Disabled and clinicals - need information

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I finished my fiirst year toward my ADN and clinicals. However, during that first year I came down with pneumonia which triggered a rare lung disease which forced me to withdraw from year two before it began, hopefully temporarily. My school is holding my spot to return this fall. My pulmonologist, however, recommended I apply for disability and will not clear me for clinicals on a med-surg unit. I am on immuno-suppressent drugs, and he said I absolutely cannot be around sick people.

Now, I think that if I could struggle through this last year then there are many capacities which I could work in as an RN and not be affected by the need for supplemental o2 or the need to stay away from sick people. My question then, is - does my school have a responsibility to accomodate my disability and find me a clinical location that doesn't involve med-surg? Is that even possible? I do have clinical experience in med surg since that's what I did my entire first year (in addition to psych).

Does anyone know where to begin my search for ADN specific requirements (the google search for disabilities and nursing is huge)? Anyone else been there? For the record, my school says no way, either go with the rest of your class or forget it. However, I physically can't go with my class and I've come too far to easily forget it.

Thanks in advance.

First of all, I just want to say that I'm really sorry you are having such a hard time right now. I know it's tough trying to get through schooling so you can have a career and then get hit with something you have no control over.

Second, I have no clue as to what the school responsibility towards you would be, you'll have to access that info on your own. AN doesn't allow people to give legal advice.

BUT, just food for thought, where do you think you would be able to do clinicals? This is my final semster, in this entire final year in the hospital (minus 6 weeks in psych) we have been on med/onc, med/surg AGAIN, ICU, telemetry (heart and resp), RT, Outpatient oncology, and then continue rotating floors until graduation. From my way of thinking, there is no where in the hospital setting where you would not be exposed to sick people.

Unless your hospital is different, I just don't see where you would be able to complete clinical requirements without running into sick people.

What are your thought's on how you could accomplish this?

My regards and I hope you continue on the road to recovery.

Angela.

Thanks for the thoughts Angela. I was thinking along the lines of nursing home, ob, psych, or sometimes our school places students at the local cancer center. I do realize that I may encounter sick people at these locations (or shoot, the grocery store!) but I think the risk would be smaller. And of course the way my pulmo said it was that he would not release me to med-surg, which implied that he would consider other possibilities.

It is a very frustrating position to be in, I'm just trying to brainstorm a solution and wondering what is even possible. Maybe it's not possible.

Specializes in ICU, hospice, MS/tele, ED, corrections.

I would check with the disabilities dept. at your school, and check with organizations in your state that deal with title II of the ADA...also, the US Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights might be a good resource. Best of luck to you!

Specializes in ICU, hospice, MS/tele, ED, corrections.

Also, there might be disability rights advocacy groups in your state that would be able to talk to you...I'm not sure, from your original post, if you have already looked into those sortof resources or not?

I completely agree with the sentiments of the above posters about your situation.

I would be devil's advocate here about something. It is my understanding that the state board of nursing sets requirements for how many hours of clinical time each student must be present for. It is also my understanding that in that selection process those hours are broken down into how many hours the student must spend in class and in clinical PER each specialty. OB/Peds, Med-Surg, Geriatrics, Basic Adult, etc.

In saying that your school really has no choice, if they are state approved, as to what specialty area you can and cannot go to. I do realize schools have to accommodate disabilities but they cannot negate state standards of practice or requirements for students to become licensed.

I would caution you about the thinking that nursing homes, LTC, facilities are less likely to have serious illness implications. The one we are working in has at least 5 patients on contact precautions, 2 that I saw that were on droplet precautions, and who knows what is there that is not "detected".

We are nursing students, and or nurses, we take care of the ill. Unfortunately you have come across an illness that for now is impairing your ability to complete your goal of graduation, at this moment. Your physician knows what is best for your health. Honestly, if something went wrong with a patient you were caring for that was a direct result of not listening to the guidance of your physician, I think from reading your posts that you are a thoughtful person, and I think that would be very hard to take (it would be for me personally).

My advice is this, get healthy, if you have to redefine what healthy is to you, do that. While you are doing that you can take classes online, like things you might need if you desire to get your BSN in the future. Work closely with your physician and talk with your instructors. It may take time but since you really wants this so badly, isn't it worth the wait if that is what needs to be done?

I am all about following your dreams, but you have to think of your health first. You cannot give what you do not have......

GOOD LUCK TO YOU, please keep us posted.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, IM, OB/GYN, neuro, GI.

I'm sorry that this happened to you.

I believe that the accomodations for diablilities ends in the lecture setting. Like the previous poster stated the BON in your state requires a certain amount of clinical hours and there's sick people on every floor and in every facility. I think that LTC would be one of the worst places for you since from what I can saw in my TWO weeks rotation included a stomach virus that went throughout the whole facility twice and I caught within the first week as did several classmates, then the horrible case of pink eye that went around right after the stomach bug which I caught again, then the patients with C-diff, and MRSA or the ones you cared for hacking all over you went to the hospital after you left and find out their MRSA culture came back positive. Plus the normal coughs and colds that the patient just can't seem to kick even with the flu shots.

Have you thought of maybe going into health management or something along those lines. Perhaps some if not most of the credits would transfer and you could still work in the medical field without being around the germs.

Specializes in ICU, hospice, MS/tele, ED, corrections.

The OP may find this article helpful, too...

http://www.minoritynurse.com/features/undergraduate/08-02-05d.html

Specializes in Pediatrics.

I'm going to agree with those who posted about the requirements. I really don't believe there is any way around not meeting the specific clinical criteria (ie, the Med-Surg, which is the biggest portion of clinicals). Each school of nursing must have their curricula approved by the state BON, and eligibility to sit for NCLEX is based on the students meeting the criteria.

The big question is, would your school be willing and able to look for alternate clinical assignments for you. Unfortunately it is not as easy as just finding a place that meets the criteria (assuming you can find a setting that satisfies MS nursing without infectious patients). First, they need to have a contract with the institution, which does not happen overnight. Then they need to find someone to take you there. Would this be a one-on-one, would it be an observation only (and would that satisfy the requirements for the state BON).

I really don't know anything about disabilities (when it comes to school and accommodations), but since this happened after they accepted you, I don't know how responsible they are to accommodate you. For example, if I suddenly became unable to perform my job, is my employer obligated to make my job work for me, in the exact same job description as it is now. I couldn't imagine them finding a way for me to teach clinicals if I became physically unable to, it just wouldn't work.

Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

Sounds like the BON will be one place you will need to start.

I'm not so sure what their specifics are about WHERE you do clinicals...for instance where we attend school, we don't do much except med/surg for 4 semesters except a few weeks through a peds hospital and a psych clinic. There are not enough sites for us to do the other rotations and the belief is that the NCLEX's concentration is on med/surg so my school is a BIG believer in getting all our learning/experience there.

I wish you the best of luck; I think there are some great suggestions above, but definately check with your state BON and then some group that deals with disabilities either on or off campus.

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