What are the chances of being fired as a nurse?

talaxandra · Apr 20, 2010

It depends where you work - I've know of a couple of people who were performance managed out of their jobs, and managerial positions being reshuffled to disloge difficult employees at NUM or above. But with one exception, about 15 years ago,, I've never heard of a clinical nurse being fired from my hospital for anything short of truly outrageous behaviour (eg stealing a narcotic infusion from a patient). It's not something I've ever worried about.

Intern67 · Apr 20, 2010

I am just curious, what are the chances of being fired as a nurse...and what would be the main reasons in the nursing field? And how can I prevent such an occurence?
I've been fired working at a retail store and it pretty much scarred me for life. However, every other job I've had was stable. Is being fired easy?

Depends on you. What did you do to get fired in retail?

Here are the reasons I have personally seen nurses get fired:

1. Stealing narcotics.

2. Not showing up for work and not calling.

3. Patient had a raging purulent sore underneath a halo vest. (TCU Charge Nurse took the fall for that one.)

Dunno if this helps.

RN_Canada · Apr 26, 2010

You can be fired for any or no reason, and you can be targetted by other nurses and/oryour boss just because they don't like you. there's no defense because there are so many judgement calls in nursing, and as another poster sais, you can never finish everything perfectly, especially as a new grad.

here in Canada - as someone already posted- nurse have unions.

You cannot be fired for no reason! period!

That is one of the main benefits of unionization. Employers have to be very sure that they are hiring the right people for the right job and that the job is ongoing because it is very difficult to just fire someone for no reason.

You can be terminated if your conduct falls below the professional standards required by your professional association. The following are examples of professional conduct that is BELOW an acceptable standard.

Stealing narcotics.
Not showing up for work and not calling.
Patient had a raging purulent sore underneath a halo vest. (TCU Charge Nurse took the fall for that one.)This would require a professional conduct review and the union would fight for your job OR for conditions that would allow you to get the help you need to be able to return to your job once you have met conditions of remediation.

You can be laid off if the job is discontinued or if the employer downsizes and your position is eliminated. It doesn't happen often but it does happen.

but you CANNOT be fired for no reason - there has to be a reason. And you definitely cannot be fired because your boss does not like you - many of the bosses are also union members. They simply do not have that kind of power.

There are many things that unions contribute to the workplace and one of them is a distribution of power and the requirement to follow agreed upon processes if there are workplace problems or work performance problems.

Zookeeper3 · Apr 27, 2010

here in canada - as someone already posted- nurse have unions.
you cannot be fired for no reason! period!
but you cannot be fired for no reason - there has to be a reason. and you definitely cannot be fired because your boss does not like you - many of the bosses are also union members. they simply do not have that kind of power.
there are many things that unions contribute to the workplace and one of them is a distribution of power and the requirement to follow agreed upon processes if there are workplace problems or work performance problems.

op, be warned, not all nursing jobs are union. those that are not are not protected as the above statements say. the manager does indeed have all that power and a bad one will wield it frequently and many times for the wrongest reasons.

RN_Canada · Apr 28, 2010

Those that are not are NOT protected as the above statements say. The manager does indeed have all that power and a bad one will wield it frequently and many times for the wrongest reasons.

A full 62% of nursing positions are unionized in Canada.

Of the 38% that do not belong to nurses unions they may belong to other unions such as federal or provincial employee unions, or faculty unions in colleges and universities.

And for those nurses who do not belong to unions there is legislation called employment standards that sets down conditions for firing or "termination".

Employers do have the right to terminate but must provide notice and severance under the conditions laid out in the legislation for those nurses who are not covered by a collective agreement.

Believe me I have "been there and had that done to me" and it was not pleasant, but the laws were on my side.

it was a long hard battle but I did get everything owed to me under the law. And it only took 2 years!

The difference between Canada and the US on this issue is the social context. The US believes that people have the right work without being forced to belong to a union.

This is entrenched in law in several states and is known as "Right to Work" legislation.

Canada on the other hand has the Rand formula which says that even if you do not want to belong to a union you must pay your union dues because you benefit from the work they do, therefore everyone in a unionized workplace is a member of the union and pays dues.

I have been a member of the nursing profession for over 35 years. I have never been a member of a nursing union and I have worked in nursing management in union excluded positions.

I am fully convinced that unionization is an absolute necessity to maintain a public accountability framework.

Nurses must know that they can work in the public interest and NOT have their job threatened because they are trying to do a good job.

In other words employers cannot force a nurse to be a bad nurse and work below the acceptable standards set by the regulatory body.

If nurses have professional standards that require them to work in the public interest then they must know that they can do this and still maintain their jobs.

At the very least they need to know that if their job is threatened because of a conflict with the employer's interest and their profession standards, that the union will go to bat for their job.

It is amazing what a difference this can make in the workplace and I am thankful for the laws that support this in the Canadian workplace.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Apr 28, 2010

in 28 years, i have been fired from a nursing position once.
words to the wise- don't tell a colleague that your executive director can go eff himself. they have no sense of humor at all...

oh,that one struck me as funny! i'm now cleaning milk off my screen!

allnurses Guide · Apr 28, 2010

I am just curious, what are the chances of being fired as a nurse...and what would be the main reasons in the nursing field? And how can I prevent such an occurence?
I've been fired working at a retail store and it pretty much scarred me for life. However, every other job I've had was stable. Is being fired easy?

