terminated- feeling like a failure

[sunshine539]

I was recently terminated from a nursing job for a charting error. to make a long story short I went back into a chart the day after to fix something in my charting in a patients chart. I deleted a piece of charting because i said i did something without actually doing it and wanted to make my charting correct. unfortunately in retrospect my company brought it to my attention that this is a breach in HIPAA thus terminated my employment.

This has been particularly hard for me to face as i am one of those people who is a perfectionist and always plays by the book. I have about 2 years of nursing experience (1 year night shift on a step down unit -was a zombie and bullied by a nurse, now 1 year office nursing/ambulatory surgery) and am now so frustrated and so upset with myself. All i can do is sit here and cry because I am so mad at myself. I just feel like i have a bitter taste in my mouth about nursing now. I used to be this young intelligent nurse so excited for my career to begin and had such high prospects.

I feel that I have lost all my confidence and feeling like a failure. Who will hire me now?

Any suggestions from people in similar situations and how to move on? should i quit nursing or keep looking for a better fit?

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

I did not get the impression that OP was working off the clock...

I don't think she was off the clock just using it as an example - since the patient had been transferred from her unit she no longer was allowed (without admin approval).

The way we do it at my facility is that we would go to admin and say that we think we might have made an error in the charting then admin unlocks the chart and any revision is done.

hppy

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

At my facility, our EMR allows us to delete--well, unchart--an entry, but it's not as though the original charting disappears forever. Instead, the entry is marked as "In Error" and still remains in the system. Even so, they discourage uncharting except in certain circumstances such as charting on the wrong patient. They would rather I amend my charting instead of unchart and rechart.

Also, with amending, every single change is tracked, so there remains an electronic paper trail of what revisions have been made. So there is really no way I could ever completely remove something I entered from the EMR.

Anyhow...

I think the fact that you made a medication error and didn't initially own up to it contributed as much to your termination as modifying your charting. Unfortunately it's too late to correct that, but learn from it for the next job. You're not the first nurse to be fired and you won't be the last, and many fired nurses get hired again and still have a successful nursing career. Don't give up!

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Couple of things, OP. Your preceptor is there for a reason. What was happening when you made the med error? Where was your preceptor? Further, what did your preceptor advise you on how to proceed?

What was it that you were to do, charted that you did, but you did not do so had to change? (think about it, don't share it, just a question to think about). This suggests charting prior to actually doing something, which is not good practice. But again, who directed you that this was ok? Especially in ambulatory surgery where things can turn on a dime.

All things to think about. Take away is to double and even triple check your orders, rights of med administration, and chart as or directly after doing something. Often cutting corners is passed on to new nurses as it can be an ingrained habit. (and poor practice). If what you charted that you did, and did not do caused patient harm, that is significant. In this rush, hurry up, get it done atmosphere, errors can happen. Your goal is to take a step back and really think about what you are doing. Which is all part of why one has a preceptor to assist in that line of thinking.

Contact your malpractice insurance. If you are part of a union, keep them in the loop. Going forward in interviews, I would cite process issues that you were unclear on. And that you have learned that you need to use all of your resources going forward. And that you have learned how to refine your practice so that you are correctly administering care, and charting accordingly.