Anyone ever invoke Safe Harbor?

[fungez]

And were there any repercussions?

[Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN]

I didn't but I threatened too. I was getting too many cases day after day after day and I was tired. We were short staffed and at first I didn't mind helping out. But after several months I'd had enough. I told my employer, politely and professionally, that my limit was 16 hours. If they tried giving me any cases after that I would file safe harbor and refuse the case. I've never had a problem since.

[CNL2B]

What is safe harbor? Is that an unsafe work conditions complaint or something of the like? We call ours the "pink slip" (it is literally a pink piece of paper you fill out that goes to management/the union.)

[mschelee, MSN, RN]

I didn't but I threatened too. I was getting too many cases day after day after day and I was tired. We were short staffed and at first I didn't mind helping out. But after several months I'd had enough. I told my employer, politely and professionally, that my limit was 16 hours. If they tried giving me any cases after that I would file safe harbor and refuse the case. I've never had a problem since.

Can I ask what kind of nursing you do? I am currious as to what kind of nursing does 16 hours and gets asked to do more? Home health?

[fungez]

What is safe harbor? Is that an unsafe work conditions complaint or something of the like? We call ours the "pink slip" (it is literally a pink piece of paper you fill out that goes to management/the union.)

It's a Texas thing, I guess. I never heard of it when I worked in KS. From what I understand, it protects your license in case of unsafe staffing. Doesn't mean you can refuse the assignment or you can't be sued if you mess up, but your license is safe.

It's supposed to be repercussion free, but from what I understand here, everyone who invokes it gets fired down the line.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

help! need information about "safe harbor act"! - nursing for nurses

safe harbor - nursing for nurses

from Tx bon: request for safe harbor peer review

[litbitblack, ASN, RN]

One shift it was 2 RN's and that was it for 11 pts. Normally that would have been hunky dory but....the other one hurt her back lifting one of the pts and they didn't have anyone to replace her. And we were getting admits and discharges and she really couldn't do too much. When I asked for help i was told there wasn't any. I stated, Well i am filing safe harbor because this is unsafe. within 45 minutes the cno was up saying " well unfortunately we don't have any one to help out and i said well unfortanately I am filing safe harbor so we can at least protect our license. In a little bit there were 4 managers on the floor to see what they could do. and i was there a few more years

[Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN]

Can I ask what kind of nursing you do? I am currious as to what kind of nursing does 16 hours and gets asked to do more? Home health?

I do acute dialysis. One case usually takes from 4 to 6 hours, so two cases a day makes for a 10-12 hour day. A third patient can stretch it to 16 or 18 and it's not uncommon to be asked to take a third patient now and then. Most of the time I do extra but sometimes I'm too tired or have otherp plans, and in that case I feel like I should have the option to refuse an extra case if I want to. When you have doctors hopping up and down because the patient needs dialysis STAT it makes for an uncomfortable situation. If we don't cover all the patients we can lose our accounts, so it's really incumbent on us to help out and do extra when we can. The situation I was in was beyond ridiculous and I put the responsbility back on management to do something about it.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

I haven't personally done it, but I've seen it done many times. The hospital "resolved" things by pulling staff from other understaffed units and sending them to the "squeaky wheel" unit. They never fixed the problem- they just moved it around.

I've never seen repercussions occur, although I imagine it's possible.