I can certainly relate to that! I was fired by a retail store, too. I was 18yrs old. They promoted me from stock girl to sales to assistant manager all in 6 months time, then they proceeded to can me for-- oh no, I'm going to say it, "They fired me for NO reason!" It scarred me for life. Being fired from a nursing job is completely different than that of retail sales. I've since learned that churning people in and out of say, a trendy clothing store, is normal operating procedure for many companies.

I only know one nurse who was fired. She made 2 or 3 collosal med errors with IV meds. She was also taking medication for a mental/emotional disorder. She didn't tell me what the disorder was or what she was taking for it, and since it was none of my business, I didn't press the issue. The medication had the side effect of causng a pronounced tremor in both hands all the time. If she was sitting and raised her hand up a little, her hand was shaking. I do hope the termination wasn't related in some way to that issue. I suspect it was, but I'll never know for sure.

diane227, LPN, RN · Apr 29, 2010

This depends on so many factors, this is a question that really cannot be answered. There are so many reasons that an employee can be terminated that have to with both practice and non practice related areas.

Bubbles · Jun 1, 2010

There were RNs in my department of a major health insurance company that definitely should have been fired! But they were not. I was -- because the VP of Human Resources wanted me to 'be happy.' No kidding! :uhoh3: One RN was a Realtor and spent much of her time using company equipment and supplies doing Real Estate transactions. Another spent day after day talking about her wedding plans. When some nurses went to the manager they were told these nurses had good productivity. How could that be?? Another spent time on the Internet looking for another 'boy toy.' And the general public opinion is that this is a good employer!! Go figure! :uhoh3:

RNTwin · Jun 2, 2010

just remember that nurses are replaceable... so yes you can get fired for the dumbest things, i know someone that was fired b/c she told the manager at a outside party that she was going to spike the punch bowl with colace, the hospital took it as a threat.

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Jun 2, 2010

OP, if you do get fired someday as a nurse, don't let it make a huge impact on you..you have to be able to dust yourself off and land on your feet. I haven't been fired as a nurse but I was as a surg tech once. I had been hired as an open heart scrub and this team was(and from what I hear, still is) notorious for high turnover, due to verbally abusive surgeons. I stuck it out for as long as I could and then asked to resign from the team. After that, I was a marked woman. Long story short, they asked me to resign(so they didn't have to pay unemployment benefits, I'm sure. Your employer contributes part of that in some form) but I said nope, go ahead and fire me. It was actually kind of humerous, because they really kept trying to get me to sign the resignation letter and I just wouldn't do it. :lol2: . It turns out that they had other people who had quit the heart team to go into the general population, and these people were tormented too. So, goes to show that it wasn't just me..

And you know what? I went on to work at other places as a tech, and got great evals. So, it only severly impacts you if you let it. As many here have said, often it comes down to politics or you ticking someone off, not your skills.

fitRNpic · Jun 2, 2010

You most definitely can be fired from your job as a nurse. (speaking from many experiences!) I have not had much luck with nursing jobs. My first job I thought was going to be my dream job, one that I absolutely loved going to, I was fired from the week before I was to start being on my own and the last week of my orientation. My paperwork states that I was terminated due to "Not Meeting Unit Standards". I hadn't done anything wrong and had not harmed any patients. I had not even had any problems with co-workers. But for some reason, someone obviously didn't like me or want me there. The orientation was to be exactly 90 days, no more and no less, no matter how you learned. After this situation, I was unable to get a job for months. Then come to find out, the manager of this unit had blacklisted me! At the termination meeting, she had suggested that maybe I get a job at such and such hospital in a similar unit to get more experience. I went to such and such hospital, applied, interviewed, and was told that they wanted to hire me but wanted to talk with my previous manager before making a final decision. Not thinking anything of it, I said that it was fine to speak with her. After they spoke to her, they would not offer me the position. I contacted my previous manager and asked her what happened and she told me " It is none of your business what I say about you to other people!" :eek: SERIOUSLY!!!

So, needless to say, I have had extremely bad luck with jobs in this area. I was terminated/fired from my next job because the NEW manager (who used to be night shift charge nurse) didn't like me. I was harassed and threatened at this job and no one cared or listened. I was terminated/fired from my next job because the scheduler didn't like me. I went to the manager and clinical director about things that she was doing or not doing and nothing ever changed. I was let go for write ups that I was unaware of. When I asked about getting a copy of these supposed write ups, I was told that they would have to check with corporate about it and that they don't let employees have copies of anything in their employee file! :eek: It is state law here that an employee is allowed to have a copy of anything they want that is in their employee file, but they refuse to let me see it!!

With all of these jobs, I took the necessary steps to go through the fair treatment procedures, contacting HR, etc. None of it did any good. They didn't care. I feel like I live in the wrong state or at least the wrong area of the state because no one around here cares, everyone is out for themselves, and personally I have found that a lot of people are down right mean. I moved to the northern part of the state for what was supposed to be my dream job and have gotten screwed out of almost every job I have held here. Before moving here, I lived in the central/southern part of the state and held my job at the hospital there for almost 3 years without any problems or issues.

So yes, you can be fired from your job as a nurse for absolutely any reason they come up with. You can get unemployment benefits after being fired/terminated from a nursing job. I received unemployment after each of these jobs. And yes, they petitioned or whatever to not let me get benefits. I won each time! I wouldn't want any good nurse to ever get fired from their jobs, but it happens. I have had many patients who absolutely loved having me as their nurse and I was often requested to be someones nurse, however, some places it seems don't seem to care about whether or not you are a good nurse for your patients and their families, it's all about whether they like you or not. I have witnessed a lot of nurses that should have been fired for their actions and for bad patient care, but they still have their jobs because they were liked and accepted by the unit manager!