What can get you fired??

Nurses Professionalism

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Hi everyone,

I'm a nursing student and would like to ask the nurses here, the "hospital policy".

I'm doing a poster board for the class and came up with just a few. I'd really appreciate all your inputs.

-documentation error

-not storing needles in sharp container box

-medication mix up

Thanks so much!

Specializes in Hospice, ONC, Tele, Med Surg, Endo/Output.

If anyone where you work does not like you they can eventually get you fired. In nursing you can and will be fired for any reason at all. Warms the cockles of you heart, doesn't it?

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These are all applicable reasons which I wholeheartedly agree with. I don't agree with "just because the manager doesn't like you, they're gonna nit pick and find a very small reason to fire you."

I'm glad that it apparently hasn't happened to you, and I hope it won't. But please don't assume that it doesn't happen (a lot) in nursing, there are numerous posts on AN on the matter.

DeLana

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Specializes in M/S, ICU, ICP.
punching your don in the face and knocking one of his teeth out.

(a former coworker of mine actually did this, rather recently in fact)

oh i so want to hear "the rest of the story" on this one. please share...just leave out the names of the guilty and the actual location.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Ortho.

Two that I know of personally

-time/attendance

-giving med without an order

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Specializes in acute care med/surg, LTC, orthopedics.
These are all applicable reasons which I wholeheartedly agree with. I don't agree with "just because the manager doesn't like you, they're gonna nit pick and find a very small reason to fire you."

All I'm going to say about this comment is if you truly believe this, you must be quite young and naive and just haven't been in the workforce very long. No, this is not specific to nursing, but it certainly is applicable to business so if you've not encountered this in your work life yet well... just give it some time.

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

Trust me on this. If you have a manager who does not like you for what ever reason, they will figure out a way to get rid of you. Either by termination or making life such hell that you leave on your own. Any manager with just a little bit of talent can get rid of someone.

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Specializes in acute care.
Trust me on this. If you have a manager who does not like you for what ever reason, they will figure out a way to get rid of you. Either by termination or making life such hell that you leave on your own. Any manager with just a little bit of talent can get rid of someone.

I have seen it at jobs I've had outside of nursing.

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Just about anything can get you fired. It depends a lot on what the issue is and the type of manager that you have. And it also depends on hospital policy and the board rules for your state. Certain errors might not get you fired right away but most managers look for repeat patterns over time.

I have terminated employees on the spot for the following:

1. Giving medication to a patient without a doctors order and resulting in harm to the patient.

2. Failing to properly restrain a combative patient, getting in an altercation with the patient and breaking her arm.

I have immediately suspended employees for :

1. Being intoxicated on the job. Some facilities fire people at once for this. We chose to suspend and investigate and refer the employee for intervention and treatment, depending on the circumstances.

2. Acting out in a patient care area (throwing charts, cursing). This particular employee was bipolar and off her medication. I gave her two weeks off, she got back on her meds and she was fine).

3. Fighting in the workplace.

4. Leaving the hospital, the assignment, without notifying the charge nurse.

5. Placing a patient in harm. Pending investigation.

6. Smoking pot in the restroom.

7. Having sex in the stairwell while on duty.

It goes on and on.

Wow! Where do you work? And just to think I was fired over a hippa violation. (incurred while checking the ed roster for a co-worker I heard was there!

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Why do new grads get fired? Do, strong personalities clash in the nursing world?

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if a patient overhears a disagreement between you and a co-worker (which i found out from experience is easier than you think). we are "customer service" oriented and if a "customer" overhears a "disagreement" that is grounds for termination. they spend millions of dollars on renovations yearly, but apparently the doors are still really thin.

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Specializes in cardiology/oncology/MICU.
Why do new grads get fired? Do, strong personalities clash in the nursing world?

Nursing is no different than any other place in that personalities clash. It is hard to deal with some of the nurses I work with. I have been working at this hospital for 7 years, and I get along with most people, but there are just a few that grate my nerves. There are also a few that probably feel that way about me:yeah: I think in the end that I only really have a problem with the nurses that think they are better than me cause they happened to have nursed during the Crimean War with Florence. No person is any better than another. We all have good and bad points and nobody is perfect, most of all me. All that being said, I work in a place where it is very hard to get fired(union). Nurses get away with a lot of stuff here, but the ones who get fired usually get it for stealing drugs.

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DeLana_RN, everything you said rings so very true. I only wish I'd known how important politics truly are in the healthcare world (and everywhere, I guess - sadly).

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