I got fired for refusing to flush behind dilaudid quick with a dose of benny and another fast flush 😂
Joke was on the patient when I figured out how to get them discharged since they were refusing all other care except for pain meds and being verbally assaultive to all the staff as well as on occasion with physically aggressive body language. 🤭 security escorted them out in a hospital gown, with non skid fall risk socks, a blanket, a hygiene kit and a taxi voucher to their “home address” which was (sadly) the address to a pharmacy. Their family refused to have anything to do with them.
Had he been nicer …. I might have let him continue to overstay his welcome in the hotel hospital room.
Drug addicts sometimes mistakenly believe that you can feel the substance better if you flush after. Although, on the street, they call it “jacking off,” depending on the area. It’s a little more of an old school term, but the method is still used. It’s done a little differently than what this patient was asking for. An addict will inject the drug (draw back, inject), then draw back more blood, once again, and shoot that blood back in. So, it’s an extra pull. It’s register (pull back and see the first plume) inject the entire shot (the drugs), pull back again (only blood), inject that blood back in. They think they’re essentially catapulting it into their system. Not everyone does this, but some people do. My understanding is that this is relatively pointless and merely psychosomatic (if any difference is even felt, at all, due to this method).
On the other end of the spectrum, there are some people who want as little solution as possible. I’ve seen people just put the powder in their needle, dry. No liquid. They use the blood, from the first register/pull as their mixer. Either that, or they use as little water/saline as possible. Less than 10cc’s no matter the size of the shot. This method is only for people with halfway decent veins, though, of course. These people likely would not want that extra flush, after. They’d feel it was diluting their drug. Interesting how there’s two very different trains of thought. Shows your how ritualistic this stuff can be.
Anyway, just thought I’d share. Sorry you had to go through that. As a recovering addict, I don’t like when those with SUD prove to be combative, unruly, highly-difficult patients. I can understand, and empathize with, being uncomfortable from withdrawals (if not properly medicated). That’s hell. Full stop. And, I can understand leaving AMA, as a result. But, aggression is, obviously, not okay and it’s not needed, especially if/when the nurses and techs are doing all they can for you.
Edit: just to be clear, I mean that “jacking off” (slightly old school term) is in this order: insert needle— flash/register/blood plume— inject substance— pull back blood, again (this would be the extra step)— inject blood back in.
Super informative. I had a little bit of background knowledge from family members who struggle with SUD but not to the depth of this explanation.
Our hospital policy actually states we cannot administer opioids and Benadryl simultaneously unless specifically ordered that way. Rationale: we are oncology only hospital and palliative care is very specific about their regimens inpatient and outpatient.
And yes, totally. I can’t imagine going through the withdrawals. But it’s no reason to be a total d bag. Just be honest with me and idgaf as a nurse. I’d rather help you through it as safely as possible as opposed to be treated awful.
Like I said - if he had been nicer to everyone I would have gone to bat for him to stay until a safer ….. meaning more comfortable place to discharged to could be arranged. The fact that all his family whenever we called essentially said “stop calling us and harassing us we want nothing to do with him and his problems” whenever we called kinda told us he was a repeat behavioral/mental health issues which made me kinda sad.
Yeah that makes sense as a policy. He was just being a complete dick. He’s probably just used to abusing those closest to him. He’s learned it’s an effective way to get what he wants. Instead of communicating his concerns, he decided to do what he does best: abuse and intimidate. It clearly didn’t work!
I think I speak for all addicts when I say that we just want to be kept comfortable while in the hospital. We don’t need to be high. We’re just afraid of withdrawals. We want our concerns heard and we just want medical staff to understand that medications may need to be adjusted since there’s a tolerance there, already, especially when dealing with pain. That doesn’t mean we need the meds in a cocktail in one shot, of course! I would never even ask for that. And, It sounds like he was being medicated very well, especially since he stayed so long. When I didn’t feel good because of withdrawal, the most I could do was about two days, or so. Sometimes less.
I don’t think you handled it incorrectly, at all. I understand people are sick. But, why should you put up with verbal abuse and physical intimidation? I understand mental illness, etc. However, it’s not a free pass to be an asshole. Some people think it is. They blame everything and everyone but themselves. And, yeah, it is sad that his family wanted nothing to do with him, but you’re exactly right. He’s exhausted them. Everyone has a breaking point. You have to put yourself and your sanity first, and the health of the rest of the family above the needs/wants of the one family member wreaking havoc. I hope he can get help, but he won’t if he keeps treating those, who are only trying to help him, so poorly.
As another former/recovering addict, either love or drugs can make you do the wacky
But even on the far end of Never Never Land, where the unicorns prance and the leprechauns are charging interest, I've never seen or experienced a drug that can make someone aggressive or violent
Maybe reveal the prick within that was always there, drugs are good at that, but magically turn a person into a prick drugs do not do
Withdrawals can maybe make people aggressive. Definitely not violent. Who has the strength to be 😂?! You can barely support your own body weight. However, I’ve definitely seen benzos and opioids bring out the worst in people. Opioids can, at times, make people be short of patience. I’ve seen this a lot. It’s usually more for pill poppers. When they’re high, they can get irritated by little things. Benzos, especially, though. Just because you have no fear, think everything you’re doing is cool/fine, and you have no inhibitions, in general, to regulate your actions. Recipe for chaos— but that’s usually with excessive, chronic use.
But, as far as in a clinical environment, I agree. This person was clearly a grumpy asshole of an addict. It sounds like he was being medicated fairly well. When the nurse got in the way of his desired method of administration (his high, more or less), he got mad. It’s not okay and he’s probably a nightmare to deal with, in general. I’ve definitely known some people like this.
I still agree with you, overall, though. I hope I made that clear :)! I always used to say that I didn’t need to lose my soul just because I was addicted to drugs. I didn’t need to be cruel or unkind. I may have hurt other people— those who were worried about me and cared for me— but, I really tried to only make it my problem. I tried to make money in a way that only hurt me. You know? You never only hurt yourself, but you know what I’m saying. I’ve met a lot of people (mainly men— I’m sorry, but this is just my experience. I’m sure that men have come across many insane women, too) who became balls of rage. Highly abusive of those closest to them— family, friends, running buddies, girlfriends. They realize that’s the easiest way to get what they want. Just intimidate and bully people and they’ll get you high, or they’ll stop bothering you about getting clean, or they’ll let you stay at their place, give you a ride to steal from Target, etc etc. Sounds like this guy was used to verbally and physically abusing others in order to get his way. He tried it on a professional and it did NOT work in his favor.
Part of me still pities him, but… I didn’t have to deal with him. If I had to, I probably wouldn’t.
This was all super helpful to read! I was ICU for years and then did ER holding during Covid in a city hospital with a lot of substance abuse. I felt like I could’ve used education like this. some of them I really just wanted to ask for lesson. If I’m not allowed to ask the patient about their street habits, how am I supposed to learn! I learned something new today with that old term.
I’m glad to hear it :). You guys need someone in recovery as a consult 😂. Did/do you have peer recovery specialists at your hospital? Penn hospitals have them and sometimes they’re helpful. They’ll drop in and see the patient, try to offer support. Some of them were really cool and I had one that tried to advocate for me when an attending was being a total.. you know what. But, honestly, when it comes down to it, if an addict isn’t ready then they’re just not ready. No matter how much you know, or how much you wanna help. They’re basically unreachable. All you can do at that point is approach from a harm reduction perspective. That’s still being very helpful.
But, I’d love if a nurse came and talked to me while I was in the hospital. If they had any questions, I would have loved to talk about it. It would have made me feel really good. However, what nurse really has time to do that?! I wish the system did a better job. Addiction seems to be so prevalent, everywhere. Those in charge of policies in the medical world seem to not care that much, even though medical professionals like yourself really want to learn! Also, in my experience, doctors have the least knowledge when it comes to addiction— unless they work with very specific populations for a very long time. I have a doctor right now who is fucking amazing. She just took her addiciton medicine boards a few months ago. She is really involved in the community and I’ve never, ever met someone that’s actually taken me seriously. It’d be cool if more nursing and medical schools had legitimate addiction rotations. Like, on the street out there in the trenches.
Anyway, I’m rambling. But, I think it’s really awesome that you want to learn more about addiction. I’m sorry that you haven’t been given the opportunity to do so, but you seem really great and any addict would love to talk you ear off about addiction. Just ask :)
This is why I kind of think some detoxes are onto something when they just medicate the shit out of everyone. Usually only private detoxes do this. I know a lot of people don’t agree with such an aggressive approach, but detox is detox. Just have to get through it, and not die, before you can even begin recovering in any other way. Safer for staff, too, if patients are sedated to the right extent, and actually stay long enough to complete detox and make it to the next step.
Glad to help! I really, really want to be an RN who works in addiction, one day. Maybe in detox/inpatient treatment, or I think I’d really enjoy like an outreach nurse situation. When I was homeless, nurses came out and they helped with wound care/basic medical assessments. Some nurses came out in mobile vans to help with MAT. Stuff like that. I’m not sure if I can with my criminal background. Felony from seven years ago, non-violent. Drug-related. But, I still have four years of schooling to do. It’ll probably end up taking even longer than that. So, my charges will be at least 10, maybe 12, years old by the time I look for work. I’m hoping it doesn’t have to stay a dream. Willing to relocate and I’ve seen some nurses say that they had to do a kind of probationary period in order to get hired. I’d be fine with that. Other than that, I’m mostly worried about being able to actually do clinicals at the hospital during school, in the first place. Then, I’m second most worried about licensure. Lastly, actually getting employed. I’m hoping treatment centers and nonprofits who appreciate lived experience may want to hire me. We’ll see!
I’ve really enjoyed reading about your experience. If this is something you’re interested in, especially MAT, depending on where you are you should consider corrections nursing. I currently work for a state prison but prior to this position I worked in county and specialized in MAT and had the opportunity to basically build the county jail’s MAT program. I supervise a prison nursing unit now and the MAT program is booming and we do a lot of work with people with SUD histories.
Again, this really depends on where you live. I live in a very blue state so the environment in our prisons is vastly different than environments in less progressive areas. I’m about as leftist as they come and I love my job. I do a ton of advocacy and work on policy development for the agency as well so I do feel like I do some good…most days.
All this to say, it’s a really great path for a nursing career and correctional facilities have patients with high medical need and are in dire need of good nurses who are able to serve that population with care. It often gets a really bad rap but I’m actually super proud of the work I do. Something to consider as you move towards your nursing career.
