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i got written up at work and am currently suspended for a few days. when i went in to work the other night to see a fellow employee i was told by my peers that i was fired. i told them i was not told this. when i got disciplinary action there were 3 people in the closed door room. me the don and adon and i told no-one. my work wants me to come in. they called @7am today. my question is do i resign before i am officially terminated. i know this will affect unemployment compensation if i do this. but i also know getting fired doesn’t look good on a resume. either way i know i wont get a favorable reference even though i have been a reliable well liked employee with only a history with one other (verbal) warning. please help i don’t know what to do?:banghead:

I've never seen a nurse terminated over not hanging a bag of fluids. Given a warning, yes, but suspended, no. What was the motivation of the other nurse to call you at home? Also, why was she told and not you? You should have a chance to review the error and see what led to it. Everybody makes med errors, that's how we learn. You should be counseled not punished. This whole incident stinks. I don't think you will lose your license over this, a nurse where I worked accidently killed a pt w/potassium and was remediated and keep her license and job, so don't worry too much about losing your license.

Deb- thankyou so much for your response. Im not sure about the motivation behind why the nurse called me. I got a feeling shes in on the whole thing :argue:because she was trying to get me to resign..she said "Im trying to give you an out here" plus she said she heard ADON call me and asked me what she said. How would she know ADON called me? She later said she was on her unit at the time. Needless to say Im not trusting anyone or opening my big mouth till this is resolved. A nurse called me today and said she heard I was fired because someone had to go to the hospital. So now Im wondering if they are gonna blame that on me. I called the hosp and the res has since been released. Ya know as late as 2 weeks ago the administrator was offering me bonus's to work memorial day weekend. 2 months ago I put in my notice and they(DON &ADMIN) begged me to stay. So whats changed? A bunch of their cna's just finished their school and are now LPN's making approx. 3.00 less an hour. Plus their in their 20's and I am 50 and probably not as fast. Im just so frustrated about this. I have a meeting with them tommorrow and I dont even want to go. Not sure if I need Legal representation or should bring a resignation letter or just let them fire me & try to get unemployment for the summer.:cool: Either way Im sure Ill get a bad reference. I feel like the last 2 years and my 1st 2 years as an RN have been wasted.:bluecry1: All I did for that place Worked short, did CNA work, was charge nurse, worked 16 hrs when other nurses didnt show up, worked through breaks ( can count the # of breaks I had in 2 yrs) changed shifts, never complained, made residents feel someone cared about them, attended wakes. All this to see my own demise in the end not to mention my reputation in a small community. Signed: Honest, caring nurse:saint: living in a dog eat dog :paw:world.:devil: (I am learning:up: and hardening my heart:heartbeat as I go) thanks for reading this:yeah:

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How long have you been employed here?! Are you part of a union where you can call your rep?!

I would sign nothing especially if you don't agree with it. Stay quiet and let them talk so you can collect yourself and form a response. Don't talk and talk. Keep things short and concise. If they say you made a med error ask to see all the documentation, etc. I don't believe you are going to lose your license over this even if you did make this med error. Sounds like the patient is okay as they were released.

This place sounds like a gossip mill and a hot mess. I also think once you give notice you should leave as things often go downhill like this with those who stay. Even if you aren't fired I wouldn't want to return there anyway.

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The nurse trying to get you to resign is odd. If your employer set them up to it that leads me to believe some of what you are hearing is crap. They only would want you to resign if they had no grounds to fire you and didn't want you to collect unemployment.

If you stay there they will just keep this crap up until they find a way to fire you. Get out.

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Specializes in ER.
I GOT WRITTEN UP AT WORK AND AM CURRENTLY SUSPENDED FOR A FEW DAYS. WHEN I WENT IN TO WORK THE OTHER NIGHT TO SEE A FELLOW EMPLOYEE I WAS TOLD BY MY PEERS THAT I WAS FIRED. I TOLD THEM I WAS NOT TOLD THIS. WHEN I GOT DISCIPLINARY ACTION THERE WERE 3 PEOPLE IN THE CLOSED DOOR ROOM. ME THE DON AND ADON AND I TOLD NO-ONE. MY WORK WANTS ME TO COME IN. THEY CALLED @7AM TODAY. MY QUESTION IS DO I RESIGN BEFORE I AM OFFICIALLY TERMINATED. I KNOW THIS WILL AFFECT UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION IF I DO THIS. BUT I ALSO KNOW GETTING FIRED DOESNT LOOK GOOD ON A RESUME. EITHER WAY I KNOW I WONT GET A FAVORABLE REFERENCE EVEN THOUGH I HAVE BEEN A RELIABLE WELL LIKED EMPLOYEE WITH ONLY A HISTORY WITH ONE OTHER (VERBAL) WARNING. PLEASE HELP I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO?:banghead:

resign before you're fired, never good they call at 7am and want to talk to you. Red flag!

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Specializes in ER.
I've drawn unemployment three times as a nurse, in three different states, twice from downsizing and once from a facility closing, and in none of the cases was I forced to take any type of position. In two of them I was drawing the maximum amount of unemployment, and in one of those, I drew it for three months.

I can concur with you on that - I had unemployment and was looking for another job that was near my rate of my last job. The only offers that were coming in were for LTC facilities at a much lower rate. You can accept what you are worth, not below. That's silly.

