I got a case of bronchitis in June. I missed 2 days of work, was easily covered, and had a doctors note. Our hospital's policy clearly states we are not allowed to work if our temp. is over 100.5, we've had n/v, and are generally ill. We are required to have a doctors note to come back to work. The day I came back to work and handed in my note, my supervisor called me to her office and told me a doctor's note was unacceptable and wrote me up for missing two days of work. I was floored! Nurses with more tenure had recently missed several weeks of work and there were no issues.
On July 3rd, the bronchitis got so bad it led into pneumonia and I ended up being a patient in the ICU. I was released a week later and was told to come back to work 5 days after being so sick (I also was anemic and received 2 units PRBC's). My doctor had not authorized me to go back to work, however, because of the earlier circumstance of being told a doctors note was unacceptable, I went to work. I had 18 patients that night, felt horrible, and it's a miracle I did not make a med error. As a result I was a bit slower than normal because I was triple checking each med and had 4 tube feeders and several patients with close to 20 meds a piece.
That evening I had a patient refuse no less than 5 times her meds. Two were narcotics and she was not in pain. The other was a BP med and her BP was within normal limits. The other was gabapentin for neuropathy. She denied any pain or discomfort and therefore I did not bother her again until 5 a.m. when she had a narcotic due. She then freaked out on me because she had not taken her narcs all night (although she denied pain and was constantly sleeping). She went to my supervisor and complained that I was "making the decision to withhold her meds. My super called me to her office the next day and reamed me out. I pointed out that first of all our philosophy is our residents have the right to refuse their medication after the nurse gives them an informed reasoning for taking the meds. My super refused to believe me and filed a grievance against me with the board of nursing. Needless to say, I resigned my position. I will point out that in the MAR many nurses had notated on most evenings this patients refusal of her evening meds.
I went through an interview with the board of nursing and they felt I handled the situation appropriately and did all I could to get this resident to take her meds. There was evidence that I did her Medicare assessment. In addition I gave out meds to 17 other patients. Why would I single this patient out???? The board of nursing actually is disciplining my supervisor for requiring me to come back to work without a doctors release. In addition, I was told that I should NEVER work while sick. I knew this but my job was threatened. The board was great and said that I had been put in a difficult position but to call in if ill. It's easier to find a new job than it is to get my license back :)
Sorry for the novel but this whole situation ****** me off. Has anyone had a similiar situation? Could I have done anything differently? I'd LOVE some advice for my new job!
