the venerable "AJN," whose mission is to continue the hypnosis. The beauties at that journal also left splinters in my spine. (I was, and I quote from my kangaroo-court Axe-It interview, "too aggressive towards our sponsors," and "too involved in reporting State Nurse Association organizational efforts in local hospitals.")
Any ideas? Any comments?
There is an age-old conflict called "shoes-on-the-baby" whereby we must earn our bread and shut our senses off to the way in which that bread appears on the table. Do our clients pay us directly? Or have we hired a "landlord" to do our dirty work?
There's nothing inherently wrong with making a profit, because it keeps the doors open and the lights on. It's just that our "landlords" have diverted all that "sticky" money into their own purses. Do nurses OWN the hospitals? Of course not, we stick our heads in the comforting sand which blinds us to the financial realities. How can an "administrator" earn so much more money than someone who holds the patient's life in her hands -- literally!! As nurses we trust blindly in our bosses. We are hypnotized by professional mezmerizers to believe in a secure and safe environment. We cannot do nurse functions in a vacuum: we need supplies and institutions to enable us. We want clean floors and linens, we want the electric to work. We want to push that button and have someone come when we get overwhelmed. We are shocked and hurt when they betray us.
I looked in the home-town paper (population 65,000) for a "RN" job today. Every thing BUT: techs, 9-to-5 "administrators" -- staffing clerks; Medical Assistants; Insurance specialists; front-desk receptionists; "floor care technicians," records managers, sanitation experts, QA professionals, Info Technology specialists,Dietary Managers; Activity Specialists; Physical Therapy Aides; Patient Care Tech; Assistant Nurses. We've sold the farm. Our little kingdom has been paved over into a gated community where we are no longer welcome.
The salary for a registered nurse with 20+ years in the field in my town is at 40% of the national median; Rent, cars, food, clothing, are at 110% of the national median. Therefore, I conclude that hospital bedside nursing ain't gonna pay the electric bill this winter!
Something's gotta give. It's time for new ideas. I heard one this weekend: that firefighters, cops and nurses who are ON THE LINE should have tax-exempt status, and the ancillary personnel OFF THE LINE have to pay.
It might answer the 50-year-old NURSING SHORTAGE in record time.
I also have been in the position of being THE outstanding nurse, the one everyone turned to for clinical information, a proponent of patient advocacy, a champion for the professional nurse.
I don't have to finish the rest. Panhandler says it all so well.
Has anyone out there figured out that nurses MUST stand together. Will it ever actually happen.
I can't abide the compromise of our ethics, professionalism, integrity; however I see us compromising it daily in our willingness to defer to the corporate stucture, defer to the nursing management so willing to cut our throats while we are scrambling on the front saving lives.
the simple answer is that if they concocted a reason to fire you to silence your protests do not expect honesty or transparency now. what they did was plain dishonest, but dishonesty breeds more dishonesty, so expect things to get much, much worse. to best protect yourself contact one of the whistleblower hotlines immediately, (look for them on the internet), for accurate legal advice on what to do next. there are quite brief statutes of limitations on this course of action and your hospital is counting on outrunning them. they hope that by the time you wake up and smell the coffee it will be too late. i am not a lawyer just another wronged medical professional silenced by a very powerful and prestigious institution. seeking justice is a tough challenge, but i can share some of my insight.
act swiftly and do not assume you can trust the hospital at all. get hold of all your personnel file documents asap. if they try to deny you access to your own files, as they did with me, write to the labor board immediately. keep writing letters and hang on to every shred of paperwork. try to put together an accurate and very detailed written account of everything that has occurred so far: actions taken, justification given, unfair or unequal treatment, work record and accomplishments. my own experience with the so called grievance hearing is that it is a total sham to rubber stamp their termination action. they will postpone it for as long as possible to put time and distance between the event and the resolution they are seeking: your permanent removal. they are counting on several things:
1. you will show up alone and they will outnumber and try to intimidate you.
2. you will actually expect them to be honest and hear you out taking into consideration your past track record of good service: not!
3. if they postpone it long enough you will give up and go away.
4. you will expect them to produce legitimate documentation and knowing they have nothing beyond a flimsy pretext you think they cannot possibly prevail, but believe me, they will.