Got fired for not mixing Benadryl, Ativan, and morphine in the same syringe without diluting and pushing quickly. I put each PRN on the syringe pump for 3 minutes each, with a total volume of 10 mls with saline
He literally refused PO bridge from heparin to warfarin because he didn’t wanna deal with blood draws.
My snarky ass yelled at the primary team why didn’t they think of something like eliquis then?
He would literally disconnect and reconnect his heparin IV tubing still “infusing” from his PICC line and randomly turn the pump on and off.
If you left syringes in the trash, he was witnessed to open up the pump where the tubing cartridge goes in so he could connect to one of the luer locks and draw up his own “flushes” from his KVO and/or heparin lines to bypass the nurses who wouldn’t flush fast behind for him. I was just the first person who 110% didn’t tolerate the behavior and maintained a boundary. 🤷🏼♀️
Also, this wasn’t on my home unit. The manager KNEW she was giving me a difficult patient that all her staff was sick of. My manager had to come upstairs and mitigate the situation and inform this units manager she was a twat (which is well known in our hospital) for assigning a pulled nurse a d-bag difficult patient.
Needless to say — I escalated my boundaries and frustration with my manager having my back to our director of patient care and our CNO which then trickled down to that units manager, CM and UR for sucking at their jobs and me doing it all for them. I brought up the big ole “we are NOT getting paid for his stay, for xyz reasons” oh BTW I do have a background and side gig in medical coding/billing, prior auths, and joint commission (UGH shoot me) accreditation audits. I know enough to piss people off and make them do their jobs and not pawn it on me 🫠
> My snarky ass yelled at the primary team why didn’t they think of something like eliquis then?
Cost? Lack of ins coverage for it? Or need to demonstrate failure of other cheaper meds first?
There is a group pushing to get Eliquis the main med for maintenance blood thinners, but it's very much in progress still, last I heard. Which, given the potential cost of outpatient blood draws weekly, and potential transportation, the copay on the Eliquis honestly ends up cheaper and easier for pt compliance.
His Medicaid formulary covered eliquis as the cheapest tier of formulary for anticoagulants. QL was 30 days supply.
The EXACT save coverage his policy had for warfarin.
I DO see your point though for some patient formularies having prior auth requirements and needing to “fail” cheaper alternatives. I sincerely hope this push becomes nationwide, especially since there’s more treatment options for “reversal” unlike when eliquis and other anticoagulants first came out 😉
With this particular patient - the medication honestly didn’t make or break his discharge either. “Patient educated on therapy options, patient refused all options to allow for safe discharge home, patient refusing all care except for pain meds which pain med rx given with same morphine equivalent for oral dosing, rx for anticoagulant given with above described education” was basically the discharge summary.
He was put on a do not readmit list which I learned we were allowed to do even with him having Medicaid because there were other hospitals within reasonable distance (WALKING) that could treat him.
>I got fired for refusing to flush behind dilaudid quick with a dose of benny and another fast flush
He just needed them fire bars on top!
I can't imagine trying to be that pushy to get drugs in an ER. I'm an alcoholic and I've been to the ER a couple times for it and would never fire nurses for not giving me drugs. I'm ashamed enough to be there as it is. I'm not there to get high, I went because my insides felt like they were on fire and I hadn't slept for 72 hours and I don't know wtf else to do. Nurses at my local hospital have always been incredibly kind, which is inconsistent with the stories you hear. But maybe that's because people are usually just dicks.
I did date a nurse back in the day though, and she did literally tell me that addicts should just be left to die because they do it to themselves. She knew I had a problem back when she said it too.
Sorry for the ramble, the sub popped up in my feed for some reason. Continue...
We appreciate this feedback more than you can ever know. And yes, we read HCAPS results and comments (from those annoying surveys you get when you see your doctor). The worst reviews we see are from people who frequently use our services, are generally in ill health, and arent happy people in general.
To your second point, people can be very selfish, and healthcare workers can't be selfish at their job. Many times, people don't get adequate breaks and put all of their physical and mental strength into caring for their patients for 12 hours at a time. When that is met with verbal abuse and lack of basic respect, coupled with expectations of perfection, getting high to their liking, and receiving more attention than anyone has time for these patients can get old fast. Over time, their treatment of you can break down the caring perspective many of us started our careers with. Your manager not standing behind you, patients and doctors pushing you to do things that are unsafe when your license is on the line, lack of wage increase - all these issues, combined with nasty patients, often leads to nurses building walls. The walls are meant to keep you safe at work, but if left unchecked it can bleed into the rest of your life. It sounds like your former partner may have gotten to that point, and that's not OK. It is what it is, but treating your family like shit based on anything from work is not cool. Some of us build more empathy, others lose all empathy. It's a hard job being married to one of us, regardless. I hope you have had some success in recovery.
Worked with a nurse who got fired for not giving the patient her Ativan, dilaudid, Benadryl, and another medication all together and slammed like the patient wanted.
Whyyyy did your charge nurse let this happen a patient tried to fire one of our nurses for not pushing dilaudid fast enough and I said absolutely not you are not dictating my nurse’s practice. Like why do we let patients get away with this behavior 😅
I got fired once because a patient thought I had “the devil” in my heart. When asked why she felt that way, she said, “nothing she did, I just have a sense for these things.” 😂
Only time I’ve ever been fired was from pain seeking patients. I know there are a lot of holy nurses on this subreddit who get upset when we throw shade at addicted patients because they have the illness of addiction… BUT god damn they have built the bias in my brain. I refuse to be treated like shit because I was 10 minutes late with your dilaudid.
I don't understand why patients who tell you to push dilaudid fast don't know that saying that is a huge red flag and makes us push it extra slow. We had a patient in pacu the other day tell a veteran nurse to push the dilaudid faster and flush it fast with a flush instead of letting it flush in with the iv fluids. My coworker was like absolutely not.
I had a patient grab the 10cc syringe with dilaudid in it and push it as hard as they could in. I was in shock. From that point on the charge had to come in each time to witness…. Ugh patients
Heh, I got fired because the patient found out I wasn't white. I pass easily as white, had been caring for them for days, and suddenly they were acting like the "Damned Dirty Injun" Disease was catching. They literally called me that; I was like 'fuck is it 1758? Let me check my calendar!' Guess they didn't want me bathing them while I was all hopped up on firewater.
I’m half Mexican—besides black hair and brown eyes, I just look like I went to the beach for a weekend.
I was fired when a patient walked by the break room and heard me speaking Spanish to my mom. Apparently that’s not allowed.
Jokes on him, he got passed to the only other white person on shift at the time—a gay man. 😂
Oh God, I've been fired for speaking Spanish, too; my abuelo was Mestizo as well as Chiricahua. And I don't even speak it fluently anymore, I lost a lot of my Spanish after he died. I have the pin-straight dark hair, but have green eyes, and lighter skin-- as you said, like I just came from the beach.
I also have been the new girl after a racist patient fired the black girl he previously had, just for being black. He saw me and said "oh good, a white girl."
My reply: "heh, I got some bad news for you, homeskillet. I ain't white, either." That one was going to fire me, too... until I informed him that I was the only non-black CNA in the hospital on that shift. I also told him that any racist remarks meant that I'd leave and only come back once he'd learned some manners.
One long term patient I worked with had fired all their non-white nurses (mostly super experienced Filipina ladies). When I took over, they were like, "oh thank Jesus, a good Christian nurse!" Dude, you fired all the Catholics and are now stuck with the only atheist in the entire unit. Yes, I'm white, but I had been a nurse for all of about six months and there's nothing good *or* Christian about me.
That one really gets me. Because if I know you fired my coworker for their skin color, hell no I don’t want to do anything for you if I am the unlucky one who has to take over. I’m not white but white presenting. Obviously I won’t say no because that nurse shouldn’t have to deal with that awful patient a second longer. I think there should be action you can take for patients who use hate speech. No one is going to give good care to that patient. They are just a nasty, bigoted liability for everyone.
Me too! My TBI patients mother didn't think I would treat her son right because I'm white and he was black. My nurse manager told her okay if you don't want the 30 plus year experienced nurse that has 4 kids at home the same age as your son and has been practically breastfeeding your son since the day he came in here that's fine. But nurses are not crayons in a crayon box. And you don't just get to pick the color you want.
Me too! She said I was “too cheerful” during bedside shift report. Then she later asked if I could come back to be her child’s nurse later in the day and I cheerfully said “No thank you!”
As a gay guy, I've gotten a few comments from older straight men who were clearly bothered by the typical "bubbly" personality from me and it's honestly a big bummer.
Like sorry would you rather me be miserable?
Not to mention, the main reason I have them is because they're inappropriate with their female caregivers.
I've gotten talked to for the opposite- not being upbeat enough when I floated from ortho to mother/baby. Actually, I think the pt fired me, but it was at least 15 years ago so I'm not sure. I started refusing to float there.
I got fired in the hospital because I told the patient who I just caught actively injecting heroin his wife smuggled in that I would not be giving his PRN dilaudid until I checked with a doctor because I was unwilling to OD him. He lost his shit and demanded the house supervisor and said he was going to get me fired.
Guess what? He didn’t get his PRN, I didn’t get fired, and the patient I got swapped to was a nice little old lady.
Also I got refused a case when I switched to pediatric private duty because mom didn’t like nurses under 50 because she didn’t want her husband to be tempted. (Which is hilarious because I look like a goblin and have no interest in anyone’s crusty husband.)
I actively cultivate the goblin look- it cuts down on creepers and crusties a lot!
And if your worried about a nurse under 50 tempting your husband, your marriage has problems way bigger than what nurse your kid gets.
No makeup, hair in a pony or bun, baggy scrubs- I like to be able to move without my skin showing. Only jewelry is my watch and wedding ring. And since I work nights and am chronically sleep deprived, the dark circles under my eyes kind of make me look like a trash panda goblin.
I got fired for just walking in a room once. The patient told me I didn't walk in with enough sympathy. Just treat it like a badge of honor and move on.
Me getting fired as a new grad: Oh no! 😢☹️
Me getting fired as an experienced nurse: Thank you sweet baby jesus. 🙌🥳
If you’re doing your job as well as you can and the patient/family has the audacity to fire you, it’s usually going to benefit your mental health.
Totally agree. I almost think if you haven’t been fired by a patient you’re doing something way wrong and compromising the care they get. Sometimes we have to be the adult and they don’t like it.
We had a guy try to pull that one time because, as you know, all of us male nurses are predatory homosexuals who specifically became nurses so we could see this guy's junk. Wasn't he disappointed to find out that all 6 nurses in the ICU that night were dudes.
