Confused Company Nurse

biker nurse · Aug 15, 2011

Only thing I can tell you is LBM and stomach pain , has been going around !. Sorry I couldn't be more of help

tyvin, BSN, RN · Aug 15, 2011

Could you elaborate on the nurses required to wear heavy make-up ... I'm not understanding.

42pines · Aug 15, 2011

Clearly you are holding a role that is for more than what is expected of an Occupational Nurse in America. Normally any intervention requiring attempts at blood pressure reduction is the realm of an MD, Nurse Practitioner (PA), or Physicians Assistant (PA). Catapres and Serc here are not over-the-counter drugs but are rather prescription drugs. In RP (Republic of Philippines) you have access to a greater array of meds that you can give as a nurse. Here, we would lose our license for distributing them without an order. Meclozine was only recently released here as an over-the-counter medication, and even there we need standing orders to dispense. It sounds like a rough job and all you can do is to do the best that you can.

You clearly fear your supervisor and probably for good reason. Considering this, I might wonder if the dizzy fellow with numbness in the extremities was experiencing a panic attack due to stress, and may have been hyperventilating. BikerNurse's comment runs true, though I'm not sure if she noticed that you were in RP. GI disturbances in New York do not necessarily translate to the Philippines. Still, perhaps you can ask around, or even call the local hospital to see if gastrointestinal disturbances have been on the rise.

Perhaps after keeping the #1 rule in mind: 'Do no harm,' you can 'fake it till you make it', and in time, you'll develop confidence and the stress level will hopefully drop. As far as employee's faking it, indeed some will and over time you'll get a feel of who's a faker and who isn't. RP's attitude towards work is likely to be much, much stricter there than here. Quantifiable symptoms are easy, subjective ones aren't, and also in America Supervisors are not privy to symptoms and to your results, here they are fit to work, and returned to work or not--nobody except my Clinical Doc can question my decisions or find out what symptoms the employee had, or what my findings were. But in RP I suspect that you do not have the privacy law that we do called HIPAA, and I suspect that you are expected to tell supervisors what you found. That is a tough place to be. Do your best, that is all you can. It sounds like you know your stuff. Carry on the good work.

meemaos · Aug 16, 2011

Could you elaborate on the nurses required to wear heavy make-up ... I'm not understanding.

I'm sorry. My employees were the ones required to put on a lot of make up.

meemaos · Aug 16, 2011

Thanks for replying everyone! Especially 42pines. I felt great after reading your reply. :)

zerohour1320 · Aug 23, 2011

Hi, I'm a company nurse here in Bicol. I have read your post and I think I understand what you're going through.. Regarding your patient with the dizziness, I think it would have been appropriate to have advised him to come back after 30 minutes or an hour for reassessment.. But nevertheless, since the initial assessment was fine, I think there's nothing wrong with what you did. Also, keep in mind that since we have the power to send patients home, be careful of malingering patients. I think you are doing a great job there, so keep up the good work :)

uhm, would you mind telling me what company you're working for? thank you very much :)

tyvin, BSN, RN · Aug 23, 2011

This is all fine and good but I really am curious about "why" employees are "required" to wear heavy face make-up. Please elaborate.

zerohour1320 · Aug 23, 2011

Maybe it's a mall or a department store? I don't know. I'm just presuming.

meemaos · Sep 9, 2011

Thanks for the reply! :)

Sorry I cant disclose the name of my company.

meemaos · Sep 9, 2011

This is all fine and good but I really am curious about "why" employees are "required" to wear heavy face make-up. Please elaborate.

They are cashiers on a supermarket. :)

42pines · Sep 9, 2011

Throughout Asia, though I've only had experience with RP (Republic of Philippines) and Thailand, dress codes and age discrimination is rampant. Employees have little or often no rights at all. In RP it is common that employees be required to wear outfits, and that those outfits be paid by the employees. If an employee who makes precious little to start with forgets, or does not wear part of the outfit, often there is a significant "fine."

In short, what we consider "normal" here in America bears absolutely no resemblance to other countries. In RP and in Thailand a woman that is 30 or 35 is not often, but almost always, in certain trades, considered "too old," and is not hired.

We might look askance as such violations of what to us seems like basic human rights, but here we are talking about different cultures and different countries, and in reality in does not matter a whit, as to how we think things should be.

If the boss wants a certain outfit from the employees, and if the boss wants a certain "make-up look," the boss get's it, or plain and simple, the errant employee is fired. To be fired in RP often is the equivalent to be sentenced to death by malnutrition.

As hard as things have gotten for nurses in the US, for the average working stiff in RP or Thailand, we have it so, so much better.

And if meemaos was "caught" talking about the company, and the boss didn't like it, plain and simple, meemaos would be immediately out of a job.