I'm a pretty patient and understanding person. I am also a human which means occasionally my body parts need a check up. I made an eye doctor appointment and told the receptionist I was an ER nurse. She made me an appointment for 2 weeks out - today. I arrive for my appointment and they deny me entry - won't even let me in the door. I drove 1.5 hours to get there. I did not deny who I was or what I did. They are also trying to charge me a no show fee. Why waste so much of my time? Why not tell me you won't treat me to begin with?
I was also ALMOST denied entry to look at apartments with my daughter who was moving out.
Why does everyone think we are the unsafe ones when we wear our PPE and not just a cloth face mask?? How do we get treated if providers are allowed to refuse us service?
Am I just being a brat, or have others experienced this too? Its been 5 days since my last shift - I cant create a bigger time gap than that.
Im actually pretty angry about it when I stop to think.
At my facility we have the rapid 15 mins swab test available. I had to go see my doctor so I had one of my colleagues test me that very day. I also brought all the most recent.tests, we get tested twice a week.
No symptoms, test (-). I was good to go.
It's none of their business if you treat covid patients. As others here have said , you wear PPE and per CDC you haven't been *exposed" to Covid.
This is infuriating that fellow healthcare providers /staff give us a a hard time , and maybe even preventing us to get the care we need.
I disagree with this advice to not disclose exposure especially if they are asking. I get the not disclosing you're a nurse in regular circumstances but during a pandemic everyone is trying to protect themselves and their workers. Some members of the public have hidden their covid exposure status when entering the hospital where I work. They answer no to all the screening questions and only after is it discovered that not only have they been around sick contacts but they are now covid positive. This caused a number of health care professionals to be forced into quarantine.
But you are missing the nuance: If faithfully and appropriately using recommended PPE then it isn't an "exposure." Members of the public-- many of whom are not taking any precautions let alone walking around all day in respirators/goggles/gowns/faceshields/appropriate PPE--are exposed when they come into close contact with covid for the defined length of time.
We are not advising anyone to be untruthful here, we are literally talking about the working definition of exposure.
I think it's fair to sum it up as: If you haven't been notified by occ health that you have had a true workplace exposure and you have no good reason to believe that you have had an exposure in the community (according to the proper working definition of exposure), then you have no reason or obligation to make it seem as if you have had an exposure.
Write them a concise letter recounting their actions and informing them of your dissatisfaction with the inappropriateness. Tell them that their office had the obligation to tell you their own practices of who they will and won't see, and that you will notbe paying any no-show fee and will escalate the matter if you hear anything more about it.
This and leave a 1 star rating...state why in your comments. Nearly all health care providers of all sorts have a website where you can leave a rating.
Also as stated before, don’t say what you do. If they ask if you have been exposed to covid, can you honestly say “not that I know of”? Or do you know of positive/active cases? Or state that you have worn PPE as required for job and that you have not had a positive test...
im sorry that this has been your experience. I just had both an eye exam and annual check up without any thing more than the same questions I have to answer to be able to work my scheduled shifts.
NewRN'16, ADN, RN
204 Posts
At my facility we have the rapid 15 mins swab test available. I had to go see my doctor so I had one of my colleagues test me that very day. I also brought all the most recent.tests, we get tested twice a week.
No symptoms, test (-). I was good to go.
It's none of their business if you treat covid patients. As others here have said , you wear PPE and per CDC you haven't been *exposed" to Covid.
This is infuriating that fellow healthcare providers /staff give us a a hard time , and maybe even preventing us to get the care we need.
We are people too.