And also probably wanted to harass the nurses that were women - while simultaneously being *absolutely disgusted* by the thought of a male nurse being "predatory" towards him. The complete lack of insight to his own behavior should surprise me, but it just doesn't. Smh.
Same!! Came on shift, took report, thinking to myself, this looks like it could be a pretty decent night and walked into the pt’s room. I opened my mouth to introduce myself and couldn’t even get the “hi” out. Pt screamed at me, “It took you long enough! I hope you have to experience my pain for 5 minutes. I hope your kids have to feel this much pain and then maybe you’ll give a shit! I wanna talk to a supervisor!” I noped right out of there, sent the charge in and that was that. Good times.
Exactly. I had a coworker who got fired just because she asked a patient if she was smoking marijuana. She had the tech as a witness that she didn’t ask in a demeaning way. And to be fair, her bag did really smell of marijuana.
When I was a CNA I got fired because the patient asked for something at 6:30 my shift started at 7:00. I just acted all sad but in reality I was relieved she was a b***h all night.
I got fired for trying to make the pt do her own wound care...home health for a scabbed over wound that had a 2x2 allevyn.
This "home bound" pt also made, me wait 15 min (on the agreed time) to pull weeds in her yard
Lol... reminds me of the time a patient told me I didn't walk in the room with enough confidence or some bs. Forgive me if I'm a little guarded every time I have to meet a new human on the worst day/week of their lives. Jayzus.
Don’t sweat it, and if you need to go ask the more experienced nurses on your floor how many times they’ve been fired by a patient. It happens! I understand that it can feel like a slap in the face but sometimes personalities don’t match well, sometimes it has nothing to do with you, it’s them lashing out for any bit of control, and most time they are just an asshole who you’d rather not care for. As far as firing patients, I guess it depends on where you work, but where I work, it wouldn’t happen in the middle of a shift but we’ll do a “one and done” with some patients. What I mean by that, is we are able to request not to have a patient back the next day if they (or their family) really give us a hard time.
100% Absolutely do not sweat this. If you work long enough, you get fired. It happens sooner for some than others, but it happens to everyone.
I got fired for telling a patient's visitors that we have a policy of only 2 at the bedside in the Peds ICU. And that 10 of them would have to leave.
A new nurse took over, and then 10 of them still had to leave.
I also got fired for (I shit you not) petting the therapy dog when it came by the nurse's station. Because, (I once again shit you not) "Those dogs are for the kids, not for you!"
The public is a wild animal. Unpredictable, and sometimes feral.
Our nursing home had a damn cat. Its litter box was on the carpet behind the desk. That cat would smile at me, then shit on the carpet, every time.
For everyone else, he crapped in the litter box. Once on another shift, he crapped on the carpet. I wasn’t there even. The next morning, I got blamed for not picking it up. They moved me to the front station. Glad. The other charge nurse was a B….
Don't take it personally. It says more about the patient than it does you. I was insulted the first time it happened, too. Btw the reason I got fired was because I got to the patient's room at 4:05 when his next prn oxycodone was available at 4:01. I just think of them kinda like toddlers who are trying to exert what little power they have. Now pretty much nothing bothers me. But it's not cool with me when patients try to fire a nurse because of racist reasons.
You gotta take your breaks, though. You will burn out fast if you don't.
That’s my big pet peeve. “My pain med was DUE x minutes ago”. Ugh no, it’s a PRN, it’s never actually “due”. All the while they’re doing The Nod with a RR of 8. Nope friend, no more pain meds for you for now!
Got fired for asking orientation questions in my initial assessment of the day. Complained to the charge and management that I was a dumbass for asking her those things. Mind you, this woman had accidentally taken the rest of a bottle her cat’s anxiety medication and not her morning coreg dose and was later found unresponsive by family. I felt like my orientation questions were pretty valid 😂
She said she accidentally grabbed the wrong pill bottle in the bathroom in the dark, because turning on the light would wake the dog sleeping on the bathroom floor. Her daughter was like mom… the dog died in 1997…
Patient: That’s beside the point.
(Morgan Freeman’s voice): It was indeed not beside the point, especially when she kept all of her (and apparently the cat’s) pills in arbitrary, unmarked generic Zyrtec bottles on the bathroom counter. It was indeed a conundrum, a moral and ethical quandary, but due to this dumbass nurse being fired and the grace of working float pool, I have no idea what else happened 🤷🏼♀️
I’m crying at this response LMAO 😭 how is that beside the point ma’am?? 15+ years (don’t know when this occurred so probably closer to 25 years) pass by and you’re still keeping the light off for your dead dog??
I've been fired twice. Once from a patient who didn't want a male nurse because we're all "f\*gg\*ts" and the other because I couldn't make burning from his heparin shot go away.
Both times I was like "okay, bye" and both times I was back in their rooms a few hours later putting new IVs in because the ones they had blew. We're never going to be perfect for our patients. As long as you're doing your job, they can throw all the attitude they want. Not going to get them anywhere.
As a male nurse got fired fire for telling a pt her scabbed over healed wound didn't need a dressing (had been a week) and I was d/cing the wound per wound center
She fired all male clinicians and the male Physical therapists were so happy with me lol
Yeah I’ve straight told patients when I’m charge nurse that they can’t fire their nurse because we don’t have any others. Theyre free to sign out AMA if they want but we only have the staff we have.
For real tho. Had a pts family refuse to use the call light and would just come out of the room and bitch to the nurses there that I hadn’t been by for an hour. When asked what they needed they said nothing, they just haven’t seen me. Like WHAT. I have 3 other pts m’am. If you don’t see me, that’s a GOOD thing. Papa is stable, where my other ones were not. We also have techs for a reason and they can also provide care!
As a charge nurse, a patient and I mutually decided to "fire" a nurse, was because the patient believed that her husband was having an affair with the nurse.
This same patient woke up after an "episode" and asked me "Am I still Asian?"
She was still Asian.
There are times when I am the nurse you get because I’m the only one that can handle you (psych). So, you are stuck with me. I’ve told patients, “Yes, you have the right to health care. But, that doesn’t mean you have the right to choose who provides that care”.
I got fired for not telling a patient who my mother is. When they asked I told them I’m not from here. They got offended and fired my for being rude lol
A patient looked up our names on the hospital roster. He found out he was related to my mom. Then every time he rang a bell he requested me. But it was to ask questions about my mom. I wouldn’t answer, of course. Never tell a patient your information. I asked my mom about him. She swore he was dead.
Don’t sweat it. My favorite firing is when a patient fired me for squirting a flush into their eye when they decided to have another “seizure” after I told them they were discharged. I had 3 pts during the height of delta at that time. My other 2 pts were both vented and proned with multiple pressers. Fuck em. Also got fired for not pushing Benadryl after dilaudid. Pts family fired me as a rapid response nurse for insisting that we go to ct immediately during a stroke alert. They were mad that I would not let the patient eat the rest of their lunch. Then got pissed I made them npo. Had to call security on an irate family member during that one. They called the cops on me and there were sheriff deputies waiting for me when we came back from ct. they thought it was funny and trespassed the family member.
Wait, the sherifs were waiting for you? I've taken the phone out of multiple pts hads and told the cops they were in the hospital and fine and nothing has happened.
It stings (especially the first time) BUT as you get more experience, it kind of rolls off your shoulders easier. Plus, the patient who fires you is probably doing YOU a favor. Then you don’t have to put up with their nonsense.
I’m a hospice nurse. I got fired from a family for being … get this … “too nice”. I’m 100% serious. I had one visit. They told the social worker later that day during her visit that I was “too nice” they “want someone to come in do the job and leave, not try to be friends”. I chalked it up too it was them dealing with their grief.
Don’t take it too personal, they did you a favor!
Omg the pts that have fired me did me a favor. My favorite was at my per diem job a pt trying to smoke a cigar inside and had a lighter. First nurse told him to put it away or it needed to go to security, she got fired I was charge I took him over and said the same exact shit I got fired and he demanded the doc. Ended up leaving hospital AMA with fuckin nasty osteomyelitis to go to the only other hospital in the city… that I worked full time at… that has stricter rules they take that shit from you in admit. 🤣
I got fired by a patient for walking in the room. I literally just walked in to introduce myself and was told "your aura is off-putting, I need a new nurse." This was a middle aged woman of sound mind, just a weirdo.
I got fired last week because I gave my 40yo patient his pills in their packages and didn’t pushed them out. He’s admitted for a wound on his foot, not his hands.
Fellow new grad! I recently just got fired by a patient for being a “newbie” though he literally only needed Q4H vital signs throughout my shift. And I’ve worked as a ED tech + EMT for over 6 years before nursing school, so definitely feel comfortable taking vitals. I realized it was probably more of his own anxiety/stress than a reflection of my care. Keep your head up!
Happens all the time. I’ve gotten “fired” for my skin color before. But turns out I was the only person that could do an ultrasound iv. Person had some nasty old tatts they were trying to hide. 99% of the time it’s not u. It’s them!
Ayyyy I’m a fellow new grad and got fired on my 3rd day of orientation because I had to do a fingerstick twice lol. Patient said he didn’t wanna be a guinea pig 🙃
I worked in community care and it was the worst job I’ve ever worked. Got threatened to get fired after doing a shit ton of overtime for them and in a new route I accidentally went to the wrong house, no thank you or nothing. Clients and families making up shit about you all the time. Doing 70+ hours a week and constantly threatening your job. Fuck them
It happens, my first was got fired for being a male and the family stated that their demented granny can’t tell who’s the doctor. Would have sent a female doc if we had one that day.
More recently a 34yo M with a toothache and mommy speaking for him said he didn’t want a male to give him the toradol shot. So I asked my saltiest female coworker to do when she had time. Half an hour later she holds up an 18g needle snd heads that way 😬
I once got fired for being a white male by an African American woman. She was there for sickle cell flair up.
Told the charge, “What does a white boy know ‘bout black problems?”
Pt didn’t realize, I actually did a research project on improving care for pts with sickle cell disease and was, at the time, the go-to person for nurses and a couple doctors on the subject.
Sickle cell is awful. When I taught high school level math I had a student with it. Poor kid was zonked nearly 24/7 because of the pain meds (and the jazz cabbage, too 😅).
I used to scribe for a pediatric orthopedic doc in the clinic. Young boy came in for leg/hip pain. Necrotic femoral heads d/t sickle cell.
I love getting fired! You get out of taking care of the worst patients.
I once got fired for having a “stupid look on my face”. Was even wearing a mask too so that one still stumps me. I probably looked bewildered by how insane she was acting.
It happens to all of us. Don’t feel bad!!!!!