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Specializes in ER.
I havent been officially fired yet but have a meeting tommorrow. I was suspended for not hanging an IV bag. (NSS)(Thursday AM) They said further offenses would result in termination. Today I was told by a peer RN who called me @ home that she was told I had a med error and the res. ended up in the hospital. I called the hosp. and they said she was d/c'd yesterday. Im not sure when she went to the hosp. but it must have been over the weekend. Now do I have a whole new issue. Can I loose my license for this? Help!:cry:

suspended for not hanging fluids? There must be more to the story... have you had many offenses and this was the straw that broke the camel's back??? Just asking...

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Specializes in ER.
I've never seen a nurse terminated over not hanging a bag of fluids. Given a warning, yes, but suspended, no. What was the motivation of the other nurse to call you at home? Also, why was she told and not you? You should have a chance to review the error and see what led to it. Everybody makes med errors, that's how we learn. You should be counseled not punished. This whole incident stinks. I don't think you will lose your license over this, a nurse where I worked accidently killed a pt w/potassium and was remediated and keep her license and job, so don't worry too much about losing your license.

whoah! Killed a patient and just remediated??? Holy #@*!!!!!!! Man, that is lenient.

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Specializes in ER.
Deb- thankyou so much for your response. Im not sure about the motivation behind why the nurse called me. I got a feeling shes in on the whole thing :argue:because she was trying to get me to resign..she said "Im trying to give you an out here" plus she said she heard Shirley ADON call me and asked me what she said. How would she know Shirley called me? She later said she was on her unit at the time. Needless to say Im not trusting anyone or opening my big mouth till this is resolved. A nurse called me today and said she heard I was fired because someone had to go to the hospital. So now Im wondering if they are gonna blame that on me. I called the hosp and the res has since been released. Ya know as late as 2 weeks ago the administrator was offering me bonus's to work memorial day weekend. 2 months ago I put in my notice and they(DON &ADMIN) begged me to stay. So whats changed? A bunch of their cna's just finished their school and are now LPN's making approx. 3.00 less an hour. Plus their in their 20's and I am 50 and probably not as fast. Im just so frustrated about this. I have a meeting with them tommorrow and I dont even want to go. Not sure if I need Legal representation or should bring a resignation letter or just let them fire me & try to get unemployment for the summer.:cool: Either way Im sure Ill get a bad reference. I feel like the last 2 years and my 1st 2 years as an RN have been wasted.:bluecry1: All I did for that place Worked short, did CNA work, was charge nurse, worked 16 hrs when other nurses didnt show up, worked through breaks ( can count the # of breaks I had in 2 yrs) changed shifts, never complained, made residents feel someone cared about them, attended wakes. All this to see my own demise in the end not to mention my reputation in a small community. Signed: Honest, caring nurse:saint: living in a dog eat dog :paw:world.:devil: (I am learning:up: and hardening my heart:heartbeat as I go) thanks for reading this:yeah:

what setting do you work in?

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Specializes in Hospice, ER.

It's may be possible that you are doing too good a job and the other nurses don't like it. You may have set an expample that they are unwilling to follow, being a kind, caring, involved nurse.

As far as your reputation goes, anyone that attends wakes for residents has a good rep and gossip shouldn't impact that. Think how many famly members saw your good work. I would resign. I've had 3 jobs in 1 1/2 yrs as a nurse and it never impacted getting another job. It took that long to find the right fit. Also, the hiring of younger, lower paid nurses may be a good part of the reason for this nonsense.

I don't think you need a lawyer, unless they badmouth you on a reference check. Then you can go after them.

This whole thing stinks like a dead fish. Get out now!!!!

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Specializes in Hospice, ER.

As far as the potassium incident with the nurse goes, she was devestated. It was a sentinel event. It also happened elsewhere in other hospitals across America. It was a combination of nurses error, admitted by the nurse, and of the potassium bottle closely resembling another commonly used med. The point being, while the hosp threw a whole lot of money to the family (rightfully so), the how and why of this occurance had to be addressed and measures taken to correct why this happened. The nurse was suspended and the remediation was quite lengthy. It was an extremely big huge humongous deal.

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Specializes in ER.
As far as the potassium incident with the nurse goes, she was devestated. It was a sentinel event. It also happened elsewhere in other hospitals across America. It was a combination of nurses error, admitted by the nurse, and of the potassium bottle closely resembling another commonly used med. The point being, while the hosp threw a whole lot of money to the family (rightfully so), the how and why of this occurance had to be addressed and measures taken to correct why this happened. The nurse was suspended and the remediation was quite lengthy. It was an extremely big huge humongous deal.

I would imagine it was - the K+ was packaged incorrectly?? If it was on that end, wouldn't it be the pharmaceutical company? I only am aware of IV Potassium that is mixed by the pharmacy to prevent any errors by mixing on your own - and I'm in the ER. What was the scenario? I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the circumstances.

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Specializes in MCH,NICU,NNsy,Educ,Village Nursing.

Sounds like a rumour mill to me.....the people who are calling you, etc. seem to have entirely too much time on their hands. I agree w/other posters who have said to turn in your resignation. Since you've done that previously (if I understood your posting correctly) sounds like there was a reason you wanted to leave? If so, sounds like you may have ANOTHER reason to want to leave. Also, there is such a thing as "hostile work environment" that is created by fellow employees and/or management. It's a huge issue when management does nothing to nip the "hostile environment" produced by fellow employees in the bud. Sounds like your situation is getting awfully close to that. Go you your HR director with documentation of the phone calls, comments, etc. made to you in hand. Ask to see your employee file. You should be allowed to see your file, if not, that's another red flag. Hostile work environments do fall under violation of employee rights.

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