5. you will assume that a person from hr judging this will be neutral: not!
be warned this is a trap.
what can you do?
do not go to the hearing without backup; take a lawyer if permitted or just people who can act as witnesses. this is necessary because the management must start lying to justify firing you and catching them in inconsistencies is the best defense. i wish i had tape recorded my hearing.
drown them in documentation paperwork. write letters and keep all of their replies. take copies of everything with you and deluge them with a copy of everything.
remember you are facing managers who are nurses; documentation is at the core of their training. they should have documented everything too, so demand to have copies of all their documentation. lack of a significant pattern of behavior that would justify one incident as a firing offence will look suspicious when challenged by your copious paperwork.
the important things to document and prove include any dissimilarity in treatment that demonstrated overzealous handling of your minor error. incidents where other staff made a similar documentation omission and where not penalized as harshly as you.
prove your fine track record with all the professional recommendations you can muster; bring character witnesses if possible. the more unbalanced the ratio between one minor incident and years of flawless service the worse they will look.
do not be shocked when none of the above works and new fake charges suddenly appear after the fact. i called this the "accusation de jour;" they may be totally unrelated, unsubstantiated and downright ludicrous. the longer you fight the more of these new charges will be generated as they will face tougher scrutiny from the outside. do not be intimidated by false charges meet them head on and challenge them vigorously in writing asap. see these false accusations for what they are: an opportunity to catch the hospital in a lie. the hospital will do the old smoke and mirrors trick; keep it vague nothing very specific no real documentation. when you challenge these verbal charges by documenting there substance it will put the hospital on very dangerous ground. they are then faced with documentation of their lies in writing that they must either deny making the false allegations or contemplate trying to substantiate them in court! that is why bringing witnesses and writing a transcript helps. all of this will make them very nervous as they will expect to catch you off guard.
be very careful about phone contacts as this is an ideal way to trick you into providing evidence for them. for example you call to speak to a manager or someone in hr. they do not take your call and you call them back latter. several ordinary perfectly innocent calls to try and reach a busy manager are now warped into "numerous harassing phone calls." you are then labeled a "disgruntled former employee" with an axe to grind. i was falsely accused of making over 50 such calls enough to justify police involvement! the inconsistency was, why was security not contacted? why didn't they tape calls or put a trace on them? why wasn't i sent a "cease and desist" letter? it never happened. what you will soon discover is that their biggest weakness is lack of conventional paperwork: it is not what they have but what they don't have. keep drumming home the nursing axiom: "if you didn't document it, it didn't happen!"
if you have made calls already and suspect they may use this trick do the following: obtain a record of your calls if possible. i sent a letter stating that there could be no further direct contact by phone and requesting faxed documents or written memos instead. if they continue to call you, state that you must record their calls. this may sound adversarial, but they have fired you to cover up your valid patient safety concerns, do not give in. they may try to upset or annoy you to precipitate an argument on the phone; never rise to this bait. do not bring logs to the fire! always communicate in a way that can be clearly documented. tape record if this is allowed; question why if it is not! take a laptop to your hearing and make copious notes or have someone else do this for you.
hospitals count on one thing: that your actions will be governed by self preservation; when they get mean and play dirty you will give in. very few people will support you if you decide to take a stand, but it is a very courageous thing to do. in my hearings i refused to be diverted away from the real reason why i was removed. i kept clearly focused on the negligence and danger to patients issue and i never let go. the hospital stalled the grievance hearing for over 4months. then they tried to bribe me at an eeoc mediation after 8months. things were shown to eeoc behind my back and i had no access to my files or any documentation of why i was fired during this time. then the head of surgical nursing in "america's best hospital" lied under oath at my arbitration hearing presenting a new charge over 15months after i was fired. that was when i discovered additional "minor violations" had been inserted in my file after the fact. it took another year for the arbitrator to decide in favor of the hospital. i have elaborated on other aspects of my case on another thread:
"or burnout." it may help you to read this.
my hospital had a compliance line; beware this is often just another scam! they say they will protect you from retaliation, but you must go through the hr process first. that is their trick to drag out justice and provide immunity for the hospital. on the surface it looks so legitimate, so demand that they investigate immediately, protect you from retaliation by monitoring the hr proceedings. if they refuse be really sweet and demand an explanation in writing. this is just another cruel stalling tactic because when i went back to them after all else failed they were too spineless to admit they had just lied: they had never intended to offer protection or investigate. i am still fighting for that compliance line investigation five years on and i refuse to give up. i will be posting a petition soon on thepetitionsite.com to demand a full investigation by the compliance line in accordance with their own stated mandate of protection. i am taking a while putting this together as the petition itself will contain over 100 links to other useful internet sites. many of these links will be a valuable resource to you in your fight so look out for it and follow the links to get more advice from the experts.
