Suspended from work for an investigation,can i resign and take another, will i look guilty

gengen54 · Jul 10, 2017

Someone else said exactly the same as I did. You are better off being honest with the new employer because that information will always come back to haunt you. Not only will you be likely terminated by the new employer, but you will still be facing the BON.

As for how the BON would know, it is a reportable offense. Medication errors get reported to the BON, even mistakes we know didn't result in any patient harm and were pretty minor. I have attended BON meetings for many years and I was astounded at some of the seemingly petty offenses that were reported. However, I understand why it is done. It is one way to have a track record of the problem. If the same person moves from one place to another making the same mistakes, if no one reports it, no one knows this could be an unsafe practitioner.

All that said, you need to talk to HR at your old job. Make an appointment with the head of HR and bring a witness. Find out what has been done and what will be done with the information and what recourse you have. If the offense is not reported, will it be grounds for no rehire and how will inquiries from potential employers be handled?

You also need to talk to the HR person at the new job. You have to be honest with them, because it is the ethical way to practice.

As I said before, next time you have to waste a med, just take the whole thing with you, find a colleague, and waste it in their presence. It is too easy to get distracted.

One thing you may consider is to write everything that happened and report it to the legal department and to the pharmacy committee. This sounds like a system problem. Let them figure out why wasting meds is a huge problem based on how the meds are dispensed. Either provide smaller quantities, or some way for the waste to be witnessed - even if done by real-time video recording with the pharmacist.

Go through the sadness and depression and come out of it with a clearer head. Then look for a new job if you need to. Maybe start off somewhere small where you won't be as rushed, it will help rebuild your confidence in yourself. That will be your biggest challenge.

Good luck!

Boomer MS, RN · Jul 10, 2017

Someone else said exactly the same as I did. You are better off being honest with the new employer because that information will always come back to haunt you. Not only will you be likely terminated by the new employer, but you will still be facing the BON.
As for how the BON would know, it is a reportable offense. Medication errors get reported to the BON, even mistakes we know didn't result in any patient harm and were pretty minor. I have attended BON meetings for many years and I was astounded at some of the seemingly petty offenses that were reported. However, I understand why it is done. It is one way to have a track record of the problem. If the same person moves from one place to another making the same mistakes, if no one reports it, no one knows this could be an unsafe practitioner.
All that said, you need to talk to HR at your old job. Make an appointment with the head of HR and bring a witness. Find out what has been done and what will be done with the information and what recourse you have. If the offense is not reported, will it be grounds for no rehire and how will inquiries from potential employers be handled?
You also need to talk to the HR person at the new job. You have to be honest with them, because it is the ethical way to practice.
As I said before, next time you have to waste a med, just take the whole thing with you, find a colleague, and waste it in their presence. It is too easy to get distracted.
One thing you may consider is to write everything that happened and report it to the legal department and to the pharmacy committee. This sounds like a system problem. Let them figure out why wasting meds is a huge problem based on how the meds are dispensed. Either provide smaller quantities, or some way for the waste to be witnessed - even if done by real-time video recording with the pharmacist.
Go through the sadness and depression and come out of it with a clearer head. Then look for a new job if you need to. Maybe start off somewhere small where you won't be as rushed, it will help rebuild your confidence in yourself. That will be your biggest challenge.
Good luck!

I am astounded what you wrote that a med error, any med error, is reportable to the BON. I understand the need for tracking, but under this circumstance? And so can no one understand why some nurses do not file an incident report for a minor infraction? I sat on a hospital pharmacy committee for a few years, and we wondered why some departments had so many more error incidents, as well as near misses, than other departments. We decided it was b/c some floors' culture was not to report. Can we say the fear of reporting is alive and well? As far as disclosing this incident to the new employer, I lean more being open and honest. Reporting her to the BON and firing her are punitive. The goals here are to protect patients and have the nurse grow and thrive. Rarely is that done without some mistakes, even minor ones. I feel good about the fact that the OP owned her mistake and wants to improve.

