Advice needed (sorry so long lol)

Nurses General Nursing

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I am an LPN in a LTC for disabled kids. On an regular night, we have 6 nurses for the building. That includes a charge nurse who has an assignment :(.

One night last week I got an phone call from my daughter who was 33 weeks pregnant. She thought that she was leaking amniotic fluid. After asking her some questions, I told her to call her dr. I then went right to my charge nurse and told her what was going on, and that I needed to leave to get her to the hospital. The charge nurse told me "No you can not leave" I was floored. That night we happened to have a nurse with a new orientee, and an agency nurse and me on that one unit. Thankfully the regular nurse took my half of the assignment (12 kids) and the agency took her half. I gave her report, and counted and left to take my child to the hospital.

We spent 5 hours at the hosp, she was not leaking amniotic fluid, but was having contractions. They gave 3 shots of turbutline which worked, and told her to get to her dr the next morning. I called work updated them and called out for my shift ( i gave them 5 hrs notice). We get to the dr, and yep she is 2 cm dialated and 50% effaced. The dr put her on modified bedrest, took her off of work until delivery. That afternoon she started having contractions again, and I took her to the hosp and they admitted her overnight. She got 4 doses of Procardia to try to stop the contractions and received steroid shots to mature the babys lungs.

My question is this: can they do this to me? This is an emergency situation, I am not making this stuff up. I have all of the paperwork and drs notes for my child to prove what happened. I spoke with my boss and suggested to have at least an extra nurse in the building just in case I have to leave again midshift. I can not control when my future grandson will make his appearance!!

Thanks,

Nice Nurse LPN

Specializes in PACU, OR.

In my understanding, this may well qualify as an obstetric emergency, and I should imagine there are ambulances available. As was pointed out, although she is only 17, she played adult games and should be prepared to accept adult responsibilities. Part of that includes realizing that Mom also has responsibilities, and picking up the phone and calling emergency services should have been her logical first step.

Assuming there were no ambulances available, it would probably have been equally feasible for the OP to leave work temporarily, run her daughter to hospital, leave her there while the emergency was addressed and go back to work. I see no reason why she should have to wait there for the full five hours.

Sorry OP, I know this is a very stressful time for you, but you really have to make your daughter step up to the plate. If you don't put your foot down, you are likely to end up raising your grandchild.

However, I do agree that LOA is the best solution.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Klone- I was genuinely curious. Sometimes non-parents may have a different opinion (not making it right or wrong, just different).

I don't think it's okay to leave patients without care. I want to make that clear. I guess I'm just trying to put myself in a situation where if I got a dreadful call that something has happened to one of my kids, what I would do.

Since the situation of the OP, to some degree, at this point is predictable, I can see where necessary precautions can be taken (setting up friends and family to jump into action during shifts, etc) but in a truly, unforeseen emergency, what would/should a parent do?

Hypothetical-

You are in the middle of your shift with 3 other nurses. You get a call that your 12 year old dropped on the football field, is unresponsive, condition is unknown, and they are rushing him to a hospital a few miles away. WWYD?

It sounds like most of you are saying if nobody agrees to take over your patients (why can't an agency nurse be called, and the other 3 nurses take over until he or she arrives?) you would just sit tight and hope for the best?

For full disclosure, I'm not a nurse yet, so I don't know all the ins and outs of a nursing shift.. however, I'm not sure I would be doing ANY patients any favors by working and worrying about what is happening with my child.

I wouldn't run out the door without saying anything... but I'd basically give my nurse manager the finger if she or he said, NO, you have to finish your shift.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
It sounds like most of you are saying if nobody agrees to take over your patients (why can't an agency nurse be called, and the other 3 nurses take over until he or she arrives?) you would just sit tight and hope for the best?

For full disclosure, I'm not a nurse yet, so I don't know all the ins and outs of a nursing shift.. however, I'm not sure I would be doing ANY patients any favors by working and worrying about what is happening with my child.