no matter what anyone tells you it is vital that credible people like yourself tenaciously keep fighting. your professionalism and high standards are the hallmark that distinguishes those who become whistleblowers, so do not hesitate and dwell on "why me?" others may need to give up as they do not have your strong track record in their favor; that is why it is so important for strong conscientious nurses like you to continue fighting as others do not share your unshakable credibility. the patients need us to take up this fight and few have the courage and determination to do so. other factors like financial commitments compromise the most well meaning patient advocates. by exposing the flaws that allow wrongful termination to silence witnesses to negligent practices we provide safeguards that are vital to those who want to bear witness.
less accountability is not better! we must force these hospitals to put regulations in place that protect those who speak out because this is critical to patient safety. despite five years of futile struggling to expose the truth i was forced to abandon my home in the us when i lost everything. still i am spurred on by the arrogant hypocrisy of my former hospital as they sanctimoniously preach honesty and transparency while supporting the deceitful cover up of my negligence allegations and the retaliation to remove me. they continue to win accolades and get great press for their patient safety initiatives while refusing to even investigate the problems i raised. they will never silence me; i owe this to the citizens of maryland who still remain in danger. if you look at what i wrote regarding my case you may be horrified by some of the pitfalls that almost certainly lie ahead of you, but take courage and please do not give up.
Indeed....Panhandler, I love your posts! I have sadly and reluctantly these past few months been in transition of changing careers because I cannot work under the authority of unethical, vindictive, and selfish adminstration in this kind of "Business" any longer. I will never reach my full potential in this environment and I really saw that! God Bless my sister nurses who do stay in this profession, but I am too old to tolerate this crap any longer. I just can't stomach it anymore! LOL A large reason is because the core of my nature since I was even a child, is that of holding "Justice" as paramount; which is a quality of what authentic love is. My manager told me one day in her office as she was giving me the axe (ironically), "Now, we are alike...I have a high sense of doing what is right just like you do!" What a crock!!! She is oblivious to justice and doing what's right!
I call the healthcare system "The Evil Empire." We need hospitals for the sick, but somehow we in Florida must find a way to subdue them, control their ability to do harm, and take our power back. This was magnificently achieved in California. How? Those nurses organized, united, and tightening their ranks with a mission to take their power back. And rightfully so, because only a "nurse" really cares about the patient. Until Florida nurses "Get this" they will continue to suffer along with their patients.
Is anyone aware that Governor Swartzenegger is no longer governor of California? Did you know a major reason he was voted out is because teachers and NURSES joined ranks "Politically" to vote him out a second term? Yes, there is POWER in NUMBERS! One of my old nursing instructors tried diligently to get this truth across to her students.
We nurses in Florida are aware that we are being taken advantage of and controlled by the whims of an evil empire whose only motive is more profit for themselves. It makes me sick that we allow them to define who we are as registered nurses. Who gave them this power? Think about that.....
We do.
I am no longer working as a bedside nurse, but I can assure you I am not out of the game entirely. I plan to contact California Nurse Unions and get in touch with the people who made those positive and courageous changes in their state. While I am an older nurse, I still have a good 20 years to contribute to our profession. We must train our young nurses who they are...a professional and we should be respected as such. That is not going to happen until we come together as ONE. That kind of strength is what's needed to totally overturn the tables in these big corporations. I promise you...if even HALF the nurses in my city went on strike (bad word in my hospital), they would not survive financially. You cannot run a hospital without a nurse....
We must change our thinking. We must mobilize, unite, and create what the hospitals fear the most...a nurse union. This takes money. And it is well pointed out that hospital administration is so wealthy it is futile for one single nurse to pay all her life savings to hire an attorney as a futile attempt to get justice. However, we as a WHOLE, do have power! This is exactly how the nurses in California set the standard and made the changes!
We have got to stop being passive and continually rolling over, bending over, and tolerating these wrongful behaviors any longer.
