Has anyone ever refused an assignment?

hag · Apr 16, 2000

Yes I did once and I got such a bad reaction from the manager (a recently new manager) that I left 3 weeks later.

I only refused it because I was afraid my license and my patients' safety were at stake. I would do it again in a heartbeat if the circumstances were the same.

[This message has been edited by hag (edited April 15, 2000).]

ecb · Apr 16, 2000

Originally posted by Nancy1:
I admit that telling a nurse that she has to accept an assignment is rough, but as nursing administration it is my job to work out with the staff why the nurse is refusing to do something.
....
I make sure that my staff realize that I am accountable for everything that goes on in the course of the day, I have 24 hour accountability, would I leave them in an unsafe situation. No, because I am ultimately responsible.
Do others in management look at it this way? NA

this is nice, but where I work the DON is willing to have 1 RN and 1 LPN cover the entire house of 119 residents on night shift, they "compensate" by allowing us to sometimes have 6 CNAs (noramly 3-4, SOMETIMES 5) other times we have had 2 CNAs and 2 LPNs and 1 RN and she still expects us to get up 10-12 people because DAYSHIFT is running short.

She has ONCE come in on nights, she came in to do turnover on the first of the month, because there were only 2 Lic in house that night (she came in at 3 with both unit managers, and we were still finding med errors 3 days later)

she has never come in on nights to work that I have seen.

The administrator is willing to pass trays, but the manager on the medicare floor, and the DON just walk around telling people what they are not getting done on days (yes I have seen it)

I am pleased to see a administrator who is interested in getting thisngs working well, but it is a rarety, I have worked in 4 places, and find the $$$ pinches to be the most dangerus aspect of Nursing

in general I consider the DON in this catagory, not in the catagory of nursing

Sad but true

sorry if I offended, but this is my impression from having worked all shifts in different facilities over the past few years.

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*** May we all have the serenity to accept what we cannot change, and the determination to change what we cannot accept. ***

Palpitations · Apr 16, 2000

The really sad thing is that you don't have any recourse. You can explain until you're blue in the face the reason why you refused an assignment, but it won't do any good. The powers that be don't listen. They don't care if you don't get to see all of your patients. They don't care that the assignment is not safe. If they were really concerned, they would not have given you the assignment in the first place. The managers play dumb and act like they don't know what's going on. They'll tell you that other nurses or doing it...trying to make you feel inadequate. Nurses need to start filling out more "ASSIGNMENT DESPITE OBJECTION" FORMS.

I remember when I was enrolling for my nursing classes seeing a girl that said that she had graduated from a BSN program and had worked 2 years in ER who stated that she didn't like nursing and was getting out. She was enrolling in college, again, to get another degree in a less stressful better paying field. At the time, I thought that she was crazy or weak; but now I know why she did it. Nursing is just too stressful and frustrating!

In case you wondering, I lost my job for refusing an assignment.

Originally posted by ecb:
this is nice, but where I work the DON is willing to have 1 RN and 1 LPN cover the entire house of 119 residents on night shift, they "compensate" by allowing us to sometimes have 6 CNAs (noramly 3-4, SOMETIMES 5) other times we have had 2 CNAs and 2 LPNs and 1 RN and she still expects us to get up 10-12 people because DAYSHIFT is running short.
She has ONCE come in on nights, she came in to do turnover on the first of the month, because there were only 2 Lic in house that night (she came in at 3 with both unit managers, and we were still finding med errors 3 days later)
she has never come in on nights to work that I have seen.
The administrator is willing to pass trays, but the manager on the medicare floor, and the DON just walk around telling people what they are not getting done on days (yes I have seen it)
I am pleased to see a administrator who is interested in getting thisngs working well, but it is a rarety, I have worked in 4 places, and find the $$$ pinches to be the most dangerus aspect of Nursing
in general I consider the DON in this catagory, not in the catagory of nursing
Sad but true
sorry if I offended, but this is my impression from having worked all shifts in different facilities over the past few years.

hag · Apr 16, 2000

I am sorry to hear that you lost your job but I hope you are working at a happier place with a more reasonable supervisor.

By the way when I am in charge I do fill or did fill in (doing agency I do not have to do charge)assignment under protests forms on occasions. They maybe on someone's bathroom wall or in the trash but i always kept copies!!

Palpitations · Apr 16, 2000

Yes, hag, they have probably lined a trash can with the objection forms. I don't even think that they bother to read them, but at least, your butt is covered in case something goes wrong. When I worked third shift, it seemed like I always got a patient that should have been in ICU, who required one on one care; and I still had 8-9 other patients to see that needed G-Tube feedings, dressing changes, or a Sickle-cell crisis patient that had no veins or had a PICC Line requiring Demerol qhr or something like that! Ugh! Second shift all your patients need procedures or have just gotten back from procedures and the family is there requesting information and so on and so forth...and then of course, someone crashes! You just can't win!

Originally posted by hag:
I am sorry to hear that you lost your job but I hope you are working at a happier place with a more reasonable supervisor.
By the way when I am in charge I do fill or did fill in (doing agency I do not have to do charge)assignment under protests forms on occasions. They maybe on someone's bathroom wall or in the trash but i always kept copies!!

monica f · Apr 21, 2000

I have refused several patients. All of them were because there was severe abuse in the home and social workers nor my employeer would do anything about the situation. I decided that it was in my best intrest not to take care of the patient.My DON never said anything about me refusing the patients.

bunky, BSN, RN · Apr 27, 2000

I refused a patient once and although it led to a heated arguement with the Nurse Manager, I was right to do so and would do it again in a heartbeat. It was a small town hospital and a 2 year old kid who had taken Diltiazam and Glipizide was going to come to our little pedi area and I was not only in charge of the 6 bed pedi area but also in charge of the 18 bed adult area and we were literally going crazy with what we had already. I felt that the child who was to be on telemetry and q1hr accuchecks was way too much to handle, and the potential for disaster was so great. One of the kids orders from the ER doc was "keep an exteranl pacemaker at the bedside"! So, after a very public and unprofessional argument with a nurse manager, who demanded that I take the kid, I called the pediatrician and told him that I did NOT feel that this patient belonged on my unit due to the potential dangers and he agreed with me and sent the kid to ICU where it belonged in the first place. Thankfully nothing happened to the child, but if I am going to make a mistake I'd far rather it be on the side of caution. It did go to a pediatric commision meeting and I was congratulated for it privately later.