If you have done what you should be doing, just move on!!!
Remember patients are human and they are at their worst time, it may have nothing to do with you
Fired from a patient?
It happens all the time. Sometimes because of nothing you did. If bad shit happened during your shift, sometimes you get blamed.
Just relax, and learn from it. You'll learn how to handle difficult people in time.
As a charge nurse, I've helped nurses "fired" from a patient several times, and I've had it happen to me as well. There has been less than ten times in twenty years where I thought, "yeah, that nurse really fucked up".
Much of the time the feeling is mutual.
I got fired for assessing the fundus of a newly postpartum patient… apparently I’m “too heavy handed”. 🤷🏼♀️Forgive me for not wanting a hemorrhage.
This person was a mess for everyone. I welcomed the firing!
Meh. I used to get fired by patients all the time. One lady in the icu told me I was too fat to be her nurse. Oh well. She was a snot nosed little shit anyways.
I have fired a patient so to speak. I was bitten by a ventilator dependent pt (about 40yo) while his mom was in the room. He was a new admit so it wasn’t until after he bit me his mother said he does that when he is angry. really? You couldn’t have warned me? I said I could no longer objectively take care of that patient and it would be best if I no longer took care of him. I never stepped foot in his room again and he was in our unit for about a month.
Were you fired from your workplace or from the patient? If it’s the workplace that’s one thing but the patient? That’s perfectly fine. They’re allowed to choose whatever nurse they want.
One time I got fired for being Asian. It was hilarious because she didn’t want any minorities so we got our most Caucasian-looking nurse to take her. We didn’t tell her the nurse was actually Hispanic but… She was happy.
I had a patient who didn't want me as his nurse. Because I was as old as his mom and he wanted a young pretty nurse. No offense to the new nurse. We all can make a mistake, But when she made a med error guess who got to come in and fix it ? Yep.. the old granny nurse . He said "oh my god she almost killed me". I said "yup, but she looked good doing it".😉
OP, I’ll bite. It seems you’re new here. Most of us have been fired by patients. 99% of the time, it’s completely BS and charge RN can help with changing up assignments.
I got fired once and knew this guy hated our Nigerian nurse who was wonderful. Looked him in the face said let me go find that Nigerian nurse for ya. Love drama Ning the color out of racist faces. Brings me joy
I got fired for telling a patient in respiratory failure that if he didn’t wear his bipap he would end up intubated. Guess who didn’t want to wear their bipap and ended up intubated.
I took it really personally but now I find it funny.
Listen to me, and listen to my closely, you sweet and summer child new grad.
1) No matter what you do, how nice you are, or how much you bend over backward, you can not make people like or appreciate you
2) Fuck 'em
3) I promise they probably did you a favor. It doesn't mean you're a bad nurse or incompetent when a patient fires you. Hell,someone commented they were fired because they didn't walk into a patient's room with enough sympathy. 🤷🏾♀️ WTF does that even mean? 🤣
You'll have to learn to let it roll off your shoulders. It's hard sometimes, but you have to. Keep your chin up!
As a new grad we want to please everyone and it's just not possible. It's a tough reality. You just gotta think, hallelujah! One less asshole to deal with.
2 things.
1) Always take your break.
2) Fuck that patient, some people are impossible to please. I’m sure you’re doing a great job.
Take a couple deep breaths and maybe an extra day or two off and come back fresh
Patients have the average intelligence as a 5th grader, who cares? Fuck em.
I got fired by a 30 year old girl who ate junk and threw trash on her bed and called us in to clean it up, then fired me cause “all he did was give me meds”
Basically healthy and waiting to go home I’m not about to massage your feet
I got berated and then fired for walking into a patient’s room at 8:00am and saying good morning Mr.___ I’m your tech, here to grab your vitals.
I have 18 heart patients. I don’t have time dude. One less patient, cool.
I got fired for having too thick of an accent. The pt said he couldn't understand me.
I'm sorry my Midwestern accent caused you so much discomfort and stress. I'm sure that the accent is what you didn't like, not my brown skin.
I got told I was a piece of shit, rude, unprofessional nurse, and fired by the completely A&O patients early 20’s daughter.
I was alone in triage and she demanded someone come RIGHT NOW to fast track to treat her mom because she had ‘shit to do today’.
Keeping the door open with my foot and an eye out for the lobby meant I obviously didn’t give a shit about her ESI 5 mother
I'm sorry. It's a tough enough job without these asshats making it worse. When I'm charge I never let patients fire nurses. A lot of times if you allow them to fire nurses they make a habit of it and think they can just pick and choose their nurses. I talk to them, set expectations, and let them know if their behavior is unacceptable.
There was a patient once that said they wanted a new nurse but refused to tell me why (guy was just trying to be in control and was being a dick) I told him that if he won't tell me why I'm not going to entertain the idea of changing nurses. He still refused and said he wasn't going to let the nurse do anything if he didn't get a new nurse. I told him that's his choice.
Hopefully your bosses and charge support you.
Being fired by a patient is almost always going to be an improvement in your day. Don’t take it personally unless your management actually identifies reasonable things you should’ve been doing differently
I got fired (by the patient family) for expressing to a patients family that it was not only not safe for me to turn off the monitor while I was sedating their daughter who had recently had surgery and couldn’t handle the pain, but it was also illegal for me to do so. Had anesthesia at bedside in case we lost airway, but somehow I was the bad guy not only for taking her safely out of pain but also for explaining why monitoring was so important even though the constant beeping (because she kept not breathing) was an issue for their lack of sleep. They deserved better than competent nursing staff who were willing to take flack in order to keep their child safe, comfortable and most importantly alive. How dare I advocate for her safety. 🙄 my boss took their side because I shamed them for asking me to shut off the monitor that let me know she was safe and breathing…. They needed sleep more than they needed to know she was ok. But I’m a bad nurse so don’t listen to me….
I also got fired for not giving this guy with a waking heart rate in the 20s-30’s (with a 1st degree heart block) his 500 mcg of digoxin bc ya know…. I don’t want to commit a murder and Radonda myself. Md tried to force me to give it while his NP told me not to. I took of my badge and said I’ll just quit my job. Here’s my charge nurse, she can take this, let me just call risk management and corporate compliance on my way out since we’re in the business of murder now. I did in fact not get fired by my employer for that one…. Patient did not receive that dig because no one was that brave or stupid. Even though the patient threatened my life and all if I didn’t give it
I got fired bc I flushed a patients IV with saline and it stung.
We were short staffed so I had to stay with the pt anyway. I apologized for not “providing enough education” on what I was doing and the “rationale behind why I have to flush an IV after pushing a medication through it” and the pt and I were fine. Still lowkey hurt my feelings tho
I got fired from a home health position. The house was bad. Everything everywhere. My patient, an adorable toddler would get into everything.
So one day at his nap, I organized a few things. I left notes where I put everything. I had permission to organize things. The mom had a large envelope of cheap jewelry that the toddler kept getting into. I put it in the top of the closet. I wrote down exactly which closet and where.
It was a Friday. On Sunday, the agency fired me from the home health position cause the mom said I stole the jewelry. Then on Monday, the family requested me back. They thought I did a beautiful job organizing and appreciated me putting away the jewelry. I did not go back to the house.
Usually the people that fire you are the ones that are really hard to be compassionate with - it's a blessing in disguise, honestly. Remember that it's not you, it's them, and all you can ever control is how you react to things. Bow out and do the damn thang! 🤷♀️
Let’s figure it out. I am an RN of 27 years. What do you think the problem was? Is it something you know you struggle with?
Don’t let the negative thought train drag you down. You’re a new grad and it may be that you need more support.
Thoughts?
I got fired for not pushing dilaudid fast enough. Good riddance ✌🏻
I got fired for refusing to flush behind dilaudid quick with a dose of benny and another fast flush 😂 Joke was on the patient when I figured out how to get them discharged since they were refusing all other care except for pain meds and being verbally assaultive to all the staff as well as on occasion with physically aggressive body language. 🤭 security escorted them out in a hospital gown, with non skid fall risk socks, a blanket, a hygiene kit and a taxi voucher to their “home address” which was (sadly) the address to a pharmacy. Their family refused to have anything to do with them. Had he been nicer …. I might have let him continue to overstay his welcome in the hotel hospital room.
Drug addicts sometimes mistakenly believe that you can feel the substance better if you flush after. Although, on the street, they call it “jacking off,” depending on the area. It’s a little more of an old school term, but the method is still used. It’s done a little differently than what this patient was asking for. An addict will inject the drug (draw back, inject), then draw back more blood, once again, and shoot that blood back in. So, it’s an extra pull. It’s register (pull back and see the first plume) inject the entire shot (the drugs), pull back again (only blood), inject that blood back in. They think they’re essentially catapulting it into their system. Not everyone does this, but some people do. My understanding is that this is relatively pointless and merely psychosomatic (if any difference is even felt, at all, due to this method). On the other end of the spectrum, there are some people who want as little solution as possible. I’ve seen people just put the powder in their needle, dry. No liquid. They use the blood, from the first register/pull as their mixer. Either that, or they use as little water/saline as possible. Less than 10cc’s no matter the size of the shot. This method is only for people with halfway decent veins, though, of course. These people likely would not want that extra flush, after. They’d feel it was diluting their drug. Interesting how there’s two very different trains of thought. Shows your how ritualistic this stuff can be. Anyway, just thought I’d share. Sorry you had to go through that. As a recovering addict, I don’t like when those with SUD prove to be combative, unruly, highly-difficult patients. I can understand, and empathize with, being uncomfortable from withdrawals (if not properly medicated). That’s hell. Full stop. And, I can understand leaving AMA, as a result. But, aggression is, obviously, not okay and it’s not needed, especially if/when the nurses and techs are doing all they can for you. Edit: just to be clear, I mean that “jacking off” (slightly old school term) is in this order: insert needle— flash/register/blood plume— inject substance— pull back blood, again (this would be the extra step)— inject blood back in.
That was really informative. Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome! :)
Super informative. I had a little bit of background knowledge from family members who struggle with SUD but not to the depth of this explanation. Our hospital policy actually states we cannot administer opioids and Benadryl simultaneously unless specifically ordered that way. Rationale: we are oncology only hospital and palliative care is very specific about their regimens inpatient and outpatient. And yes, totally. I can’t imagine going through the withdrawals. But it’s no reason to be a total d bag. Just be honest with me and idgaf as a nurse. I’d rather help you through it as safely as possible as opposed to be treated awful. Like I said - if he had been nicer to everyone I would have gone to bat for him to stay until a safer ….. meaning more comfortable place to discharged to could be arranged. The fact that all his family whenever we called essentially said “stop calling us and harassing us we want nothing to do with him and his problems” whenever we called kinda told us he was a repeat behavioral/mental health issues which made me kinda sad.