TriciaJ, RN · Jul 10, 2017

I am astounded what you wrote that a med error, any med error, is reportable to the BON. I understand the need for tracking, but under this circumstance? And so can no one understand why some nurses do not file an incident report for a minor infraction? I sat on a hospital pharmacy committee for a few years, and we wondered why some departments had so many more error incidents, as well as near misses, than other departments. We decided it was b/c some floors' culture was not to report. Can we say the fear of reporting is alive and well? As far as disclosing this incident to the new employer, I lean more being open and honest. Reporting her to the BON and firing her are punitive. The goals here are to protect patients and have the nurse grow and thrive. Rarely is that done without some mistakes, even minor ones. I feel good about the fact that the OP owned her mistake and wants to improve.

ANYTHING is reportable to the BON that anyone chooses to report. They have to investigate everything, even complaints that are obviously petty or malicious.

It is not safe to assume the new employer will never find out about the situation at the old job. Word has a way of getting out and OP needs to be proactive on all fronts. It certainly does sound like a systems error and we still don't know why OP got caught in the net. Maybe she was a problem employee that they were gunning for. Maybe her unit got nailed for their culture of not reporting, and she was the first one to be thrown under the bus.

I would like to hear an update from OP: have you started your new job? How is everything going? Hopefully things are getting resolved in your favour. Please keep us posted.

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Jul 10, 2017

I was in a similar situation in Nursing Home Hell, though medications were not the issue. I found a new job while I was suspended. I tried to gloss over the fact that I was suspended. My new employer found out, and withdrew the job offer.

I think the best course of action would be to explain the situation to your new employer. It may or may not affect your new job offer, but at least they can't accuse you of lying. If your old employer has a reputation as a toxic workplace, your new one may be very understanding.

Good luck!

JKL33 · Jul 10, 2017

I have attended BON meetings for many years and I was astounded at some of the seemingly petty offenses that were reported. However, I understand why it is done. It is one way to have a track record of the problem. If the same person moves from one place to another making the same mistakes, if no one reports it, no one knows this could be an unsafe practitioner.

[my bold]

gengen54,

I appreciate the insights and good advice in the rest of your post, but I must vehemently disagree with the portion quoted above as it relates to the OP's situation. Please indulge my explanation because this affects every single RN currently working.

There are exceptions to what I'm about to say; such as situations that involve recklessness (beyond just being understaffed), intentional mishandling of of medications, true diversion, etc.

The idea that, as a general rule, all medication errors will be reported to the BoN in order to track potentially unsafe practitioners, is ridiculous to say the least. I struggle to restrain myself here!

Is anyone paying attention to the accelerating abuse in Nursing?? Come on, I've been doing this long enough to have seen a few paradigm shifts now. While there have always been nurses experiencing job dissatisfaction or worried about staffing-related concerns, the crap treatment is accelerating at a faster pace every day now; it comes from all angles. This latest totally disingenuous labeling of medication errors as "mishandling", "diversion" etc. for the purpose of reporting them, is one such angle.

Think about what you wrote. Do we need to protect the public by reporting situations such as those described in the OP? What public will be protected? What, exactly, does reporting HER situation protect the public from? Why would any good, conscientious RN be self-destructive enough to sign on to this job??! Your statement just means that going to work every day and not getting reported to the BoN is destined to become barely more than a crap shoot.

We can make every effort to be safe, but WE don't control the confounding factors. I have a very hard time when seemingly good/reasonable/smart RNs champion ideas that, by their very nature, punish us so that someone else can remain off the hook for their contribution!!

There are myriad ways that RNs can compromise patient safety. Singling out people for a simple thing like the OP's situation is INSANE. It *only* means that even excellent nurses are going to get caught up in it eventually. Meanwhile the facility will steamroll forward touting their exceptional commitment to patient safety.

It is a B U L L C R A P trend that I will only ever endorse when hospitals are forced to undergo comparable amounts of financial loss, pain, and inconvenience as the RN they reported. In other words, if we're ALL going to get serious about safety issues, fine. If the idea is to simply pin it all on me - - NO WAY.