Anyway, loved your post Panhandler. It is so comforting to know that someone in my area relates to me. For a while, I was thinking that Florida nurses were under some kind of spell, put in a trance, with their heads stuck in the sand while I am being labeled as a radical. I'm sorry, but it takes doing something radical to make right choices and forcing those in power to live by the high standards they pretend to.
I just got a notice from the lawyer I am hiring to defend my license to the BON: this chap (recommended by the State Nurse's Association) is charging about $400 per hour. He wants a RETAINER of $2K.
THAT is the reality. WHen you get stabbed in the back, you get to pay most of what you have saved from a too-low salary just to have the axe handle removed. For shame!
Ah, what we have abrogated, what we have abdicated! Ah, my sister nurses, take heart's-ease in large doses. Hospital work is: Life in the shark tank. Except that SHARKS are CLEAN.
Like you, I just do not want to believe how deep and how foul the chancre of for-profit health "management" has gotten. Its roots are wrapped tightly around the law itself. Shine some light on it, and you too will smell its stench. Perhaps it is better to walk blindly in, mesmerized by the "benefit package." Perhaps it is better to "yes" them to death, and remove the energy we would otherwise give to the patient to satisfy the nonsense that passes for "administration."
Who's got the cujones to challenge it? We would starve without table scraps from the feast of 50% of the USA Federal Budget that is taken by the Medical Industrial Complex. A famous lady tried to DISCUSS a revision of the status-quo, and was thrown out on her largesse by the US Congress. Politics aside, Mrs. Clinton was brave, but the fight was lost before she turned on the microphone.
The prescription drug, the Medicare and Medicaid messes, are just the top of the iceberg.
Our lawmakers are bribed into preventing the enactment of a logical, intelligent healthcare system by paid lobbyists from Big Medicine, Big Sugar, and Big Oil, Big Insurance, and of course, Big Law. These entities 'write' more than 80% of the "news" we "believe." Including, my sweeties, the venerable "AJN," whose mission is to continue the hypnosis. The beauties at that journal also left splinters in my spine. (I was, and I quote from my kangaroo-court Axe-It interview, "too aggressive towards our sponsors," and "too involved in reporting State Nurse Association organizational efforts in local hospitals.")
Any ideas? Any comments?
There is an age-old conflict called "shoes-on-the-baby" whereby we must earn our bread and shut our senses off to the way in which that bread appears on the table. Do our clients pay us directly? Or have we hired a "landlord" to do our dirty work?
There's nothing inherently wrong with making a profit, because it keeps the doors open and the lights on. It's just that our "landlords" have diverted all that "sticky" money into their own purses. Do nurses OWN the hospitals? Of course not, we stick our heads in the comforting sand which blinds us to the financial realities. How can an "administrator" earn so much more money than someone who holds the patient's life in her hands -- literally!! As nurses we trust blindly in our bosses. We are hypnotized by professional mezmerizers to believe in a secure and safe environment. We cannot do nurse functions in a vacuum: we need supplies and institutions to enable us. We want clean floors and linens, we want the electric to work. We want to push that button and have someone come when we get overwhelmed. We are shocked and hurt when they betray us.
I looked in the home-town paper (population 65,000) for a "RN" job today. Every thing BUT: techs, 9-to-5 "administrators" -- staffing clerks; Medical Assistants; Insurance specialists; front-desk receptionists; "floor care technicians," records managers, sanitation experts, QA professionals, Info Technology specialists,Dietary Managers; Activity Specialists; Physical Therapy Aides; Patient Care Tech; Assistant Nurses. We've sold the farm. Our little kingdom has been paved over into a gated community where we are no longer welcome.
The salary for a registered nurse with 20+ years in the field in my town is at 40% of the national median; Rent, cars, food, clothing, are at 110% of the national median. Therefore, I conclude that hospital bedside nursing ain't gonna pay the electric bill this winter!
Something's gotta give. It's time for new ideas. I heard one this weekend: that firefighters, cops and nurses who are ON THE LINE should have tax-exempt status, and the ancillary personnel OFF THE LINE have to pay.
It might answer the 50-year-old NURSING SHORTAGE in record time.
This post needs to be sent to EVERY newspaper, TV affiliate and Cable News Network in this country.
The ramifications of our broken Health Care System which is mired in a self-serving bureaucracy and greed, along with the nursing shortage needs to be fixed by somebody, before the predicted bird flu pandemic hits...and fixes it for us.