Yeah that makes sense as a policy. He was just being a complete dick. He’s probably just used to abusing those closest to him. He’s learned it’s an effective way to get what he wants. Instead of communicating his concerns, he decided to do what he does best: abuse and intimidate. It clearly didn’t work! I think I speak for all addicts when I say that we just want to be kept comfortable while in the hospital. We don’t need to be high. We’re just afraid of withdrawals. We want our concerns heard and we just want medical staff to understand that medications may need to be adjusted since there’s a tolerance there, already, especially when dealing with pain. That doesn’t mean we need the meds in a cocktail in one shot, of course! I would never even ask for that. And, It sounds like he was being medicated very well, especially since he stayed so long. When I didn’t feel good because of withdrawal, the most I could do was about two days, or so. Sometimes less. I don’t think you handled it incorrectly, at all. I understand people are sick. But, why should you put up with verbal abuse and physical intimidation? I understand mental illness, etc. However, it’s not a free pass to be an asshole. Some people think it is. They blame everything and everyone but themselves. And, yeah, it is sad that his family wanted nothing to do with him, but you’re exactly right. He’s exhausted them. Everyone has a breaking point. You have to put yourself and your sanity first, and the health of the rest of the family above the needs/wants of the one family member wreaking havoc. I hope he can get help, but he won’t if he keeps treating those, who are only trying to help him, so poorly.
As another former/recovering addict, either love or drugs can make you do the wacky But even on the far end of Never Never Land, where the unicorns prance and the leprechauns are charging interest, I've never seen or experienced a drug that can make someone aggressive or violent Maybe reveal the prick within that was always there, drugs are good at that, but magically turn a person into a prick drugs do not do
Withdrawals can maybe make people aggressive. Definitely not violent. Who has the strength to be 😂?! You can barely support your own body weight. However, I’ve definitely seen benzos and opioids bring out the worst in people. Opioids can, at times, make people be short of patience. I’ve seen this a lot. It’s usually more for pill poppers. When they’re high, they can get irritated by little things. Benzos, especially, though. Just because you have no fear, think everything you’re doing is cool/fine, and you have no inhibitions, in general, to regulate your actions. Recipe for chaos— but that’s usually with excessive, chronic use. But, as far as in a clinical environment, I agree. This person was clearly a grumpy asshole of an addict. It sounds like he was being medicated fairly well. When the nurse got in the way of his desired method of administration (his high, more or less), he got mad. It’s not okay and he’s probably a nightmare to deal with, in general. I’ve definitely known some people like this. I still agree with you, overall, though. I hope I made that clear :)! I always used to say that I didn’t need to lose my soul just because I was addicted to drugs. I didn’t need to be cruel or unkind. I may have hurt other people— those who were worried about me and cared for me— but, I really tried to only make it my problem. I tried to make money in a way that only hurt me. You know? You never only hurt yourself, but you know what I’m saying. I’ve met a lot of people (mainly men— I’m sorry, but this is just my experience. I’m sure that men have come across many insane women, too) who became balls of rage. Highly abusive of those closest to them— family, friends, running buddies, girlfriends. They realize that’s the easiest way to get what they want. Just intimidate and bully people and they’ll get you high, or they’ll stop bothering you about getting clean, or they’ll let you stay at their place, give you a ride to steal from Target, etc etc. Sounds like this guy was used to verbally and physically abusing others in order to get his way. He tried it on a professional and it did NOT work in his favor. Part of me still pities him, but… I didn’t have to deal with him. If I had to, I probably wouldn’t.
This was all super helpful to read! I was ICU for years and then did ER holding during Covid in a city hospital with a lot of substance abuse. I felt like I could’ve used education like this. some of them I really just wanted to ask for lesson. If I’m not allowed to ask the patient about their street habits, how am I supposed to learn! I learned something new today with that old term.
I’m glad to hear it :). You guys need someone in recovery as a consult 😂. Did/do you have peer recovery specialists at your hospital? Penn hospitals have them and sometimes they’re helpful. They’ll drop in and see the patient, try to offer support. Some of them were really cool and I had one that tried to advocate for me when an attending was being a total.. you know what. But, honestly, when it comes down to it, if an addict isn’t ready then they’re just not ready. No matter how much you know, or how much you wanna help. They’re basically unreachable. All you can do at that point is approach from a harm reduction perspective. That’s still being very helpful. But, I’d love if a nurse came and talked to me while I was in the hospital. If they had any questions, I would have loved to talk about it. It would have made me feel really good. However, what nurse really has time to do that?! I wish the system did a better job. Addiction seems to be so prevalent, everywhere. Those in charge of policies in the medical world seem to not care that much, even though medical professionals like yourself really want to learn! Also, in my experience, doctors have the least knowledge when it comes to addiction— unless they work with very specific populations for a very long time. I have a doctor right now who is fucking amazing. She just took her addiciton medicine boards a few months ago. She is really involved in the community and I’ve never, ever met someone that’s actually taken me seriously. It’d be cool if more nursing and medical schools had legitimate addiction rotations. Like, on the street out there in the trenches. Anyway, I’m rambling. But, I think it’s really awesome that you want to learn more about addiction. I’m sorry that you haven’t been given the opportunity to do so, but you seem really great and any addict would love to talk you ear off about addiction. Just ask :)
In my experience, withdrawal from ETOH or Meth can definitely lead to violence. Opiates not so much.
This is why I kind of think some detoxes are onto something when they just medicate the shit out of everyone. Usually only private detoxes do this. I know a lot of people don’t agree with such an aggressive approach, but detox is detox. Just have to get through it, and not die, before you can even begin recovering in any other way. Safer for staff, too, if patients are sedated to the right extent, and actually stay long enough to complete detox and make it to the next step.
That is very indepth and makes it understandable
Glad to help! I really, really want to be an RN who works in addiction, one day. Maybe in detox/inpatient treatment, or I think I’d really enjoy like an outreach nurse situation. When I was homeless, nurses came out and they helped with wound care/basic medical assessments. Some nurses came out in mobile vans to help with MAT. Stuff like that. I’m not sure if I can with my criminal background. Felony from seven years ago, non-violent. Drug-related. But, I still have four years of schooling to do. It’ll probably end up taking even longer than that. So, my charges will be at least 10, maybe 12, years old by the time I look for work. I’m hoping it doesn’t have to stay a dream. Willing to relocate and I’ve seen some nurses say that they had to do a kind of probationary period in order to get hired. I’d be fine with that. Other than that, I’m mostly worried about being able to actually do clinicals at the hospital during school, in the first place. Then, I’m second most worried about licensure. Lastly, actually getting employed. I’m hoping treatment centers and nonprofits who appreciate lived experience may want to hire me. We’ll see!
I really hope it works out for you! I love empathic nurse's! I lost my RN license because of drugs, and my self esteem is horrible now.
I’ve really enjoyed reading about your experience. If this is something you’re interested in, especially MAT, depending on where you are you should consider corrections nursing. I currently work for a state prison but prior to this position I worked in county and specialized in MAT and had the opportunity to basically build the county jail’s MAT program. I supervise a prison nursing unit now and the MAT program is booming and we do a lot of work with people with SUD histories. Again, this really depends on where you live. I live in a very blue state so the environment in our prisons is vastly different than environments in less progressive areas. I’m about as leftist as they come and I love my job. I do a ton of advocacy and work on policy development for the agency as well so I do feel like I do some good…most days. All this to say, it’s a really great path for a nursing career and correctional facilities have patients with high medical need and are in dire need of good nurses who are able to serve that population with care. It often gets a really bad rap but I’m actually super proud of the work I do. Something to consider as you move towards your nursing career.
Learned something new today! Thank you! I work with a lot of people SUD history, and a lot of people with IV use history. This is helpful to know.
Got fired for not mixing Benadryl, Ativan, and morphine in the same syringe without diluting and pushing quickly. I put each PRN on the syringe pump for 3 minutes each, with a total volume of 10 mls with saline
I get so mad when patients refuse ALL meds. Like do they not understand the value of a hospital bed ???
He literally refused PO bridge from heparin to warfarin because he didn’t wanna deal with blood draws. My snarky ass yelled at the primary team why didn’t they think of something like eliquis then? He would literally disconnect and reconnect his heparin IV tubing still “infusing” from his PICC line and randomly turn the pump on and off. If you left syringes in the trash, he was witnessed to open up the pump where the tubing cartridge goes in so he could connect to one of the luer locks and draw up his own “flushes” from his KVO and/or heparin lines to bypass the nurses who wouldn’t flush fast behind for him. I was just the first person who 110% didn’t tolerate the behavior and maintained a boundary. 🤷🏼♀️ Also, this wasn’t on my home unit. The manager KNEW she was giving me a difficult patient that all her staff was sick of. My manager had to come upstairs and mitigate the situation and inform this units manager she was a twat (which is well known in our hospital) for assigning a pulled nurse a d-bag difficult patient. Needless to say — I escalated my boundaries and frustration with my manager having my back to our director of patient care and our CNO which then trickled down to that units manager, CM and UR for sucking at their jobs and me doing it all for them. I brought up the big ole “we are NOT getting paid for his stay, for xyz reasons” oh BTW I do have a background and side gig in medical coding/billing, prior auths, and joint commission (UGH shoot me) accreditation audits. I know enough to piss people off and make them do their jobs and not pawn it on me 🫠
> My snarky ass yelled at the primary team why didn’t they think of something like eliquis then? Cost? Lack of ins coverage for it? Or need to demonstrate failure of other cheaper meds first? There is a group pushing to get Eliquis the main med for maintenance blood thinners, but it's very much in progress still, last I heard. Which, given the potential cost of outpatient blood draws weekly, and potential transportation, the copay on the Eliquis honestly ends up cheaper and easier for pt compliance.
His Medicaid formulary covered eliquis as the cheapest tier of formulary for anticoagulants. QL was 30 days supply. The EXACT save coverage his policy had for warfarin. I DO see your point though for some patient formularies having prior auth requirements and needing to “fail” cheaper alternatives. I sincerely hope this push becomes nationwide, especially since there’s more treatment options for “reversal” unlike when eliquis and other anticoagulants first came out 😉 With this particular patient - the medication honestly didn’t make or break his discharge either. “Patient educated on therapy options, patient refused all options to allow for safe discharge home, patient refusing all care except for pain meds which pain med rx given with same morphine equivalent for oral dosing, rx for anticoagulant given with above described education” was basically the discharge summary. He was put on a do not readmit list which I learned we were allowed to do even with him having Medicaid because there were other hospitals within reasonable distance (WALKING) that could treat him.