I'm asking every one to think about this - at all levels.

losbozos · Jul 10, 2017

Speak to no one about this (especially the BON! They are not your friend), find a lawyer that specializes in nursing issues & hand it over to him/her asap! Keep your mouth shut until it gets resolved. Your lawyer will advise you on the new job prospect. Good luck! Bad things happen to good people all the time.

Gary Mendoza · Jul 10, 2017

Sometimes I can't tell if it's autocorrect or a real thing. lol

It's a real thing. I'm a travel nurse and some places have this green container by the pyxis that's called a Cactus, where you can waste liquid meds and solid meds.

Here's what one looks like:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56412dd3e4b0e6862edd7028/t/570aeae637013b4b1df40d73/1478209147829/Cactus+Smart+Sink%2C+no-shake+required+like+the+RX+Destroyer

caliotter3 · Jul 10, 2017

It's a real thing. I'm a travel nurse and some places have this green container by the pyxis that's called a Cactus, where you can waste liquid meds and solid meds.
Here's what one looks like:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56412dd3e4b0e6862edd7028/t/570aeae637013b4b1df40d73/1478209147829/Cactus+Smart+Sink%2C+no-shake+required+like+the+RX+Destroyer

The cactus is cute.

cleback · Jul 11, 2017

I'm still really incredulous about them reporting the incident to the BON. really?? I understand (kinda) the termination because the op did not follow policy, but the BON? For this?

If it is, I am in the wrong stinking profession. Honestly, everyone here is. Every MD I've worked with have made errors greater than this and the only concern has been for the patient, not their license.

JKL33 · Jul 11, 2017

I'm still really incredulous about them reporting the incident to the BON. really?? I understand (kinda) the termination because the op did not follow policy, but the BON? For this?
If it is, I am in the wrong stinking profession. Honestly, everyone here is. Every MD I've worked with have made errors greater than this and the only concern has been for the patient, not their license.

They take a similar tack with the physicians - - Physicians "Health" Programs, Disruptive Physicians labeling, sham peer reviews - - reportable to National Practitioner Database

Boomer MS, RN · Jul 11, 2017

I'm still really incredulous about them reporting the incident to the BON. really?? I understand (kinda) the termination because the op did not follow policy, but the BON? For this?
If it is, I am in the wrong stinking profession. Honestly, everyone here is. Every MD I've worked with have made errors greater than this and the only concern has been for the patient, not their license.

I agree. Unless there a LOT more to this story, I also feel it is draconian to fire her if this was her first mistake.

gengen54 · Jul 11, 2017

Boomer MS, RN, BSN, MSN:

The first Board of Nursing meeting I attended was in 1999. Another instructor and I sat through eight hours of disciplinary hearings with our students (we used this as a clinical day). I was floored to hear people being brought before the BON for medication errors like this one. Each one received a fine and was required to complete courses in medication administration, documentation, and ethics. The same thing occurred at every meeting I have attended in the years since.

I never said the incident SHOULD be reported. I said it is reportable. If someone fails to chart a medication, even though it was clearly administered, that is a documentation error. If someone disposes of a scheduled drug without a witness, that falls under documentation and ethics.

You are welcome to check with your own BON. Anything that violates the Nurse Practice Act is reportable. It does not matter how minor we may think it is. The BON gives the nurse the opportunity to attend the meeting and explain what happened. If it occurred because of a system problem, the nurse has nothing to worry about. Just show them the evidence. By the time the matter reaches the full board for hearing, it has already been investigated and the nurse has been contacted and interviewed. This is not an ambush.

As I stated before, this very well could be reported to the BON. It is not "draconian"; it is a matter of the law and the BON rules. Neither of those is secret. They are public record. Look them up. That is why we required students to attend the meetings - so they would know how the process works and what types of incidents could land them in front of the BON.

You may disagree with reporting, but I said I understand WHY it is reported. At the very first meeting I attended, my colleague and I looked at each other and said "Who reports this stuff?" We viewed some of the errors as everyday "stuff happens" kind of incidents. No big deal. However, it is a safeguard. If the same person shows up more than once with problems, it is a red flag that this may be an unsafe practitioner. And we have all worked with people we can't believe still have a license. Admit it.