Well, I want to say first that I fully understand that hospitals expect you to be at work no matter what the weather.
I always go. I go for other people. That's why I have a four wheel drive. However, sometimes there is bad timing. Such as major snow that falls heavily and rapidly.
I got up, took a shower, got in the car to go to work. I swept it off the night before, got gas the night before, washed my uniform and had it pressed in case the power went out.
I warmed up the car, went off my driveway...moved about 15 feet and it slid into the yard.
The vehicle would not move.
So for the first time in years...I don't call in sick but maybe once a year. Never for weather.
I have PTO right? Lots of it because I never call in.
Get this...hospital is not allowing me to use my PTO for that day.
Freaking ridiculous. So if anyone else makes an attempt and wrecks. Call the news right after the tow truck. The general public should know that hospitals don't care about the safety of their employees. So this crappie about the fact they do? They can stick it as far as I'm concerned.
I am not referring to a simple cold, where the care giver could wear a mask, I was speaking of Type A Influenza, which would certainly put both patients and staff at risk for contracting this highly communicable illness. The decision made by the manager put patients in jeopardy. Would you wish your mother to be a patient on the unit where the ill nurse was present?
Apparently, the supervisor/manager had been informed and was aware of the nurse's status of testing positive for Type A Flu. In spite of this fact the manager/supervisor still insisted that the nurse report to work, but to "stay away from patients and staff." Do you really call this an intelligent response on behalf of the manager/supervisor? What was this very ill nurse supposed to do once she/he arrived at work, if she/he could not either care for patients or interact with staff? However, from the note on this site, if the nurse failed to report to duty, she/he would be be sanctioned.
I totally agree with you. The manager made a bad call. I am surprised at just how many nurses don't even know what influenza is or how devastating it can be to compromised patients. Despite all the information out there, they are not as knowledgeable as they should be. I have a colleague who thinks influenza is gastroenteritis. She does not know it is a respiratory infection. I fault the management in health care for not mandating education on this important topic.
I have been retired for ten years. I noticed rudeness displayed by some who posted on the site. I found this same attitude when I was working, especially the last ten or fifteen years. It was usually directed at newly hired personnel. This was true whether they were experienced RNs, coming from another area or facility, or nurses who were recent graduates, and needed a preceptor or mentor.
The attitude was that the recently hired person had to "prove him or herself," before "being accepted." This is not professional behavior and belongs in a high school setting, not a hospital when it is essential to work together for the sake of vulnerable patients.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that nurses are treated with such disrespect by the hospital administration, and expect nurses to work in dangerously understaffed situations.
Corporations, and hospitals are corporations, that treat their employees well and with respect, usually find that the employees treat each other well and the patients or customers are the beneficiaries of the collegiality.
Totally agree with you. It is interesting that some posters on the site don't even know when they are being rude. They confuse their rudeness with disagreeing with someone. They think they have a right to tell someone off and call them names if they disagree with them. Maybe they should run for president.
At my job 10 people were fired because they could not make it to work in 30 inches of snow. I understand we need to care for our patient but 4 wheel vehicals were not even requested.
I personally know of a nurse who died in an accident trying to get to work because she was threatened with her job! There is a big difference between a couple of inches and a blizard.
I guess it is nice to know there is such an abundance of nurses there that they can afford to fire 10 and get them replaced easily. We don't have such an abundance where I live.
Responses in this forum, that have nothing to do with any actual patients we may be taking care of on any given day, have NOTHING to do with how compassionate we are with said patients.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't make them a terrible nurse. It just makes them a stranger in a public forum who doesn't feel the way you do about a certain topic. They also probably don't really care how special you've been told you are your whole life, so they don't feel the need to sugar-coat their replies.
But once again, the way people respond in a public forum does not have a direct relationship to the quality of their nursing care. The rules and boundaries we apply in the work world don't necessarily apply here.
And, please, stop shoving Flo in our faces. Read up on her a bit. The "Lady With a Lamp" most likely believed in TOTAL bedside care...
It is not about disagreeing with the nurse. It is about the nurse telling people to suck it up and grow up. I have been a patient many times and if I had a nurse who spoke to me like this, I would be reporting them and would tell the management I do not want this person caring for me. It is not about disagreement. It is about disrespect. I hope you can see the difference. It is in the Code of Ethics about treating patients with respect. If a person can't tell the difference between disagreement and disrespect I really wonder how they got through the nursing education system in the first place. Must have slithered through somehow and not got caught.
Maybe she would change her ways. Victorians were good at dressing up their hostility in smarmy, insincere compliments and using "good manners" to silence disagreement. All the while whispering little asides to each other about their target's mental problems and moral turpitude.
After all, isn't that why she ran her nursing services like convents - to convince the world that her nurses were "nice"?
Well if she were alive today, she would soon learn how many not nice nurses are out there. I believe part of total nursing care is treating patients with respect. If you can't even treat your colleagues with respect how can you treat a patient that way. I have had some fantastic nurses taking care of me and also some not so great. Fortunately for me, most have been in the former category. I do believe the disrespectful, rude ones are in the minority and they need help to become better nurses.
Responses in this forum, that have nothing to do with any actual patients we may be taking care of on any given day, have NOTHING to do with how compassionate we are with said patients.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't make them a terrible nurse. It just makes them a stranger in a public forum who doesn't feel the way you do about a certain topic. They also probably don't really care how special you've been told you are your whole life, so they don't feel the need to sugar-coat their replies.
