Will this affect my license.

[Capp]

I had a patient refuse some pills, and I thought I had discarded them properly, but it turns out I left them in the patient's room at the bedside. A representative from the board of nursing was there researching a separate case and decided to inspect a few rooms at random, and she found the pills I had forgotten. So they fired me on the spot.

I made the mistake, so I guess I can't really complain that it cost me my job, but is this something that could affect my license? I'm in Washington State if that makes a difference.

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

Oh wow. Sorry this happened to you. I found percocet at my patients bedside last night and had to waste it with the charge. The previous shift left it. As a rule of thumb, I never leave meds at the bedside. Always take them with you if they refuse

[Capp]

Yes, definitely. I've found medications at the bedside many times, although never narcotics. One thing that makes me feel slightly better about this situation is knowing that many other nurses leave pills at the bedside on purpose. It's kind of bizarre to have this happen on the one day that I had done that accidentally. That's life, I guess. The most serious drug I left was metformin; although I have seen a psych patient taking metformin abusively!

[dishes, BSN, RN]

I would speak to an attorney. It's kind of bizarre to me that a member of the BON randomly walked into a patient's room, who authorized the BON member to enter the patient's room? If the BON member violated the patient's privacy, mabe they should be facing a disciplinary hearing themself.

[Capp]

Shoot, I don't know. I thought they could go wherever they want. This individual is referred to as "The State." I thought they were from the BON, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe they are technically from somewhere else. I don't know. Can they not just go wherever they want?

[TheGooch]

Could have been an inspector from the CMS They do surveys of healthcare facilities.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

Provided this hasn't been an ongoing issue or anything, firing you on the spot strikes me as a very unkind and short-sighted thing for your employer to do. An employer with common sense and a cooler head would have used this as a re-education opportunity. An honest mistake does make you a bad or unsafe nurse.

The fact that it was an honest-to-gosh BON representative who physically found the pills at the bedside is certainly unfortunate luck, and a little strange. I haven't the faintest idea if anything will come of it. I would like to think that your state's BON have bigger fish to fry.

Good luck in any case.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

Shoot, I don't know. I thought they could go wherever they want. This individual is referred to as "The State." I thought they were from the BON, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe they are technically from somewhere else. I don't know. Can they not just go wherever they want?

Ah, no, the infamous "state" (state's in the building!) that comes to inspect facilities and your state's Board of Nursing are not the same entity. Now your post makes more sense.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I doubt it was the BoN. It was probably the DPH or whatever your state calls it. They tend to come in after sentinel events.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

Well, I suppose if someone made a complaint against you to the BoN and they deemed it sufficient to investigate and based on that investigation found it to be a legitimate complaint and believed you to be unsafe in your nursing practice, YES, it could affect your license.

A nurse merely getting fired from a job doesn't rise to the level of violation of the Nurse Practice Act which would be the jurisdiction of the BoN. However, getting fired makes it hard to use that facility as a reference and may affect your ability to be employed as a nurse.

[Gooselady, BSN, RN]

Oh CRAP!!!! I'm so sorry this happened! In my 23 years of nursing I've done this (in some form) several times. Mostly I've left them in the med room, unlabeled, out of the package lol, but I have done this a couple of times where they are buck naked and abandoned in the patient's room I at least have the common sense that none were controlled substances, but it doesn't MATTER to the letter of the law.

A more effective 'punishment' would be a written warning or some such . . . to 'show' the state or whoever it was that this facility takes these things seriously. This may be a blessing in disguise that you were fired from such a facility where, I'm sure if you look back, they aren't exactly 'pro-staff'. I've worked in a variety of settings where the management and staff had a rather adversarial relationship, and others where management and staff are mutually concerned and supportive of each other. I'm sure if you look back you can see other examples of how the nursing staff were not valued as persons. This is very important, IMO, to promote the best patient care -- when management genuinely cares about the PERSONS working the floor. The trickle down effect, I guess.

I imagine this place was not nearly so respectful and concerned, and when you do end up working for a place where the staff ARE valued as persons, you'll see the difference in staff morale and patient care. BEST of luck and all that finding a new job, and keep in mind to ask pointed questions in your next interview about staff morale. Depending on the answer you get, you'll know how valued the staff are :)

BTW, most previous employers are ONLY at liberty to confirm your start date and end date of employment -- they are not at liberty to say "Oye, we fired that one!" or whatever. Get your personal references from your coworkers and go look for a BETTER place to work :) I think you will be fine :)

[Capp]

There was a culture in that facility that I did not like, which was one of the reasons I was in the process of trying to transfer to a different facility.

In fact, the DNS from the facility I was trying to transfer to had just called my DNS not long before she fired me. I wonder if that was a factor.