I wouldn't run out the door without saying anything... but I'd basically give my nurse manager the finger if she or he said, NO, you have to finish your shift.

And do you realize you could get fired as well as have your license revoked by the board of nursing for doing that?

It's called patient abandonment. Since you are not yet a nurse, I'm going to assume that you weren't aware of the serious consequences of leaving your patients without care.

I would not risk my job and license for a situation with a (basically) adult child who is not in a life-or-death emergency situation.

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Mjmoon,

Hey, just a little fastforward for ya. You need to look into what a nursing job entails. Just FYI, before you go further in your education. I have a feeling that you are not prepared for the requirements of an RN position. ALL of what Klone says is FACT. It is, and all that.

No matter where you work as an RN, if you have the responsibility for a patient load, these will be your worklife rules. You will be considered lucky if your charge can call someone in to take your patients, if not you will have no choice but to stay and fulfill your shift responsibility. If you leave, as you suggest you'd do, you can kiss working in healthcare goodbye forever. You will be barred from within your state from practice and in my state, all the public has to do is type your name into the licensing area and I can read about you and what you've done - your employer will forever state to your future employers that you are unhireable.

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Specializes in Pediatrics and geriatrics.
I"m just wondering how the nurses who say it OK to leave the unit short would feel if it were THEIR loved one on that unit, having their care compromised because a nurse left early.

How would you feel if you brought your pregnant daughter in and the nurses said "we are working short because someone left early so you won't be monitored as closely as you should be".

Just saying.

And an orientee should not be counted as staff. Her orientation was compromised by you leaving early.

She was not left alone with an assignment to herself. The nurse precepting her just switched sides that is all. There was no comprimising her orientation at all. As this was the orientees first night, she was just watching the regular nurse, not taking patients.

NiceNurse LPN

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I appreciate everyone's opinions and advice. I don't plan on changing my career and educational goals on the very, very small chance that I will encounter a life or death situation at home where I will have to choose my job/license over one of my children.

Maybe I'm being idealistic, but I would hope that in such a situation there would be backup in some form.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

"Hypothetical-You are in the middle of your shift with 3 other nurses. You get a call that your 12 year old dropped on the football field, is unresponsive, condition is unknown, and they are rushing him to a hospital a few miles away. WWYD? "

mjmoon, you are trying to compare apples to oranges. A 12-year-old with an emergent life or death situation has nothing to do with OP's 17-year-old going into labor.

In the former situation, of course you (as the mother) would drop everything and run. And your employer would very likely support your absence.

OP has stated that she requested immediate leave for a potential labor/delivery situation that certainly could have been predicted. After permission to leave was denied, OP chose to leave anyway.

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I would not have posted on here about that some of these people are just passing judgement. Yeah the girl made a grown up decision but she is still 17 and why is everyone asking about the fob she told you everything she wanted you to know and my mom has called in to work when my child was sick and I am an adult

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Specializes in Pediatrics and geriatrics.
"Hypothetical-You are in the middle of your shift with 3 other nurses. You get a call that your 12 year old dropped on the football field, is unresponsive, condition is unknown, and they are rushing him to a hospital a few miles away. WWYD? "

mjmoon, you are trying to compare apples to oranges. A 12-year-old with an emergent life or death situation has nothing to do with OP's 17-year-old going into labor.

In the former situation, of course you (as the mother) would drop everything and run. And your employer would very likely support your absence.

OP has stated that she requested immediate leave for a potential labor/delivery situation that certainly could have been predicted. After permission to leave was denied, OP chose to leave anyway.

First off, I left work after I had coverage. I didnt abandon my post. Second of all who are all of you to judge my daughter? She certainly isnt the first teenage girl to find herself being pregnant. Third: she was 33 weeks gestation, and was having symptoms of premature labor. How in the h*** was I to predict that she would have preterm labor after having up to that point an uneventful pregnancy? I guess my crystal ball must have been broken that day!! Point is I got my assignment covered, I didnt leave anyone unattended without a nurse on post.

