facing a write up

[Laina81]

I suffer from migraines and do have FMLA to use when necessary.

Last weekend the PICU I work in was incredibly short staffed. I was having an aura but tried to be a team player and suck it up. I did end up having to leave later in the shift.

Unfortunately, a family felt that I was not attentive enough, even though I was in the room ever half hour, and for 2 hours straight at one point, which my documentation reflects. The patient was being down graded and would transfer the next day.

I am now facing a written warning. Can they do that? I have a documented medical condition covered by the ADA and have NEVER had a patient or family complaint before. Is there anything I can do to avoid this write up?

In the future I plan to protect myself and use my FMLA, but is there anything I can do for the current situation?

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

If you documented accordingly and the patient was cared for, I am not sure what you could be written up for, other than patient satisfaction which is such an important thing to the powers that be.

Regardless,you can only state what you said here, that in the spirit of teamwork, you did what you could in the timeline you were able until your condition made it impossible to continue. Another point would be did you have anyone to report off to anyways? You wouldn't want to be abandoning patients, so you had little choice.

Their short staffing is not your issue. Do not go into any meeting or sign anything without a union rep. Additionally, contact your malpractice insurance for guidance.

[Wuzzie]

They went straight to a written warning without giving you a verbal first? Have you been calling out a lot for your migraines? Hate to tell you this but it sounds like they are creating the infamous "paper trail" on you. I've seen this happen many times (including to me). You aren't doing anything really wrong that they can immediately fire you for. Nebulous, hard to deny/prove "complaints" start cropping up from families and other co-workers (but they won't tell you who or what specifically). Heavy-handed discipline follows (ie. written up instead of being talked to for seemingly minor issues). On paper they make you look like a terrible employee deserving of being terminated, because it protects them, when the reality is somebody has an agenda and getting rid of you is on the top of the list. So you start getting written up for stupid stuff that barely meets the criteria of a genuine infraction and most of it isn't even true but there's no way to defend yourself. Moral of the story. Start re-working your resume and if you see the above start happening get out before they terminate you. Sorry to be such a downer but I've been doing this gig for a long time and I've seen this happen to some very good nurses who were lovely people.

[Laina81]

Hi Wuzzie,

That is what I was afraid of, so I am already polishing up the old resume and looking into new options.

I have not been calling out excessively for my migraines, maybe once a month to every other month, and that is why I have FMLA in place to protect me.

and jadelpn I did report off so there is no issue of patient abandonment.

Our unit is kind of a hot mess right now, with 13 staff members leaving in the past 2 months, and 8 new grads starting. I love what I do but am starting to feel like it may be time to move on.