Terminated

Buyer beware, BSN · Dec 7, 2016

I understand your plight, as I too had nearly the same type of incident happen this past June. I was written up by peers, and you need to remember that these "write-ups" are all he said-she said. You never get to face your accuser, and HR always backs the institution. The institution is always right, and the employee is always wrong (thrown under the bus). I am sorry that you had to face this kind of employer and manager. One would think that today, needing nurses, that the institutions would find a more "adult " way to handle conflicts, and not always jump to "write-up" an individual.

Yes. HR IS the institution. They are NOT on your side. You are right about the bus. You are right about never getting to see your accuser. You are correct about not being treated like an adult.

The one assertion that you make which may be wishful thinking is that institutions need nurses.

Since nursing care is the number one sunk investment of any healthcare facility, the relationship between the suits and the people who actually do the work is tenuous. More like love/hate than anything else.

And then there's the flood of passionate nursing graduates.

As far as the original posters c/o the rug being pulled from under him/her, it's hard to give an informed opinion based on no information other than to say "so what else is new?"

MrChicagoRN, RN · Dec 7, 2016

Here is a tip to ANYONE reading this comment:
If you feel that you have one foot out the door and you are asked to come in and meet with the manager/director/administrator/head honcho, or whatever about an incident (directly related to you), say "I will need to check my schedule. I'll contact you." Then, send a resignation letter in writing, via email, pronto.
Don't give them that chance to say in writing that "we met with so-and-so, and warn so-and-so, and so-and-so's performance is below average, blah, blah blah." Otherwise, the writing goes on your record and you will be blocked from going to another unit at the hospital, even though their accusations are as weak as sin.
Again, don't meet with them. By resigning without a meeting, any negative evaluation post-resignation would look retaliation.
Plus, resigning > termination. With a termination, you have to report the job.

Except sometimes that may lead to a resignation for something that might not have led to termination.

Once, I had an event that could have led to termination for two employees. We met separately with each one, then suspended them pending further investigation. They knew they could be fired, but we decided on 3 day unpaid suspension and a final warning.

If someone resigns preemptively, they can still be listed as a do not rehire, either due to the incident or due to quitting without notice.

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · Dec 8, 2016

Except sometimes that may lead to a resignation for something that might not have led to termination.
Once, I had an event that could have led to termination for two employees. We met separately with each one, then suspended them pending further investigation. They knew they could be fired, but we decided on 3 day unpaid suspension and a final warning.
If someone resigns preemptively, they can still be listed as a do not rehire, either due to the incident or due to quitting without notice.

Yeah, but it will let to avoid black mark of "termination" anyway. And everyone knows nowadays that "not eligible to rehire" alone means close to nothing in our days of "right to work".

After everything that was done with me, I would never in my life go to such a meeting alone, whatever HR and the Powers say or promice. Depending on situation, there would be either my resignation note, or my legal team, or both.

And it is like 110% probability that by marking otherwise good nurses "not to rehire" not for serious stuff like playing games with narcs or near-misses and sentinel events but for a silly cattiness and politicking, you will eventually lose much more good and experienced nurses that just those you unceremoniously discharged. People tend to communicate, and people who feel bad tend to let others know much more than those who are happy. Think about it next time when you start offering nurses $$$ for recruiting their friends :sneaky:

wolf9653 · Dec 8, 2016

Without knowing what happened, I don't know if it was a fireable offence. Fireable offences are usually something that puts them at liability, or great damage was done. an example might be if the patient said she was going to kill somebody, and then assaulted the DON the next morning. It's also possible it was a witch hunt. If it was, your friend the administrator might have been giving you nonverbal cues that they felt it was unjust.

Many places don't want to give anything more than NRS (name rank serial number) when a prospective employer calls. Dates worked and that's about it. They aren't being paid for this and have better ways to spend their time, unless they thought you were deliberately killing patients.

Sometimes it can be a plus in an interview if you disclose the termination very carefully, not in too much detail. If you admit you erred, and have learned the error of your ways, you may be making yourself 'human' (very important in an interview), showing that you are humble, teachable, and responsible. More than any letter of reference can. just MHO.