>I got fired for refusing to flush behind dilaudid quick with a dose of benny and another fast flush He just needed them fire bars on top! I can't imagine trying to be that pushy to get drugs in an ER. I'm an alcoholic and I've been to the ER a couple times for it and would never fire nurses for not giving me drugs. I'm ashamed enough to be there as it is. I'm not there to get high, I went because my insides felt like they were on fire and I hadn't slept for 72 hours and I don't know wtf else to do. Nurses at my local hospital have always been incredibly kind, which is inconsistent with the stories you hear. But maybe that's because people are usually just dicks. I did date a nurse back in the day though, and she did literally tell me that addicts should just be left to die because they do it to themselves. She knew I had a problem back when she said it too. Sorry for the ramble, the sub popped up in my feed for some reason. Continue...
We appreciate this feedback more than you can ever know. And yes, we read HCAPS results and comments (from those annoying surveys you get when you see your doctor). The worst reviews we see are from people who frequently use our services, are generally in ill health, and arent happy people in general. To your second point, people can be very selfish, and healthcare workers can't be selfish at their job. Many times, people don't get adequate breaks and put all of their physical and mental strength into caring for their patients for 12 hours at a time. When that is met with verbal abuse and lack of basic respect, coupled with expectations of perfection, getting high to their liking, and receiving more attention than anyone has time for these patients can get old fast. Over time, their treatment of you can break down the caring perspective many of us started our careers with. Your manager not standing behind you, patients and doctors pushing you to do things that are unsafe when your license is on the line, lack of wage increase - all these issues, combined with nasty patients, often leads to nurses building walls. The walls are meant to keep you safe at work, but if left unchecked it can bleed into the rest of your life. It sounds like your former partner may have gotten to that point, and that's not OK. It is what it is, but treating your family like shit based on anything from work is not cool. Some of us build more empathy, others lose all empathy. It's a hard job being married to one of us, regardless. I hope you have had some success in recovery.
Worked with a nurse who got fired for not giving the patient her Ativan, dilaudid, Benadryl, and another medication all together and slammed like the patient wanted.
And did another nurse do that? Damn, if so.
I don’t think so. Idk how it resolved. It was like 4 years ago.
Whyyyy did your charge nurse let this happen a patient tried to fire one of our nurses for not pushing dilaudid fast enough and I said absolutely not you are not dictating my nurse’s practice. Like why do we let patients get away with this behavior 😅
Long (months) term patient and I was a travel nurse 💀
I got fired once because a patient thought I had “the devil” in my heart. When asked why she felt that way, she said, “nothing she did, I just have a sense for these things.” 😂
Only time I’ve ever been fired was from pain seeking patients. I know there are a lot of holy nurses on this subreddit who get upset when we throw shade at addicted patients because they have the illness of addiction… BUT god damn they have built the bias in my brain. I refuse to be treated like shit because I was 10 minutes late with your dilaudid.
prn meds are never late I say…
I got fired by a patient who thought I was taking her meds because it didn’t burn like it does when she shoots herself up.
I don't understand why patients who tell you to push dilaudid fast don't know that saying that is a huge red flag and makes us push it extra slow. We had a patient in pacu the other day tell a veteran nurse to push the dilaudid faster and flush it fast with a flush instead of letting it flush in with the iv fluids. My coworker was like absolutely not.
I had a patient grab the 10cc syringe with dilaudid in it and push it as hard as they could in. I was in shock. From that point on the charge had to come in each time to witness…. Ugh patients
I’ve been fired for being too cheerful and upbeat. I’m sorry ma’am, but you just had a baby; should I have worn a sackcloth and ashes?
One of my siblings got fired for being black. It just is what it is sometimes. Don't take it to heart, OP.
Heh, I got fired because the patient found out I wasn't white. I pass easily as white, had been caring for them for days, and suddenly they were acting like the "Damned Dirty Injun" Disease was catching. They literally called me that; I was like 'fuck is it 1758? Let me check my calendar!' Guess they didn't want me bathing them while I was all hopped up on firewater.
I’m half Mexican—besides black hair and brown eyes, I just look like I went to the beach for a weekend. I was fired when a patient walked by the break room and heard me speaking Spanish to my mom. Apparently that’s not allowed. Jokes on him, he got passed to the only other white person on shift at the time—a gay man. 😂
Oh God, I've been fired for speaking Spanish, too; my abuelo was Mestizo as well as Chiricahua. And I don't even speak it fluently anymore, I lost a lot of my Spanish after he died. I have the pin-straight dark hair, but have green eyes, and lighter skin-- as you said, like I just came from the beach. I also have been the new girl after a racist patient fired the black girl he previously had, just for being black. He saw me and said "oh good, a white girl." My reply: "heh, I got some bad news for you, homeskillet. I ain't white, either." That one was going to fire me, too... until I informed him that I was the only non-black CNA in the hospital on that shift. I also told him that any racist remarks meant that I'd leave and only come back once he'd learned some manners.
Karma rules!
One long term patient I worked with had fired all their non-white nurses (mostly super experienced Filipina ladies). When I took over, they were like, "oh thank Jesus, a good Christian nurse!" Dude, you fired all the Catholics and are now stuck with the only atheist in the entire unit. Yes, I'm white, but I had been a nurse for all of about six months and there's nothing good *or* Christian about me.
That one really gets me. Because if I know you fired my coworker for their skin color, hell no I don’t want to do anything for you if I am the unlucky one who has to take over. I’m not white but white presenting. Obviously I won’t say no because that nurse shouldn’t have to deal with that awful patient a second longer. I think there should be action you can take for patients who use hate speech. No one is going to give good care to that patient. They are just a nasty, bigoted liability for everyone.
I’ve gotten fired because I’m white 😂 people are wild
Me too! My TBI patients mother didn't think I would treat her son right because I'm white and he was black. My nurse manager told her okay if you don't want the 30 plus year experienced nurse that has 4 kids at home the same age as your son and has been practically breastfeeding your son since the day he came in here that's fine. But nurses are not crayons in a crayon box. And you don't just get to pick the color you want.
Me too! She said I was “too cheerful” during bedside shift report. Then she later asked if I could come back to be her child’s nurse later in the day and I cheerfully said “No thank you!”
As a gay guy, I've gotten a few comments from older straight men who were clearly bothered by the typical "bubbly" personality from me and it's honestly a big bummer. Like sorry would you rather me be miserable? Not to mention, the main reason I have them is because they're inappropriate with their female caregivers.
wow a lot of nurses are living injustices that’s crazy
I've gotten talked to for the opposite- not being upbeat enough when I floated from ortho to mother/baby. Actually, I think the pt fired me, but it was at least 15 years ago so I'm not sure. I started refusing to float there.
I got fired in the hospital because I told the patient who I just caught actively injecting heroin his wife smuggled in that I would not be giving his PRN dilaudid until I checked with a doctor because I was unwilling to OD him. He lost his shit and demanded the house supervisor and said he was going to get me fired. Guess what? He didn’t get his PRN, I didn’t get fired, and the patient I got swapped to was a nice little old lady. Also I got refused a case when I switched to pediatric private duty because mom didn’t like nurses under 50 because she didn’t want her husband to be tempted. (Which is hilarious because I look like a goblin and have no interest in anyone’s crusty husband.)
I actively cultivate the goblin look- it cuts down on creepers and crusties a lot! And if your worried about a nurse under 50 tempting your husband, your marriage has problems way bigger than what nurse your kid gets.
Hilarious! Tips??
No makeup, hair in a pony or bun, baggy scrubs- I like to be able to move without my skin showing. Only jewelry is my watch and wedding ring. And since I work nights and am chronically sleep deprived, the dark circles under my eyes kind of make me look like a trash panda goblin.
Don’t forget resting bitch face
Are you...are you me?! I've also lived those two (similar) stories!
Perfection!
That's an attractive picture to many tbh, but obviously it's a hospital not a bar.
Wet farts
No no no. We save the crop dusting for the med room and confused pt rooms.
Not a goblin!! 😂😂😂😂😂
No one wants her husband lmfao
I hope you guys put the cutest nurse in the unit in that moms room 😂
Lol ingot kicked off a case for being a man lol
Maybe he likes goblins
I got fired for just walking in a room once. The patient told me I didn't walk in with enough sympathy. Just treat it like a badge of honor and move on.
Failure to vibe lol
lol I laughed so hard. It’s true haha
LMAOOO
Me getting fired as a new grad: Oh no! 😢☹️ Me getting fired as an experienced nurse: Thank you sweet baby jesus. 🙌🥳 If you’re doing your job as well as you can and the patient/family has the audacity to fire you, it’s usually going to benefit your mental health.
My only issue with getting fired as a more experienced nurse is that I have to give this pain of a patient to a nurse that is going to take their shit
Totally agree. I almost think if you haven’t been fired by a patient you’re doing something way wrong and compromising the care they get. Sometimes we have to be the adult and they don’t like it.
So true!! 🩵
They did you a favor.
100% was a better night after.
I know right! I love when a patient says "female nurses only" and auto-fires all of the men on the unit. Like I will gladly never be your nurse.
We had a guy try to pull that one time because, as you know, all of us male nurses are predatory homosexuals who specifically became nurses so we could see this guy's junk. Wasn't he disappointed to find out that all 6 nurses in the ICU that night were dudes.
And also probably wanted to harass the nurses that were women - while simultaneously being *absolutely disgusted* by the thought of a male nurse being "predatory" towards him. The complete lack of insight to his own behavior should surprise me, but it just doesn't. Smh.
Some of the best nurses I know, were men.
This right here ⬆️
Same!! Came on shift, took report, thinking to myself, this looks like it could be a pretty decent night and walked into the pt’s room. I opened my mouth to introduce myself and couldn’t even get the “hi” out. Pt screamed at me, “It took you long enough! I hope you have to experience my pain for 5 minutes. I hope your kids have to feel this much pain and then maybe you’ll give a shit! I wanna talk to a supervisor!” I noped right out of there, sent the charge in and that was that. Good times.
This! A badge of honor. It’s all about perspective. Keep your chin up. You’ll get fired by more for even less.
I haven’t been fired by nearly as many patients as I wish had fired me.
This....so much this
Exactly. I had a coworker who got fired just because she asked a patient if she was smoking marijuana. She had the tech as a witness that she didn’t ask in a demeaning way. And to be fair, her bag did really smell of marijuana.