End of discussion

NiceNurse LPN

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Specializes in ED.

It sounds like most of you are saying if nobody agrees to take over your patients (why can't an agency nurse be called, and the other 3 nurses take over until he or she arrives?) you would just sit tight and hope for the best?

For full disclosure, I'm not a nurse yet, so I don't know all the ins and outs of a nursing shift.. however, I'm not sure I would be doing ANY patients any favors by working and worrying about what is happening with my child.

I wouldn't run out the door without saying anything... but I'd basically give my nurse manager the finger if she or he said, NO, you have to finish your shift.

Keep this in mind then, before you choose to accept a job as a nurse:

It is the law that you not abandon your patients. If you give your nurse manager the finger, and one of the patients you were covering, or even a different patient if yours are being covered by another nurse who is stretched too thin, is harmed by the lack of care, it is your license that will be out the window, your future income that the pt / family will sue for, and you can even possibly face criminal charges.

If you can't accept that, you need to look for another line of work. Not trying to be harsh, but rather trying to protect you.

DC, ED NOC RN ADN

Abbreviations R Us :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

"End of discussion"

Maybe, maybe not. You have raised interesting questions.

"Second of all who are all of you to judge my daughter? She certainly isnt the first teenage girl to find herself being pregnant."

WTH? No one is judging your daughter. Everyone who has given an opinion has done so with regard to your responsibilities, not your daughter's. I believe that your initial question was with regard to your own personal obligations/responsibilities, although I will admit that I continue to be confused about the initial issue. As your post reads, you clearly left after permission to leave was denied. You have not yet addressed that issue. You have said that you covered your patients with other nurses, but you have not addressed the issue of your charge nurse's refusal to let you leave and your subsequent departure.

According to your initial post, you asked for permission to leave, were denied, and you then chose to leave against your supervisor's wishes. If circumstances are other than your initial post, you should correct yourself in order that all readers have the correct impression.

I will continue to maintain that leaving for a 12-year-old's emergent medical crisis differs from dashing out of your shift against your employer's specific direction for your daughter's potential labor issue. Your expectation that your employer should be willing to have extra staff for every shift in expectation that you might need to leave is, quite frankly, so outrageous that it puts your other statements into question.

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Specializes in Pediatrics and geriatrics.
"End of discussion"

Maybe, maybe not. You have raised interesting questions.

"Second of all who are all of you to judge my daughter? She certainly isnt the first teenage girl to find herself being pregnant."

WTH? No one is judging your daughter. Everyone who has given an opinion has done so with regard to your responsibilities, not your daughter's. I believe that your initial question was with regard to your own personal obligations/responsibilities, although I will admit that I continue to be confused about the initial issue. As your post reads, you clearly left after permission to leave was denied. You have not yet addressed that issue. You have said that you covered your patients with other nurses, but you have not addressed the issue of your charge nurse's refusal to let you leave and your subsequent departure.

According to your initial post, you asked for permission to leave, were denied, and you then chose to leave against your supervisor's wishes. If circumstances are other than your initial post, you should correct yourself in order that all readers have the correct impression.

I will continue to maintain that leaving for a 12-year-old's emergent medical crisis differs from dashing out of your shift against your employer's specific direction for your daughter's potential labor issue. Your expectation that your employer should be willing to have extra staff for every shift in expectation that you might need to leave is, quite frankly, so outrageous that it puts your other statements into question.

At first she said no b/c there wasnt coverage. I got coverage, gave report, counted narcs, handed keys over to the nurse that took my assignment. After I let the charge nurse know that there was coverage, she said fine. There is a fine line that we all walk in our jobs. I knew when I became a nurse I knew full well what constitutes abandonment. There have been several instances when I have come into work to cover shifts when a nurse had to leave due to an emergency or illness at work. I have no problem being a team player at all. It is just saddening to know, that sometimes things happen out of our control.

NiceNurse LPN

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