Terminated while on probation. Scared!

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Hi. Have anyone of you ever been terminated from a nursing job while on probation or monitoring? I’ve been on probation about a year and have a year left.  
I was terminated last week and it was not due to a medication or patient issue.  I did report my termination to my case manager with the BON and so far I haven’t heard anything yet.  My reason for termination was: excessive phone use while on duty and taking food from a resident when she offered it to me.  This one resident never eats her supper meal - she eats cereal and I went to her to encourage her to eat more and she only wanted her cereal and told me to eat her sandwich. I took the sandwich to the break room and later ate it.  Someone there saw me take it and told on me.  I wrote a statement stating how the resident gave it to me.  I was still fired.   I know it looks bad to the board but since it wasn’t drug or alcohol related or patent abuse or anything- I’m wondering if the BON will do anything in regards to my probation contract.  I interviewed for another job Friday and feel good about it.  They are OK with my probation terms.   I have another interview tomorrow.    I’m just worried.

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Specializes in general.

Im so sorry! I have no experience in your state but wish you the best.  Hopefully your new job will be a better environment for you!

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Is your employer reporting you to the state for elder abuse?

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I don’t think so. They didn’t mention it . I wrote out a statement of how the resident offered it to me and how she had something to eat and said she was full from eating her cereal.  That CANT be elder abuse can it?

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Specializes in ICU.

Did you complete the required amount of months you must be employed as an RN per your probation contract yet? If you have, you should be OK and they will have you write a letter of explanation and you can let them know you have the new job lined up. The only thing you can do is wait for your monitor to contact you and let you know which way they are going with this. If they want to terminate you off probation they will have to file with the Attorney General and there would be a hearing at that point you can get a lawyer who specializes in nurse probation hopefully you already have one of those from being put on probation anyways. Or they may just give you a warning or add more time to your probation etc. I know it’s very difficult but don’t panic stay calm and put a plan in place for the different scenarios. I always say use a lawyer because the board is not our friend when we are on the other side of the nurse practice act. 

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No have to complete 24 months and I’ve done 12. Hopefully they will give me a warning snd I can complete the other 12 with another job. Thank you.

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Great news! I got another job and it’s close to home! I used to work there a long time ago and was a good worker there so they are hiring me and don't mind the probation terms.  So there’s not much of a lapse between jobs/ about 2 weeks.  I’m praying my probation won’t be affected by me getting terminated since it wasn’t alcohol or drug related.  Maybe I will just get a warning.  

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
On 11/9/2020 at 10:29 AM, mississippiRN71 said:

Hi. Have anyone of you ever been terminated from a nursing job while on probation or monitoring? I’ve been on probation about a year and have a year left.  
I was terminated last week and it was not due to a medication or patient issue.  I did report my termination to my case manager with the BON and so far I haven’t heard anything yet.  My reason for termination was: excessive phone use while on duty and taking food from a resident when she offered it to me.  This one resident never eats her supper meal - she eats cereal and I went to her to encourage her to eat more and she only wanted her cereal and told me to eat her sandwich. I took the sandwich to the break room and later ate it.  Someone there saw me take it and told on me.  I wrote a statement stating how the resident gave it to me.  I was still fired.   I know it looks bad to the board but since it wasn’t drug or alcohol related or patent abuse or anything- I’m wondering if the BON will do anything in regards to my probation contract.  I interviewed for another job Friday and feel good about it.  They are OK with my probation terms.   I have another interview tomorrow.    I’m just worried.

The issue is not that you comitted an act involving a substance but that you acted in a manner that a reasonably prudent nurse in the same or similar circumstances would not. This is what it means when the BON say they are acting in in the public interest. to protect vulnerable patients from nurses who lack good judgement. The BON might very well see this as patient abuse or elder abuse or even theft as you took food belonging to a patient or the facility. Where I work this would be a boundary violation at best and a terminatable offense at worst. Think if it as an infection control issue. You took food from a patient room into the employee break room and then left it there to eat later. You never know what your patient may have in the way of comunicable disease. 

It is not likely that the BON will kick you out however you may gain some more time in the program addedd. You may also be required to take a class in nursing ethics and boundaries.

When in question always defer the the reasonably prudent person test. It can generally be applied to any situation you find yourself in. 

Hope it works out for you!

Hppy

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Thank you! I do understand what your saying. Hopefully since I’ve been in the program a year with no problems til now they won’t kick me out and maybe they will just add a class or add more time.  I know I won’t do it again for sure. 

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

One thing this experience has taught me and I was done a long time ago is that the only person I truely trust is myself. It sounds lonely I know but it's not as bad as it sounds. The noc nurses at the facility where I work will often pull AM shift's meds to help out. I don't pass meds often as I am primarily charge on a super busy psych unit but when I do I like to pass my own meds. I'm not a jerk about it and when my meds are pulled I thank the off-going nurse but still do my complete 5 checks (Yeah we use 5) as I pass my meds. I never sign off on a waste I didn't see and I never ever ask another nurse to sign a waste of mine they did not witness. We have a great working relationship and I don't think I would want to work anywhere else. 

Hppy

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Specializes in DOU.

Hi!! I saw your comment on my post and came here to comment on this one as you asked. I hope this is the right post!! Anyways, if you didn’t receive any type of violation notice from the BRN, which they send as an email, then I think you are likely okay. They can’t send your file back to the DAG unless they first send you a violation notice as I understood it. As long as you reported it to your monitor within the 72 hour allotted time frame, you technically didn’t violate. As hard as the BRN is, they understand things like losing a job does happen! There is always the possibility that the BRN will find this as distasteful, but that is more so between you and the employer. If it wouldn’t have been reported to the BRN if you weren’t on probation, it likely will not be now. I’m unsure regarding the elderly abuse but that seems like a stretch. I also wouldn’t put it past the board either. Hope that helps! 

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Thank you! That’s what I was thinking too. Hopefully nothing will happen unless I mess up again- which I’m not.  I just hope they don’t do a hearing due to my wasted narc error from Aug.  I think I would’ve received something by email if they were going to punish me. 

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