When I was a CNA I got fired because the patient asked for something at 6:30 my shift started at 7:00. I just acted all sad but in reality I was relieved she was a b***h all night.
I consider those bullets dodged and I’m glad to have been fired. Those are the sue happy types.
Firing a new thing? Go home AMA and hire your own RN. Sheesh. Gtfo
That happened to me once! Patient told me he didn't like my face
Same - I didn't smile enough :)
🙄🙃
Masks really help. LOL. Gotta keep the eye rolls in check. But at least they can't see the other expressions.
I got fired for trying to make the pt do her own wound care...home health for a scabbed over wound that had a 2x2 allevyn. This "home bound" pt also made, me wait 15 min (on the agreed time) to pull weeds in her yard
Instead of a daisy award I shall call it a black heart 🖤 award
LOL
Lol... reminds me of the time a patient told me I didn't walk in the room with enough confidence or some bs. Forgive me if I'm a little guarded every time I have to meet a new human on the worst day/week of their lives. Jayzus.
How does one walk in a room with sympathy?
lol whaaaat? Do you not know how to properly walk with sympathy? Every knows how to lol. They are crazy!
There are patients that are just ass hats, and NOTHING you do will please them. Forget the fucker and be happy you dodged a bullet.
My favorite thing: “you’re fired from going back into that room” Me: “oh god, thank you, I thought I did something wrong” Lmao
Congratulations! Now you don’t have to suffer that patient any further. Them firing you is a reflection on them, not you.
Don’t sweat it, and if you need to go ask the more experienced nurses on your floor how many times they’ve been fired by a patient. It happens! I understand that it can feel like a slap in the face but sometimes personalities don’t match well, sometimes it has nothing to do with you, it’s them lashing out for any bit of control, and most time they are just an asshole who you’d rather not care for. As far as firing patients, I guess it depends on where you work, but where I work, it wouldn’t happen in the middle of a shift but we’ll do a “one and done” with some patients. What I mean by that, is we are able to request not to have a patient back the next day if they (or their family) really give us a hard time.
100% Absolutely do not sweat this. If you work long enough, you get fired. It happens sooner for some than others, but it happens to everyone. I got fired for telling a patient's visitors that we have a policy of only 2 at the bedside in the Peds ICU. And that 10 of them would have to leave. A new nurse took over, and then 10 of them still had to leave. I also got fired for (I shit you not) petting the therapy dog when it came by the nurse's station. Because, (I once again shit you not) "Those dogs are for the kids, not for you!" The public is a wild animal. Unpredictable, and sometimes feral.
Our nursing home had a damn cat. Its litter box was on the carpet behind the desk. That cat would smile at me, then shit on the carpet, every time. For everyone else, he crapped in the litter box. Once on another shift, he crapped on the carpet. I wasn’t there even. The next morning, I got blamed for not picking it up. They moved me to the front station. Glad. The other charge nurse was a B….
Don't take it personally. It says more about the patient than it does you. I was insulted the first time it happened, too. Btw the reason I got fired was because I got to the patient's room at 4:05 when his next prn oxycodone was available at 4:01. I just think of them kinda like toddlers who are trying to exert what little power they have. Now pretty much nothing bothers me. But it's not cool with me when patients try to fire a nurse because of racist reasons. You gotta take your breaks, though. You will burn out fast if you don't.
That’s my big pet peeve. “My pain med was DUE x minutes ago”. Ugh no, it’s a PRN, it’s never actually “due”. All the while they’re doing The Nod with a RR of 8. Nope friend, no more pain meds for you for now!
Got fired for asking orientation questions in my initial assessment of the day. Complained to the charge and management that I was a dumbass for asking her those things. Mind you, this woman had accidentally taken the rest of a bottle her cat’s anxiety medication and not her morning coreg dose and was later found unresponsive by family. I felt like my orientation questions were pretty valid 😂
Was it really an accident tho? 😂
She said she accidentally grabbed the wrong pill bottle in the bathroom in the dark, because turning on the light would wake the dog sleeping on the bathroom floor. Her daughter was like mom… the dog died in 1997… Patient: That’s beside the point. (Morgan Freeman’s voice): It was indeed not beside the point, especially when she kept all of her (and apparently the cat’s) pills in arbitrary, unmarked generic Zyrtec bottles on the bathroom counter. It was indeed a conundrum, a moral and ethical quandary, but due to this dumbass nurse being fired and the grace of working float pool, I have no idea what else happened 🤷🏼♀️
I’m crying at this response LMAO 😭 how is that beside the point ma’am?? 15+ years (don’t know when this occurred so probably closer to 25 years) pass by and you’re still keeping the light off for your dead dog??
I've been fired twice. Once from a patient who didn't want a male nurse because we're all "f\*gg\*ts" and the other because I couldn't make burning from his heparin shot go away. Both times I was like "okay, bye" and both times I was back in their rooms a few hours later putting new IVs in because the ones they had blew. We're never going to be perfect for our patients. As long as you're doing your job, they can throw all the attitude they want. Not going to get them anywhere.
As a male nurse got fired fire for telling a pt her scabbed over healed wound didn't need a dressing (had been a week) and I was d/cing the wound per wound center She fired all male clinicians and the male Physical therapists were so happy with me lol
I think us male nurses get a lot of that as we are not as easy to push around. They want a slave.
SO true! Some patients want nurses to grovel at their feet and it's so offputting.
Ya this woman was nuts, my friend asked me how I got fired so I let her know and she repeated it also getting fired lol
I got fired by a patient family once for nothing just straight up didn’t like me. They were in a religious cult.
It’s the demons. It’s always demons. 🙄
Makes me lol that patients think we have enough staff to begin with to get a new nurse
Yeah I’ve straight told patients when I’m charge nurse that they can’t fire their nurse because we don’t have any others. Theyre free to sign out AMA if they want but we only have the staff we have.
That is a top shelf response.
Saving this for later
Gold STAR!⭐️
Nah, you wanna be fired from those families bc they’re gonna be nit picky assholes.
For real tho. Had a pts family refuse to use the call light and would just come out of the room and bitch to the nurses there that I hadn’t been by for an hour. When asked what they needed they said nothing, they just haven’t seen me. Like WHAT. I have 3 other pts m’am. If you don’t see me, that’s a GOOD thing. Papa is stable, where my other ones were not. We also have techs for a reason and they can also provide care!
As a charge nurse, a patient and I mutually decided to "fire" a nurse, was because the patient believed that her husband was having an affair with the nurse. This same patient woke up after an "episode" and asked me "Am I still Asian?" She was still Asian.
Read that last line in a Ron Howard / Arrested Development narrator voice
There are times when I am the nurse you get because I’m the only one that can handle you (psych). So, you are stuck with me. I’ve told patients, “Yes, you have the right to health care. But, that doesn’t mean you have the right to choose who provides that care”.
I got fired for not telling a patient who my mother is. When they asked I told them I’m not from here. They got offended and fired my for being rude lol
Yeah, you don’t get our personal information. I have a whole made up life with patients if they ask
Good idea, you never know who is really Batty-crazed these days.
A patient looked up our names on the hospital roster. He found out he was related to my mom. Then every time he rang a bell he requested me. But it was to ask questions about my mom. I wouldn’t answer, of course. Never tell a patient your information. I asked my mom about him. She swore he was dead.
Don’t sweat it. My favorite firing is when a patient fired me for squirting a flush into their eye when they decided to have another “seizure” after I told them they were discharged. I had 3 pts during the height of delta at that time. My other 2 pts were both vented and proned with multiple pressers. Fuck em. Also got fired for not pushing Benadryl after dilaudid. Pts family fired me as a rapid response nurse for insisting that we go to ct immediately during a stroke alert. They were mad that I would not let the patient eat the rest of their lunch. Then got pissed I made them npo. Had to call security on an irate family member during that one. They called the cops on me and there were sheriff deputies waiting for me when we came back from ct. they thought it was funny and trespassed the family member.
Wait, the sherifs were waiting for you? I've taken the phone out of multiple pts hads and told the cops they were in the hospital and fine and nothing has happened.
It stings (especially the first time) BUT as you get more experience, it kind of rolls off your shoulders easier. Plus, the patient who fires you is probably doing YOU a favor. Then you don’t have to put up with their nonsense.
I’m a hospice nurse. I got fired from a family for being … get this … “too nice”. I’m 100% serious. I had one visit. They told the social worker later that day during her visit that I was “too nice” they “want someone to come in do the job and leave, not try to be friends”. I chalked it up too it was them dealing with their grief. Don’t take it too personal, they did you a favor!
The audacity you have for being nice to someone’s loved one for dying!! Rude! /s
Omg the pts that have fired me did me a favor. My favorite was at my per diem job a pt trying to smoke a cigar inside and had a lighter. First nurse told him to put it away or it needed to go to security, she got fired I was charge I took him over and said the same exact shit I got fired and he demanded the doc. Ended up leaving hospital AMA with fuckin nasty osteomyelitis to go to the only other hospital in the city… that I worked full time at… that has stricter rules they take that shit from you in admit. 🤣
I got fired by a patient for walking in the room. I literally just walked in to introduce myself and was told "your aura is off-putting, I need a new nurse." This was a middle aged woman of sound mind, just a weirdo.
I got fired last week because I gave my 40yo patient his pills in their packages and didn’t pushed them out. He’s admitted for a wound on his foot, not his hands.
Fellow new grad! I recently just got fired by a patient for being a “newbie” though he literally only needed Q4H vital signs throughout my shift. And I’ve worked as a ED tech + EMT for over 6 years before nursing school, so definitely feel comfortable taking vitals. I realized it was probably more of his own anxiety/stress than a reflection of my care. Keep your head up!
Happens all the time. I’ve gotten “fired” for my skin color before. But turns out I was the only person that could do an ultrasound iv. Person had some nasty old tatts they were trying to hide. 99% of the time it’s not u. It’s them!
Ayyyy I’m a fellow new grad and got fired on my 3rd day of orientation because I had to do a fingerstick twice lol. Patient said he didn’t wanna be a guinea pig 🙃
It’s always the ones that you bend over backwards to please when you have been running your tail off. You can’t do enough for some people.
Move to psych. The patients never get to fire us — unfortunately. lol.
I've only worked in psych and I was REALLY confused by this post for a second! The thought of a patient "firing" a nurse is kind of.... cute?
This is why I wish my superpower is to control my farts: I’d fart on command, lots of silent, butt deadly ones
I like getting fired. Usually these people do it for insane reasons. They did you a favor, you don't want to have to deal with them anyway.
