sprained my ankle at work can I still go back?

Nurses General Nursing

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I sprained my ankle at work yesterday, its hurts fairly bad. However, I want to continue to work. I would like to use a cast boot, do most hospitals allow an employee to work this way? I just got this job and its my first working in a hospital. I would like to stay home and rest it, but there's no telling how much time off work it will take. is it ok to go to work with a cast boot on? I feel bad taking more than a day off. I'd call my supervisor and ask but i'd like to see how it is at other hospitals first. I'm also per diem and its my second week of orientation.

Specializes in Office Management.

I agree with bengalli. Under workman's compensation, you will be paid for the time you are out of work, since the injury is work related.

Again, I am not a nurse, but if there is more pain and swelling, I am wondering why you have not scheduled an appointment with a doctor to reassess the situation. I would hate for you to self diagnosis yourself with something minor, when it could be major.

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Your condition has changed. Go back to employee health today, and as this is workman's comp, they will give you, in writing, specific work restrictions.

Then you will have a follow up appointment set by them to be re evaluated to be released back to normal duty.

You may still be able to work, if they can find seated work for you, where you can keep your affected extremity elevated.

If you go back to work on normal duty, you will make your injury worse, and you will be out of commission even longer.

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Don't screw around with this. Get seen. My daughter sprained her ankle almost 2 years ago. She waited to go in until the next day. What we thought was a sprain turned out to be a misplaced extra navicular bone. (ER doc missed it on xray.) Ultimately she needed orthopedic surgery to have this repaired. Believe me when I say that proper early treatment would have been much less painful and less expensive.

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Specializes in ICU/CCU, CVICU, Trauma.
well, when she saw me, my ankle was not swelling. it also was not hurting and as swollen as it is now. It wasn't until they sent me home that my foot started swelling and hurting more, all of which was not evident when the nurse assessed it. The reason for a cast boot is because I need the money so I need to work and I think I am able to do so without any safety hazard, its just me limping. and a cast boot will help to immobilize the ankle while its healing.

I reiterate - you are not the one to make that decision, and neither are we. It is the decision of the PHYSICIAN that you see. Why would you even want to put your own health at risk? You are not qualified to make that decision. Since there has been a change in the condition of your ankle, you need to go back to your employee health, document these changes, and be seen by a physician. Then follow their orders.

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Specializes in Critical Care/ICU.
It is the decision of the PHYSICIAN that you see.

Or Nurse Practitioner which is the case in many employee health departments. :)

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Specializes in OR.

Did you get an X-Ray? My sis thought she sprained her ankle but it turned out to be a small fracture. I agree with the other posters that you should get this attended to-If it doesn't heal correctly, you're in for years of hurt. Your foot can be even be fractured but you still may be able to walk on it slightly...Go back to the doctor is my advice.

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Specializes in ICU/CCU, CVICU, Trauma.
Or Nurse Practicioner which is the case in many employee health departments. :)

:thankya: Sorry - I stand corrected.

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Specializes in PICU, Nurse Educator, Clinical Research.

Pupnshnooter is absolutely right! If this is a worker's comp injury which requires you to take time off, you will be paid for it. I insisted on working on a suspected 'sprain' in my foot (non-work related) in july of 2004; i ended up with my leg in a cast for eight weeks, as it turned out to be a microfracture. It didn't completely heal for months.

Let me share a cautionary tale. One of my coworkers, a CNA, twisted her knee while catching a patient who was falling out of their wheelchair. She filed an incident report, went to the ER, and was told to rest for 2 weeks. After a week, she decided she couldn't afford to be out of work much longer (takes a while for the worker's comp pay to kick in, apparently), and went back. She started a cycle of working for a few weeks, getting worse, taking time off, getting better, going back to work....a few months later, she had to have knee surgery. She attempted to continue working after the knee surgery, but the instability of her knee affected her balance and body mechanics so much that she ended up severely injuring her back. She has gone back to school because her doctor says she is no longer able to do CNA work.

Also, was the employee health nurse an NP? If not, I don't think her assessment will be adequate for worker's comp purposes- I'm pretty sure the diagnosis has to come from an NP, PA or MD/DO. Worker's comp laws vary from state to state, but be VERY careful about following your facility's policy closely. If you don't, you may run the risk of not having subsequent treatment covered by worker's comp. And if you have your own health insurance, they will NOT cover any injury that's work-related. Even if they *suspect* it's work-related, you're going to have a difficult time- I've been down that road several times.

Please don't disregard your body's signals- if you do the kind of taxing work that nursing is on an injured foot, it may give you problems for the rest of your life.

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