Is this prejudicial

Nurses General Nursing

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Good morning!

I am an RN working in a nursing home. I am scheduled for 32 hours a week on days. I am hearing impaired, and do very well with amplification. My employer now want to initiate a mandatory call for rotating shifts. I don't mind day or evening, but I cannot do nights. I live alone, and cannot sleep with my hearing aids. My employer was informed of my hearing loss at the time I was hired which was three and a half years ago. I have always received excellent reviews and have a wonderful rapport with my patients and their families. I am worried that I can be fired because I cannot do night call, all my coworkers have to do it. Can I get fired for this?

Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.

Is it a call list for people to come in mid shift for admissions or something, or is it for call ins? If its the latter, you probably wouldnt be called in the middle of the night *for* a night shift... know what I mean?

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Are some of the posters kidding or what? Sleep with a cell phone in your pocket? I would never rely on a vibrating cell to wake me up, and a NURSE who may be called after already working a shift, waking to a slight vibration...I go with finding out if you can either be exempt, or be provided with a reliable device to wake you up, Peace, Donna

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Why should my husband be disturbed? Get a bedshaker??? Sleep with a cellphone in my pocket, I don't have a pocket in my nightgowns!!!! This is crazy. If I didn't have this problem call wouldn't be an issue. I am not looking for a way to get out of it. I can't believe some of the responses I have gotten. I appreciate the time taken to answer this, but I see that most nurses seem to have an issue with nurses with disabilities. As I said, I was told upon being hired that there would be no on call responsibilties. I am not poor, and would never apply to an organization when there are people so much less fortunate than me. But thanks anyway. I can see that nurses with disabilities only cause problems in the workplace in some of your opinions. Better to have a nursing shortage huh?

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Why should my husband be disturbed?

I don't see that one flying too far. The husbands of nurses whose phones ring during the night are likely to be disturbed too, so that part is a level playing field.

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Cell phones and pagers......yeah, right. She can't hear without aids, so she's supposed to make sure her jammies have pockets???

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A phone is one thing, but having your bed shaken is another. Geesh!!!

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My husband is deaf and uses a device that makes the light come on (as an alarm) in the bedroom which wakes him. You can connect this to a phone in the bedroom which makes the light come on when the phone rings.

As far as your husband being disturbed - that one doesn't fly. I wake each morning when my husband's alarm goes off at 4:15AM and the room suddenly becomes brightly lit ---- ya get used to it!

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Specializes in Public Health, DEI.

If you can't hear the phone, that is a clear function of your disability and would be covered by ADA. Whether or not your facility is going to accept this or fight you is another story, but I can't imagine you wouldn't win any legal challenge that might be raised. I agree that the fact that your husband would be disturbed by blinking lights or a shaking bed wouldn't help your case any, but I do think that you can make the case that these are not reasonable accommodations for your facility to expect you to make. The cost of a device to make the bed shake is likely to be prohibitive. The idea of sleeping with a cell phone would impact your quality of sleep and is ridiculous. And there's no guarantee that flashing lights would wake you up. They wouldn't wake me up, that's for sure.

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It's okay to not want to take a position that requires being on call in the evening.

The ADA enables reasonable workplace and public modifications that enable access.

Similar issues occur for people with religious objections to certain procedures in healthcare. My clinical instructor recently suggested to someone who is prohibited from endorsing/managing blood products, to be open minded to finding areas in healthcare where working with blood products is less frequent.

The goal of the ADA was to provide methods to employees with limitations who were capable of performing a job, but were unable to gain access or exit a location safely, as well as not being discriminated against from being hired for job for which one is capable of performing.

If the roles and responsibilities have changed from what you signed on for (which happens everywhere all the time in all areas of business), you have the choice to go along with what is being asked or to consider other options that work for you.

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jp said she lived alone in one post and then didn't want husband to be disturbed???

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Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.
jp said she lived alone in one post and then didn't want husband to be disturbed???

Yes, and whats the call for? If she is on call to work a *night* shift, like I asked in a previous post, they wouldnt be calling her at night, they would be calling her beforehand to tell her she needs to work. I dont know many nursing homes that have nurses "on call" for advice, or to come in in the middle of a shift, but I could be wrong.

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Specializes in Diabetes ED, (CDE), CCU, Pulmonary/HIV.
Why should my husband be disturbed? Get a bedshaker??? Sleep with a cellphone in my pocket, I don't have a pocket in my nightgowns!!!! This is crazy. If I didn't have this problem call wouldn't be an issue. I am not looking for a way to get out of it. I can't believe some of the responses I have gotten. I appreciate the time taken to answer this, but I see that most nurses seem to have an issue with nurses with disabilities. As I said, I was told upon being hired that there would be no on call responsibilties. I am not poor, and would never apply to an organization when there are people so much less fortunate than me. But thanks anyway. I can see that nurses with disabilities only cause problems in the workplace in some of your opinions. Better to have a nursing shortage huh?

In first post, you said you live alone. But if your husband is there, he can wake you. My husband was always awakened by the phone when I was on call. But it does sound like you just don't want to take night call because you were told at hire there was no on-call responsibility. Sometimes job requirements change. So unless you have a written contract exempting you from call, you may have to do it. Were you the only nurse who was not on call before the change, or are all the other nurses facing the same change.

Posters are just trying to tell you about methods you could use to wake up for night call. I don't think anyone is biased against you for your disability.

An even worse situation would be a single mom with no family who would have to find a baby sitter at 10 pm. But even she might be able to arrange a backup sitter ahead of time on nights she has call.

I'm assuming that when you are called you have to go in. If it's night staff calling with questions, that might be harder since you might get several calls in a night.

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