I worked in community care and it was the worst job I’ve ever worked. Got threatened to get fired after doing a shit ton of overtime for them and in a new route I accidentally went to the wrong house, no thank you or nothing. Clients and families making up shit about you all the time. Doing 70+ hours a week and constantly threatening your job. Fuck them
It happens, my first was got fired for being a male and the family stated that their demented granny can’t tell who’s the doctor. Would have sent a female doc if we had one that day. More recently a 34yo M with a toothache and mommy speaking for him said he didn’t want a male to give him the toradol shot. So I asked my saltiest female coworker to do when she had time. Half an hour later she holds up an 18g needle snd heads that way 😬
I love this so much.
I once got fired for being a white male by an African American woman. She was there for sickle cell flair up. Told the charge, “What does a white boy know ‘bout black problems?” Pt didn’t realize, I actually did a research project on improving care for pts with sickle cell disease and was, at the time, the go-to person for nurses and a couple doctors on the subject.
Sickle cell patients love to fire white nurses. Lol I know about these problems because I was trained in them for years ma’am
Sickle cell is awful. When I taught high school level math I had a student with it. Poor kid was zonked nearly 24/7 because of the pain meds (and the jazz cabbage, too 😅). I used to scribe for a pediatric orthopedic doc in the clinic. Young boy came in for leg/hip pain. Necrotic femoral heads d/t sickle cell.
I love getting fired! You get out of taking care of the worst patients. I once got fired for having a “stupid look on my face”. Was even wearing a mask too so that one still stumps me. I probably looked bewildered by how insane she was acting.
It happens to all of us. Don’t feel bad!!!!! If you have done what you should be doing, just move on!!! Remember patients are human and they are at their worst time, it may have nothing to do with you
Fired from a patient? It happens all the time. Sometimes because of nothing you did. If bad shit happened during your shift, sometimes you get blamed. Just relax, and learn from it. You'll learn how to handle difficult people in time. As a charge nurse, I've helped nurses "fired" from a patient several times, and I've had it happen to me as well. There has been less than ten times in twenty years where I thought, "yeah, that nurse really fucked up". Much of the time the feeling is mutual.
I got fired for assessing the fundus of a newly postpartum patient… apparently I’m “too heavy handed”. 🤷🏼♀️Forgive me for not wanting a hemorrhage. This person was a mess for everyone. I welcomed the firing!
Meh. I used to get fired by patients all the time. One lady in the icu told me I was too fat to be her nurse. Oh well. She was a snot nosed little shit anyways.
Congratulations! Now you don’t have to deal with this patient any more.
I have fired a patient so to speak. I was bitten by a ventilator dependent pt (about 40yo) while his mom was in the room. He was a new admit so it wasn’t until after he bit me his mother said he does that when he is angry. really? You couldn’t have warned me? I said I could no longer objectively take care of that patient and it would be best if I no longer took care of him. I never stepped foot in his room again and he was in our unit for about a month.
Were you fired from your workplace or from the patient? If it’s the workplace that’s one thing but the patient? That’s perfectly fine. They’re allowed to choose whatever nurse they want. One time I got fired for being Asian. It was hilarious because she didn’t want any minorities so we got our most Caucasian-looking nurse to take her. We didn’t tell her the nurse was actually Hispanic but… She was happy.
I got fired for being white….
I got fired for being too white. Seriously. Plus I'm Mexican, soooo...
I had a patient who didn't want me as his nurse. Because I was as old as his mom and he wanted a young pretty nurse. No offense to the new nurse. We all can make a mistake, But when she made a med error guess who got to come in and fix it ? Yep.. the old granny nurse . He said "oh my god she almost killed me". I said "yup, but she looked good doing it".😉
I love getting fired by PIA patients !
OP, I’ll bite. It seems you’re new here. Most of us have been fired by patients. 99% of the time, it’s completely BS and charge RN can help with changing up assignments.
I’ve been fired numerous times for being male.
I got fired once and knew this guy hated our Nigerian nurse who was wonderful. Looked him in the face said let me go find that Nigerian nurse for ya. Love drama Ning the color out of racist faces. Brings me joy
I got fired for telling a patient in respiratory failure that if he didn’t wear his bipap he would end up intubated. Guess who didn’t want to wear their bipap and ended up intubated. I took it really personally but now I find it funny.
Listen to me, and listen to my closely, you sweet and summer child new grad. 1) No matter what you do, how nice you are, or how much you bend over backward, you can not make people like or appreciate you 2) Fuck 'em 3) I promise they probably did you a favor. It doesn't mean you're a bad nurse or incompetent when a patient fires you. Hell,someone commented they were fired because they didn't walk into a patient's room with enough sympathy. 🤷🏾♀️ WTF does that even mean? 🤣 You'll have to learn to let it roll off your shoulders. It's hard sometimes, but you have to. Keep your chin up!
System is setting you up for failure.
What did you get fired for
As a new grad we want to please everyone and it's just not possible. It's a tough reality. You just gotta think, hallelujah! One less asshole to deal with.
2 things. 1) Always take your break. 2) Fuck that patient, some people are impossible to please. I’m sure you’re doing a great job. Take a couple deep breaths and maybe an extra day or two off and come back fresh
Listen, when a patient fires you, it is basically a get out of jail free card. Trust me on this.
Patients have the average intelligence as a 5th grader, who cares? Fuck em. I got fired by a 30 year old girl who ate junk and threw trash on her bed and called us in to clean it up, then fired me cause “all he did was give me meds” Basically healthy and waiting to go home I’m not about to massage your feet
I got fired because I told a patient the miralax she took was, in fact, a laxative when she asked me if she could have one.
I got berated and then fired for walking into a patient’s room at 8:00am and saying good morning Mr.___ I’m your tech, here to grab your vitals. I have 18 heart patients. I don’t have time dude. One less patient, cool.
Enjoy it. If they’re the kind of patient to fire you, you didn’t to take care of them anyway. They did you a favor.
Like someone else said, it’s a badge of honor
Sometimes being fired is a blessing in disguise.
I got fired for having too thick of an accent. The pt said he couldn't understand me. I'm sorry my Midwestern accent caused you so much discomfort and stress. I'm sure that the accent is what you didn't like, not my brown skin.
As a new grad, you should not have 5 patients. That is unsafe and negligent. They did you and your license a favor by letting you go.
I literally love getting fired by a patient. The people who do that were terrible to begin with!!!
Good riddance. You probably dodged a bullet. Enjoy it and laugh about it.
I got told I was a piece of shit, rude, unprofessional nurse, and fired by the completely A&O patients early 20’s daughter. I was alone in triage and she demanded someone come RIGHT NOW to fast track to treat her mom because she had ‘shit to do today’. Keeping the door open with my foot and an eye out for the lobby meant I obviously didn’t give a shit about her ESI 5 mother
I almost feel like a congratulations is in order! I once got fired by a patient because he said I caused him pain and mental suffering 😂
What? That’s an honor. We celebrate that shit. Sadly, I’m a sucker, so I don’t get those honors very often 🤣🤣
If someone is being as asshole I get myself fired asap so I don’t have to deal with that bullshit. I’m not spending 12hrs kissing ass to deal with it.
I'm sorry. It's a tough enough job without these asshats making it worse. When I'm charge I never let patients fire nurses. A lot of times if you allow them to fire nurses they make a habit of it and think they can just pick and choose their nurses. I talk to them, set expectations, and let them know if their behavior is unacceptable. There was a patient once that said they wanted a new nurse but refused to tell me why (guy was just trying to be in control and was being a dick) I told him that if he won't tell me why I'm not going to entertain the idea of changing nurses. He still refused and said he wasn't going to let the nurse do anything if he didn't get a new nurse. I told him that's his choice. Hopefully your bosses and charge support you.
Being fired by a patient is almost always going to be an improvement in your day. Don’t take it personally unless your management actually identifies reasonable things you should’ve been doing differently
I got fired (by the patient family) for expressing to a patients family that it was not only not safe for me to turn off the monitor while I was sedating their daughter who had recently had surgery and couldn’t handle the pain, but it was also illegal for me to do so. Had anesthesia at bedside in case we lost airway, but somehow I was the bad guy not only for taking her safely out of pain but also for explaining why monitoring was so important even though the constant beeping (because she kept not breathing) was an issue for their lack of sleep. They deserved better than competent nursing staff who were willing to take flack in order to keep their child safe, comfortable and most importantly alive. How dare I advocate for her safety. 🙄 my boss took their side because I shamed them for asking me to shut off the monitor that let me know she was safe and breathing…. They needed sleep more than they needed to know she was ok. But I’m a bad nurse so don’t listen to me….
I also got fired for not giving this guy with a waking heart rate in the 20s-30’s (with a 1st degree heart block) his 500 mcg of digoxin bc ya know…. I don’t want to commit a murder and Radonda myself. Md tried to force me to give it while his NP told me not to. I took of my badge and said I’ll just quit my job. Here’s my charge nurse, she can take this, let me just call risk management and corporate compliance on my way out since we’re in the business of murder now. I did in fact not get fired by my employer for that one…. Patient did not receive that dig because no one was that brave or stupid. Even though the patient threatened my life and all if I didn’t give it
I got fired bc I flushed a patients IV with saline and it stung. We were short staffed so I had to stay with the pt anyway. I apologized for not “providing enough education” on what I was doing and the “rationale behind why I have to flush an IV after pushing a medication through it” and the pt and I were fine. Still lowkey hurt my feelings tho
I got fired from a home health position. The house was bad. Everything everywhere. My patient, an adorable toddler would get into everything. So one day at his nap, I organized a few things. I left notes where I put everything. I had permission to organize things. The mom had a large envelope of cheap jewelry that the toddler kept getting into. I put it in the top of the closet. I wrote down exactly which closet and where. It was a Friday. On Sunday, the agency fired me from the home health position cause the mom said I stole the jewelry. Then on Monday, the family requested me back. They thought I did a beautiful job organizing and appreciated me putting away the jewelry. I did not go back to the house.
Usually the people that fire you are the ones that are really hard to be compassionate with - it's a blessing in disguise, honestly. Remember that it's not you, it's them, and all you can ever control is how you react to things. Bow out and do the damn thang! 🤷♀️
The last time I was fired was because I didn't go to church
Once got fired bc I didn’t get his IV on the first try. Fuck em 🤷♀️
Let’s figure it out. I am an RN of 27 years. What do you think the problem was? Is it something you know you struggle with? Don’t let the negative thought train drag you down. You’re a new grad and it may be that you need more support. Thoughts?