Where Do I Stand?

When someone makes a mistake, they're usually able to learn and improve. An adult who can't control what's spewing out of their mouth is a bigger concern. You can get away with quite a bit if you get along with people, but your competence won't save you if you're preceived as hostile. Take the warning to heart and save the cursing for bar fights.

Ty for choosing to read about my conundrum...Any advice welcome!

So Im a new nurse...6 mos. in, growing, learning and observing, but according to coworkers and management Im rly doing well thus far...not making the same mistakes, good time management, completing tasks, dedicating myself, following up with things etc. I feel awesome about this, though I have a million more lessons ahead..for the most part Im happy at this progress.

THEN...out of the blue after doing the above...bam, I get hit with the dumbest write up Ive ever heard of: We gta write you up bc you were heard swearing yesterday.

S.M.H. Are we in the twilight zone? Yes. I swore. Why? Bc a nurse was 2 seconds away from (LISTEN TO THIS PPL!!!): calling a CODE ON A DNR DNI PT.....WHO WAS SLEEPING!!!!!!

You read that right. Sleeping. So yes it pissed everyone off of course, (doctors hate running for nothing. So do nurse with 20 pts, one whos hemmorrhaging and about to be sent out)...so yup, I was swearing, woohoo. Forgive me.

But, written up? And the nurses who call codes for nothing and write orders wrong and give private info out....nope no write ups.

So, that being said, Idk where I stand. One minute I feel Im doing great and management is recognizing how serious I am and dedicated to learning this craft, next second they make me feel like Im a worthless bag of **** and write me up for this nonsense.

What do they really think? Where do I stand? And how do I move forsward so this stops happening to me?

Thank you all who took time out of your day to read this.

You screwed up; own it. It doesn't matter what other people are or aren't doing (plus, you have no way of knowing what disciplinary action, if any, your peers receive for mistakes or missteps), it doesn't matter if you were fabulous yesterday and everyone has been singing your praises, it doesn't matter if (to you) this seems like the 'dumbest write up you've ever heard of'; you behaved unprofessionally and your employer is choosing to call you on it.

I'm not unsympathetic to your situation. I swear like a trucker and even though I try to be on my best behavior at work, I sometimes hear myself dropping f-bombs into my conversations. I recently had a reality check when a coworker was reported for swearing at a baby. Yes, you read that right. Another employee reported a nurse and said she heard her swear. At. A. Baby. My employer conducted an investigation and interviewed numerous other employees to see if they've ever witnessed this nurse swearing or behaving unprofessionally. They took the complaint seriously and followed through. I have no idea if the 'offending' nurse received any disciplinary action because that's none of my business. I think it's **ridiculous** but what I think doesn't matter and I know if I get called on the carpet for swearing I will have no one to blame but myself.

You will have many frustrating and humbling experiences in your nursing career. You alone can choose how you will deal with them, but hopefully every one of them will help you grow professionally. Feel all of your feelings about this situation and then try to put them aside, put the incident behind you, and move on.

You sound like a great nurse and a good person, but I have to agree with the above poster, you're in the wrong here, kinda left them no choice but to write you up in my honest opinion.

Also a side note, is there really any harm in calling a code? If one is called and the patient happens to be fine just simple turn the code button off, and everybody carries on. In my experience I've only seen people get in trouble for not calling a code, never for calling one whether the patient was actually coding or not.

Also who cares if the doctors are mad, there was a situation on my unit 2 weeks ago where a sepsis alert was callled, patient met all the criteria to call the code. Doctor came and was pissed we called the code she even tried to turn the code light off the charge nurse had to step in make sure the code was carried out.

Guess what im trying to say is don't get mad at nurses who have a light trigger finger for calling codes.