But once again, the way people respond in a public forum does not have a direct relationship to the quality of their nursing care. The rules and boundaries we apply in the work world don't necessarily apply here.
And, please, stop shoving Flo in our faces. Read up on her a bit. The "Lady With a Lamp" most likely believed in TOTAL bedside care...
It is about respect. I don't care if you agree with me or not. But when you start telling me off and calling me names, that is disrespect.
I have been retired for ten years. I noticed rudeness displayed by some who posted on the site. I found this same attitude when I was working, especially the last ten or fifteen years. It was usually directed at newly hired personnel. This was true whether they were experienced RNs, coming from another area or facility, or nurses who were recent graduates, and needed a preceptor or mentor.
The attitude was that the recently hired person had to "prove him or herself," before "being accepted." This is not professional behavior and belongs in a high school setting, not a hospital when it is essential to work together for the sake of vulnerable patients.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that nurses are treated with such disrespect by the hospital administration, and expect nurses to work in dangerously understaffed situations.
Corporations, and hospitals are corporations, that treat their employees well and with respect, usually find that the employees treat each other well and the patients or customers are the beneficiaries of the collegiality.
Yes that is exactly my point. You said it so well.
I believe that Nurses are held to a higher standard and being a Nurse is a privilege, and with that privilege comes personal responsibility.
When YOU accept employment ,you are entering into a personal contract to provide a service for compensation, If you don't want to play by the rules that YOU agreed to, it is ONLY your own fault when things do not turn out the way you FEEL they should.
If you don't want to come in when it is inconvenient for you, then don't. But YOU have to accept the consequences for your actions. Most of the time when the weather turns bad or when there is another special need, WE already know who is going to show and who won't.
I believe in the nursing process, universal precautions, and infection control and we don't live in a perfect world, where everything is just the way we FEEL it should be.
I am not paid to be NICE; I am paid to provide the best patient care I can. Do I have to color between the lines ,yes I do, and some days I am better at it than other days, and sometimes I FEEL like I should have stayed home, but I still try to do my best, and I have help from other Nurses that feel the same way.
Fortunately or unfortunately it does affect your reputation as a nurse. Just as you're SKILLS and your patient care does and yes we all look and JUDGE each other on those things and many other things that have nothing to do about being NICE to each other.
Foe the record, I want a team of Nurses with the best skills and the smartest Nurses, where they balance each other out. Because they are the ones taking care of me and mine, not the Doctors. I don't care how nice they are. Because I work in healthcare, I know that NICE, has nothing to do with patient outcomes.
I believe that Nurses are held to a higher standard and being a Nurse is a privilege, and with that privilege comes personal responsibility.
When YOU accept employment ,you are entering into a personal contract to provide a service for compensation, If you don't want to play by the rules that YOU agreed to, it is ONLY your own fault when things do not turn out the way you FEEL they should.
If you don't want to come in when it is inconvenient for you, then don't. But YOU have to accept the consequences for your actions. Most of the time when the weather turns bad or when there is another special need, WE already know who is going to show and who won't.
I believe in the nursing process, universal precautions, and infection control and we don't live in a perfect world, where everything is just the way we FEEL it should be.
I am not paid to be NICE; I am paid to provide the best patient care I can. Do I have to color between the lines ,yes I do, and some days I am better at it than other days, and sometimes I FEEL like I should have stayed home, but I still try to do my best, and I have help from other Nurses that feel the same way.
Fortunately or unfortunately it does affect your reputation as a nurse. Just as you're SKILLS and your patient care does and yes we all look and JUDGE each other on those things and many other things that have nothing to do about being NICE to each other.
Foe the record, I want a team of Nurses with the best skills and the smartest Nurses, where they balance each other out. Because they are the ones taking care of me and mine, not the Doctors. I don't care how nice they are. Because I work in healthcare, I know that NICE, has nothing to do with patient outcomes.
:)
I agree it is not about nice, it is about respect. And part of giving good patient care is RESPECT. It is just not about automaton skills. I think may of the posters are very task oriented. They think nursing is just pushing pills and taking vitals and DOING things to people. It is more holistic than that. Maybe I am just fortunate to live in a place where it is more than that. If you are just doing things to people, you may be viewing them as objects. I am fortunate to work in a place where the nurses and doctors work together as a team. Nursing is about critical thinking skills and decision making skills not just tasks. It sounds to me like a lot of the on the defensive posters are defining skills as tasks like giving meds, taking vitals, not about assessment and decision making. And how do you know whether you have the smartest nurses looking after you. Do you ask them for their GPA.. Just for the record I graduated at the top of my class with great distinction and I keep very current and am greatly respected by both my nursing and medical colleagues for my skills, my knowledge, my assessment and decision making abilities, my compassion and the RESPECT I show to patients, families and other health care team members. I am the creme de la creme in the nursing world. I have been a patient and I can tell you I have had both good and bad nurses and doctors looking after me. Some of the bad ones were disciplined after I caught them in their incompetence. And yes I have had a very nice nurse who was totally incompetent. She no longer has a licence. It is not about nice, it is about respect.
It's really not like this was a surprise. The hospital I work at has plans in place for these situations. All staff come before the storm regardless and there are sleeping accomidations and they serve free meals to all the staff, you are basically, snowed in at the hosptial and when you aren't working, it's actually like a sleepover.
ActualNurse
382 Posts