I JUST GOT WROTE UP FOR NOT SCANNING A BAG OF D51/2 NS!!!!
A WRITE-UP!?!?!?! And I'm still in ORIENTATION!!!!
I actually remembered pulling the bad under my name from the pyxis and giving it to my LPN to scan and hang... and yet and still... I get wrote up for it.... I understand a narc (because if u pull a narc, u give it), but a d*** bag of D51/2???
I'm soooo teed-off right now... I just can't believe it.... and I've NEVER had a record of ANY disciplinary action taken against me :-(
Will this affect me with applying for other jobs? Is this even a legitimate and normal reason to "counsel" someone?
@NREMT-P/RN, Thank you for your honesty and insight. I wasn't the only one to get reprimanded on this, everyone who cost the hospital some change got in trouble also, apparently. You're right, I did have that "outlook" coming out of nursing school (you described it exact), but I NEVER though I'd get it socked to me for this... I've learned, and I've moved on officially :-D
I'm sure that I am not in any other "trouble" or anything, as most of the people like working with me thus far (granted there are a few who still are like "who is she????", ya know?). I'm just very hard on myself and have goals and standards that I have set; one of which includes not getting written up, or trying my best not to get written-up. Yea, I know we all make mistakes, but I see it like this: If i'm gonna get in trouble, I want to get in trouble over something worth while...
I appreciate the time you took to write your response.
It's the old - 'let's blame the RN for everthing - that will cover our butts'. RNs are in charge of everyone but it sounds like policy was followed according to the OP. Where does the responsibility of the LPN end? He/she is a nurse too and if licensed to give meds, should be responsible.
If I had to scan everything, I would go nuts. We double check fluids and most meds with another RN, and they are signed for by both for fluids. We don't scan over here where I am. I honestly don't know how you have the time to do that on top of your other duties. Why don't we just scan everything and have 2 people check everything, then we'll double document, then......the list of stupidity goes on. That's management for you, sitting behind a desk, dreaming up all these complicated policies that waste more time. Policies should be simple and easy to follow and of course meds must be checked properly. But does it really all have to be so complicated? This all sounds like a waste of time to me.
I'm just frustrated at the fact that I've never had anything bad happen to me like this. ...
This puzzles me. Nothing happened to you; you made a mistake. We all do, occasionally, it isn't the end of the world, lol. No one was hurt you learned, end of story.
As for the policy, I suspect your "write up" is just a warning of sorts so you will take it seriously. Lost charges are a big deal. If they are losing money, you don't get new equipment, FTE's get slashed, no one gets a raise, etc. It counts. I am so amazed by all the resentment about corporate health care being interested in money. Of course they are. It is just like any other business. If you were a waitress and kept breaking glasses and dropping people's food so it had to be re-prepared, you would be counseled and eventually fired. If you were a district attorney who's every case cost the county tens of thousands of dollars, you'd get counseled and fired, even if you won them all. Why is nursing/health care immune from caring about the bottom line? There is a reason they call it the bottom line, after all, lol.
Unless you can convince your fellow Americans to support a single payer system, health care will continue to be a for profit business for most/many. I don't see how we as Americans, can insist that HC remain a market driven system, and then get upset when market rules apply.
And FTR, I am completely opposed to consumer and market driven HC, but I only get one vote and it wasn't enough.
This puzzles me. Nothing happened to you; you made a mistake. We all do, occasionally, it isn't the end of the world, lol. No one was hurt you learned, end of story.
As for the policy, I suspect your "write up" is just a warning of sorts so you will take it seriously. Lost charges are a big deal. If they are losing money, you don't get new equipment, FTE's get slashed, no one gets a raise, etc. It counts. I am so amazed by all the resentment about corporate health care being interested in money. Of course they are. It is just like any other business. If you were a waitress and kept breaking glasses and dropping people's food so it had to be re-prepared, you would be counseled and eventually fired. If you were a district attorney who's every case cost the county tens of thousands of dollars, you'd get counseled and fired, even if you won them all. Why is nursing/health care immune from caring about the bottom line? There is a reason they call it the bottom line, after all, lol.
Unless you can convince your fellow Americans to support a single payer system, health care will continue to be a for profit business for most/many. I don't see how we as Americans, can insist that HC remain a market driven system, and then get upset when market rules apply.
And FTR, I am completely opposed to consumer and market driven HC, but I only get one vote and it wasn't enough.
I like your post . . . good thoughts about why lost charges are important.
I don't agree with your last two paragraphs regarding Americans needing a single payer system and I'm in favor of market driven HC.
As to the OP . . . . I like the idea of "coaching" and not write-ups in orientation. Live and learn.
And I hate the idea of encouraging nurses to write each other up by offering candy and such.
The computerization may help pharmacy keep track of what nurses do but I'll tell you in an emergency it is a pain in the tush to have to scan stuff.
I don't agree with your last two paragraphs regarding Americans needing a single payer system and I'm in favor of market driven HC.
That's fine, according to the polls most Americans do. But we can't have it both ways. If we want health care to be market driven, then we don't get to complain when it is, lol, and we don't get to be all uppity about "greedy" CEOs, etc. I am constantly reading here about how all the evil hospitals, LTCs, administrators and providers care about is money. Well, in a capitalist consumer driven system, that is how things are done, based on financial outcomes vs. health outcomes. That doesn't make them evil or unethical, they are giving us what we have collectively asked for. It is pretty silly and disingenuous to get upset with them for doing exactly what we have voted for!
I'm with the OP this is petty nit-picking B.S. Scanning the bag allows pharmacy to charge the patient for the bag...not scanning is not a med error in my book.
I'm the last person to think corporations or businesses or hospitals are evil.
:)
I didn't mean you personally. Spidey, I'm preaching to the choir when directing my comments to you, you clearly "get it." We can disagree on the premise and both still see the illogical conclusions. As I said, I don't think health care should be for profit, and I don't think the current health care system in the country is ethical. But I'm a pragmatist. I deal with what is.
You don't blame a dog for barking, that is what dogs do; and you don't blame a business for trying to maximize profit, that is what businesses do. Lost charges = lost revenue. Pointing out that someone's error resulted in lost revenue is not petty, nitpicking, or unfair. It is necessary for good business.
tmartin83
105 Posts
@NREMT-P/RN, Thank you for your honesty and insight. I wasn't the only one to get reprimanded on this, everyone who cost the hospital some change got in trouble also, apparently. You're right, I did have that "outlook" coming out of nursing school (you described it exact), but I NEVER though I'd get it socked to me for this... I've learned, and I've moved on officially :-D
I'm sure that I am not in any other "trouble" or anything, as most of the people like working with me thus far (granted there are a few who still are like "who is she????", ya know?). I'm just very hard on myself and have goals and standards that I have set; one of which includes not getting written up, or trying my best not to get written-up. Yea, I know we all make mistakes, but I see it like this: If i'm gonna get in trouble, I want to get in trouble over something worth while...
I appreciate the time you took to write your response.