Nurse Smith to the HR Office

[CalMeacham]

Wis. nurse called out of surgery and laid off


MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A nurse was called out of surgery so a manager could tell her she was being laid off. Dean Health said the surgery was minor and the patient wasn't affected, but the manager who summoned the nurse from surgery violated medical protocol. Dean Health spokesman Paul Pitas said the incident happened at Dean's West Clinic in Madison on Wednesday or Thursday.

Pitas said there was a period of time in which a nurse wasn't present during the procedure. He said while there were other clinical staff present, the absence of a nurse is a violation of patient care procedures.




This doesn't sound like a case of "there's more to this story than they're saying". It sounds like monumentally bad judgement on the part of the supervisor making the call.

[Ferret Herder]

My sister used to work for Dean - but left before this incident. She said she thinks (not in a position of knowing or anything, just an educated guess) that a previous incident where Dean was cutting staff and it leaked to the media first might have led them to be very quick about laying people off this time around. That way, workers this time wouldn't come in that morning and say "what's this I heard on the news about layoffs?" Way too fast, in this case.

[Captain Carrot]

Nonsense. The company is always right, and that nurse was obviously fired like that so they could get her out before she molested the patient. :rolleyes:

[Harmonious Discord]

The real question is does the surgery procedure not make it clear that the nurse should not leave during surgery. They need to amend the surgery procedure to state this or reprimand the nurse for leaving against the rules of the surgery procedure regardless of an administrative request for her presence. This shouldn't have happened either way and is a possible future danger to patients. A nurse is fired is not rally much of a story though is it.

[CalMeacham]

A nurse is fired is not rally much of a story though is it.


Nope -- my ire is at calling someone out of the ER to do it. I can't imagine the nurse leaving by herself, especially if it's a violation of procedure.

[Harmonious Discord]

Nope -- my ire is at calling someone out of the ER to do it. I can't imagine the nurse leaving by herself, especially if it's a violation of procedure.

Good. I just wanted to be clear that the heart of the story was her leaving the surgery.

[velvetjones]

Still, if you're a nurse and you're in surgery, wouldn't you ignore the call until you were finished with the surgery?

[Harmonious Discord]

Still, if you're a nurse and you're in surgery, wouldn't you ignore the call until you were finished with the surgery?

I would have.

[Zyada]

I've read this story from a couple of different places.

In the interests of completeness, I will point out that it was probably not the ER as no one has said that it was in the ER; the clinic responsible is stating that it was minor surgery.

However, they are reporting that the surgery was left without a nurse for a period of time, which was against hospital protocol.

[TruCelt]

"For a period of time . . ."

Does this mean that she had to go back in and complete the task after the discussion? I really hope you're saying that someone else scrubbed in . . .

But yeah, pathetically bad judgement all around.

[alphaboi867]

...or reprimand the nurse for leaving against the rules of the surgery procedure regardless of an administrative request for her presence...

(bolding mine)

They called her out to fire her; what more could they do to her as punisment for doing exactly what they just told her to do?

[Harmonious Discord]

(bolding mine)

They called her out to fire her; what more could they do to her as punisment for doing exactly what they just told her to do?

I realize they fired her but not as punishment for leaving surgery. Don't confuse the firing as a reprimand for the nurse.

Like I said her firing isn't the issue it's the fact that she was called from surgery and left. There have been a number of hospital mistakes that resulted in deaths in Madison in the last few years. Bad hospital procedures and not following procedures both contributed. The fact this was a minor procedure doesn't mean this doesn't need address on the the part of the provider.

[conurepete]

If they were firing or laying her off, and she stuck around instead, she might not be covered by company liability policys. Maybe she was worried that they would claim, "You were laid off at 3:15, but you stayed on your own time and he died at 3:20, you are on your own, Toots"

[Ferret Herder]

I've never been in that kind of liability position in my medical job, but if I was called out of something important, typically I would assume they had a goddamned good reason for what they were doing. (Turns out they only thought they did, it seems.)

[SanibelMan]

Here's a more complete story (http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2009/04/14/0904140327.php) from the Wisconsin State Journal: A Dean Health System manager removed a nurse from a minor surgical procedure last week - in violation of medical protocol - in order to lay her off, a spokesman for the company confirmed Monday.

The abrupt removal, which spokesman Paul Pitas said posed no danger to the patient, came after the Madison-based health-care provider announced Wednesday that it planned to "immediately" lay off 90 employees.

Pitas, director of corporate communications, labeled the action "clearly ... an error in judgment on the part of the manager conducting the layoff." He declined to name the manager but described her as "an otherwise good employee with more than 30 years of nursing experience who made a regrettable decision."

"This person is very upset and is extremely remorseful over this," Pitas said, adding that the layoffs created "extraordinary circumstances."

[bengangmo]

Not really seeing the issue here.

Bad judegment was exercised, company owned up to bad judgement, relevant staff spoken to.

Nurse wasn't fired for leaving surgery, no negative consequences this time.

It seems to me, that following the misjudgement on the part of the manager doing the firing, everyone responded as they should and the matter has been dealt with.

What's the point in even starting a thread?

[Boyo Jim]

I don't see why they had to call her out of surgery. If she could hear the page to call her to go to HR, they could have announced the layoff over the pager.

I'm sure this will be a hot topic at work tomorrow. I work at the competition.