Dear TNNNURSE: I feel for you. I admire your tenacious ethic to patient advocacy and your unyielding honor. HAUNTED and PANHANDLER have given you the most valuable advice, inasmuch as nursing in TEXAS or anywhere in the SOUTH is a heartache for any of us who are committed to a truly high standard of practice.
panhandler
23 Posts
I hope the facility who terminated you gets turned every which way but loose by your attorney.:angryfire
Poor TNNurse. You are living a nightmare! I am going to slip you some mental coffee.
Honey, I hear you, hundreds of miles away, in Florida. Ditto Ditto Ditto: A staff nurse in ICU - who chose to remain at the bedside. I got terminated a few weeks back, and reported to the BOH. I was given the axe just days after being lauded for accurate documentation, leadership, and excellence in my years of service (perfect attendance, great attitude etc.). The rest of the "herd" -- my coworkers -- froze in place. No one spoke up for me. There was no "dispute resolution," no rejoinder to the slanderous comments of a physician who killed a patient with his incompetence. There was no bargaining. Just fabrications on the part of my boss and her boss.
Over and over I ask myself, Why? The most proximal event (closest in time) was that I complained in an incident report that the physician was accusing me of lying, as a smokescreen to cover up facts a, b, c etc.
Of course, the style of the Axe-ecution would make Dilbert puke. I was told, "have a nice vacation." When I got back, there was no job.
Luckily, there are two other Old Nurses still working who report regularly on the spectacular turnover in the place (>70% annually). So far, it's been very quiet in the herd. The lions are still hungry, after all.
The Director Of Nurses put words in my mouth and fired me for "saying" them. An unsigned (by me) Personnel Report was filed to the State, re-stating the fabrications. How's THEM apples!
A toxic environment will not change by the actions of a single unarmed individual. Toxic environment knows what it is, singles out competence and gets rid of it to preserve its own existence: to whit:
"Oh there's such a high turnover here, we just keep the number real quiet!"
"Our recruiter just can't keep up with the demand!"
My immediate boss is supervising her dear best friend, who imitates her in every way: choice of pets, clothing, hair color and country of origin -- plus: cruises, house swapping and socializing together. The "teacher's pet" is not only a mule's orifice, but likes to intimidate other staff -- to the point of angry tears. All, of course done when her Sugah Mamma is on a day off.
I bet you feel wrong and wronged, and have searched in the attic of your mind for any kind of off behavior on your part.
Does this help? You were working without body armor! You were a fool to trust anyone in a suit! They KNEW that other nurse wasn't doing her job, but they kept her there because they are in the habit of not doing THEIRS. Your complicity ("Silence") puts you into THEIR conspiricy.
You did the right thing. Take a bath. Go on. Learn from this.
I have engaged an attorney. It's expensive to defend my license. I will use my good sense in calculating how far it should go.... cost/benefit. I am an OLD nurse (58). I have the luxury of low overhead in my life. .. husband and sister feel I should not spend my savings to sue the hospital and physician for slander, because of the low dollar return. The lawyer wants to make money. Who has the money? The doctor. Who has even more money? The hospital. The hospital in question, part of a chain, has an annual budged for legal matters in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. At any one time they are managing FOUR THOUSAND CASES a year. I am bringing all this to the table with the attorney, whose middle name is Pitbull...
Did you not know that for-profit medicine is a cess-pit of corporate politics? The patients are of least concern, if any. Professional nurses work this arena with the tools of law, truth, intelligence and science. There is no other real help. Unions? They got burned with our bras in the 60s, but remember, I am old. Old Nurse.
If we give the fox permission to "manage" the henhouse, he eats fresh chicken every night of the week. Nursing has not taken control of its own profession. As long as we are wide-eyed DEPENDENTS of the system rather than its OWNERS, nothing will change.
I accept that subservient position to obtain money and time off. I forgo my rights under the constitution of the USA to be an Employee in a For Profit Institution. The fact that I am a compassionate, ethical healer with talent, experience and education is thrown out the window by the bean-counting managers who control the purse strings of an institution. Anything else you may hear is just background music that was written-for-hire by other salaried slaves, who are neither compassionate, nor ethical, nor talented, nor experienced, nor educated!
I love to help and to heal. I hope this helps. I hope it heals.
In 35 years of bedside nursing, I have always wondered, who nurses the nurse?