refusing to take report

[crb613]

I work in med surg & tele. The problem is we have a peds unit without a peds nurse on nights. I do not know the first thing about taking care of babies, young children. I have made it very clear I will not work on that unit....( I was hired this way including no L&D). They will put any nurse on the peds unit....I go in each shift worried that it will be me. How would be the proper way to refuse taking peds....just in case.

My charge keeps saying they are just small adults....can you believe that? They also mix peds in w/adults.....and say, well you only have one or two kids. I don't care one is one too many for me! Thanks for your help.

[crb613, BSN, RN]

do you not have to have PALS working with pediatric patients in the hospital? I too agree that something bad is going to happen. I work with some individuals that think taking care of kids are no big deal- until today we had a apneic 10 y/o come out of the OR into pacu today. Now they know why we have everything set up in our "pediworld" for any type of emergency, why we take extra special care of these little people and know what to give with dosaging in a pediatric emergency.. I wouldnt want my child being taken care of by a nurse that was floated, etc from the med surg floor that didnt have any pediatric experience but thats just me..

Boy do I agree with you! I don't have a clue about pedi med dosages. I have never started an iv on a child/baby either. I don't know about the PALS....but I don't have that either.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I do not want to be trained in peds. I have no desire to work in that area. I made this clear when I was hired, and yes it is well known. So I just keep repeating this very thing.....but my heart rate goes up until I see the shift assignment.

You're torturing yourself then for no reason. If it's clear to the powers that be you won't float and you won't, so why does your heart race? Seems like you can relax. It's a no-brainer: you don't float, end of discussion. Even if they forget and you find yourself floating one day, just remind them, again end of discussion. If it casuses a stink and ill will amongst you coworkers what do you care?

[CHATSDALE]

my advise is to look for work somewhere where you will not be in this situation...telling other people that they have to go because you refuse is a big deal..think of how you would like to be in their postion

find another job because this problem is not going to go away..there are jobs out there where you can work comfortably and with confidence

good luck

[woody62, RN]

I work in med surg & tele. The problem is we have a peds unit without a peds nurse on nights. I do not know the first thing about taking care of babies, young children. I have made it very clear I will not work on that unit....( I was hired this way including no L&D). They will put any nurse on the peds unit....I go in each shift worried that it will be me. How would be the proper way to refuse taking peds....just in case.

My charge keeps saying they are just small adults....can you believe that? They also mix peds in w/adults.....and say, well you only have one or two kids. I don't care one is one too many for me! Thanks for your help.

I refused a peds assignment once. The supervisor attempted to pressure me into going, telling me I would not have to give any medications to the kids. I still refused and told her, since I was a staff relief nurse, to contact my agency. They were well aware of my refusal to work any peds. They backed me up and I was assigned to ICU, an area I was very well versed in.

Woody

[crb613, BSN, RN]

You're torturing yourself then for no reason. If it's clear to the powers that be you won't float and you won't, so why does your heart race? Seems like you can relax. It's a no-brainer: you don't float, end of discussion. Even if they forget and you find yourself floating one day, just remind them, again end of discussion. If it casuses a stink and ill will amongst you coworkers what do you care?

Who in their right mind wants to have to be prepared for a confrontation? Floating is not a problem, floating to an area I was not hired for, or trained in would be. My coworkers should not be forced against their will either, and yes I do care.

[fergus51]

Seems like you have 3 choices:

1. Keep doing what you're doing.

2. Ask for and accept an orientation so you would be safe and start floating in rotation with the othetrs.

3. Find a job where this isn't an issue.

If I felt strongly enough to not even want to be oriented to an area, I would probably choose option 3. I wouldn't want to go into work and worry about arguing for a different assignment.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Who in their right mind wants to have to be prepared for a confrontation? Floating is not a problem, floating to an area I was not hired for, or trained in would be. My coworkers should not be forced against their will either, and yes I do care.

What I'm saying is I don't understand why you go to work everyday with such stress and anxiety when you know you're not going to have to float to peds because a) they know already not to float you, b) your management knows you're not going to float because this was a condition of your being hired, and c) you're going to refuse if they accidentally float you.

What I'm also saying is that why should you care if the above upsets your coworkers? It's obvious that might cause some ill will and resentment if they float and you don't, but you can choose how you feel about that. If your coworkers are being forced to float against their will and you're not because of the way you were hired, is that a battle you need to fight? I understand that you do indeed feel for their plight and that you do care about your coworkers.

[reesern63, RN]

Being PALS certified isn't going to help at all if you don't use it. I'd rather not have the certification than have it and rarely use it, then have a peds code come up and have something go wrong and be told I should have perfomed to a higher standard because I was PALS certified.

[Bluehair]

Being PALS certified isn't going to help at all if you don't use it. I'd rather not have the certification than have it and rarely use it, then have a peds code come up and have something go wrong and be told I should have perfomed to a higher standard because I was PALS certified.

Amen to that! I have taken PALS a number of times (required where I work) and then go years before taking a peds patient. You can not develop nor maintain competency in any area if you do not practice it on some sort of a regular basis.

Peds are NOT small adults, and the supervisor who spouts that manure is likely to also be named in a suit someday if something goes wrong.