HELP Recyle disabled nurses

Nurses General Nursing

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I know that I am not the only nurse who is no longer working as a nurse due to a back injury. In the US, OSHA requires that you be able to lift 50 lbs to work on the floor as a nurse. I can't.

My "reasonable accomodation" was a move to watch heart monitors on the med-tele. floor where I worked. I also took quite a pay cut to do this. My only other option was to be unemployed.

I have my BSN, ACLS and over 15 years of nursing experience. I can't lift much, but I am still capable of starting IVs, inserting foleys, giving meds, assessing pts and knowing when a pt is in trouble. Frequently, I am a resource person to the nurses I work with, answering questions and debating options.

Years ago, I saw a news story on this nursing student who graduated and worked from her wheelchair. I can still walk, but am not allowed to work as a nurse but someone in a wheelchair can? This doesn't make sense.

There is a nursing shortage. It is bad....I see the shortage every day at work. I have good clinical skills and experience. And I am not alone. Is there any way that we can recycle and use nurses who are still able to perform a great deal of the core skills required in the daily routine of nursing care?

Can anyone out there (or here) help us......We want to help you by being able to do the work we have been trained to do and by working with you.

Thank you for your help.

Welcome, Discarded APN! I enjoyed your post and am sure everyone else will too!

I'd love to join a support group like this. Perhaps with a united front we can get something accomplished.

I correspond with a nurse who finally gave up with the title 'nurse' because of what you are saying, Discarded. She finally got the Florida Workers Comp Board to pay to send her back to school for her BSW (social work) where there are NO lifting requirements in the job description.

Now she works doing essentially the same thing as a nurse case manager.....but for less money as a social worker. She was REFUSED the job of nurse case manager at her hospital...although we all know they don't lift anything heavier than a 3 ring binder. Grrr.

They use the title nurse and the job description of lifting to hang us. :(

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I agree with you all. I would like to get invovled in a group to help fight the issue of tossed out Nurses do to what we can't do. They do need to look at what we can do. I was let go because I couldn't push a med cart on a new plush pile carpet and I couldn't lift over 50lbs. mattsmom I am on SSD myself I got it immediately after waiting 6 mos. I had all the Dr.s that were invovled in my case send all medical records that pertained to my case. That way Social Security could pick out what they needed. It also saved time by not having a ton of forms to fill out. You can add me to your list of people to talk to NY Times. I live in Mass.

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Can someone help me with the decision to apply for SSD. I have long term disability coverage. I can collect that for a total of 60 months. After jumping through all the hoops required to finally collect that, I'm being pushed by the LTD company to get SSD. If I'm successful in getting that, the LTD company will subtract those payments from my LTD payments. It seems that I will be helping the LTD company rather than it really being a benefit for me. The LTD payments are about 60% of my base pay (I have to pay taxes on what they send me, they don't take out any taxes and it is taxable) and I am allowed to work enough (if anybody would hire me, not happening) to make the other 40% before loosing any of the payments.

Can you earn anything while collecting SSD? At this point would it be worth the hassle to apply for SSD?

Thanks for your help.

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Discarded APN:

Welcome to this thread. I believe that it is a support to those in our position, justhaving a place to vent and ask questions.

I am not on SSD....still working but watching heart monitors. Two places to check for help with SSD would be the LTD company (since it is in their best interest for you to proceed) and Human Resources at your employer (they should have a person who could be of some help).

Hang in there. I know things are tough. I still have my job but took a big paycut (probably about as equivlant as the 40 percent you lost). If nothing else, we can work together (which this thread is the start of, I hope) to make things better for other injuried nurses.

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Mercykitten,

Thank you for your reply. I know that the LTD company will help me get the SSD. It just feels like giving up, if I go for it then I'm just accepting the fact that I'll never work again. I know there are things that I can do. I could present lectures through the University where I taught nursing about "How to Protect Yourself from Your Employer". (just kidding or maybe not)

Just need to know if the SSD is worth it. After seeing how employers treat nurses in general and disabled nurses in particular, I just don't know who to trust anymore.

I'm glad I found this thread. There really is safety in numbers.

It's great to talk with people who really understand because they've been there, done that. Now we just need the t-shirt.

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discarded APN:

Ever heard the one "life is a journey" ....and something else about the "friends we pick up on the way."

Don't think of going on SSD as giving up, but as part of the journey. Just because you're in Michigan doesn't mean you can't make it back to Kansas. But you might have to be in Michigan (on SSD) for a while.....

As you are in Michigan and on the journey back (to working) it is the friends you make, the people you meet and the process inside yourself that makes it worthwhile and also helps develope you in the way you need to go.

For instance, I am considering going toward Peds. Because my husband and I have not been able to have children, I couldn't do that earlier. I wasn't crying outside or inside, but I needed time to get to this point. Do you understand?

I want to say here also, that faith in the Lord is the biggest help in any difficult area of life. Maybe that would be a subject for another thread.

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Mercykitten:

Thank you. Yes I've heard that "Life is a Journey" sometimes we just get tired of tripping over the rocks in the road. I'm finding more help, support and encouragement from people on this board than I have from people I worked with. Amazing how fast they can disappear when the going gets rough.

Peds is a great area to work in. I've done most of my 16 years in nursing in Peds. I know what you mean about being able to get to that level where you can think about working peds. I applaud you for getting there. I know how difficult it can be to work in an area that holds such a personal stake for you. That could be another thread too. I wish you the best in that pursuit. Take care.

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

Nursing has yet to respect its' 'healthy' staff, let alone its' 'injured staff' even if our injuries occur on the job. I am currently off trying to regain as much strength in my right arm due to a severe right arm injury suffered on the job five years ago. I was working agency at the time, so didn't have to worry about being 'let go' or anything, nor did I get to collect any monies for having given my right limb on the battlefield of nursing, either. For a few months, I collected medical insurance monies while I underwent extensive sports medicine treatment, but with the type of injury I sustained, it is always a re-occuring injury. Over the past 5 years, I have been in and out of physical therapy. Things got so bad, I went for counseling. Today, I am determined to re-enter the field of nursing sometime in the near future because this damn good nurse is NOT going to let her education and training go to waste!

I use to be a CNA Clinical Instructor which I loved, so perhaps that's an avenue us injured nurses can pursue. Have you given any consideration to being a CNA Instructor? If you can't do the Clinical side of the CNA training, opt to only be their Didactic Instructor in the classroom and college lab setting. Where there is a will there is a way! Best of everything to you! :)

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I want to let everyone know how much I appreciate your responses. We have some good advice here, but more importantly, we are together in our difficulties. I no longer feel as alone with this problem. I am grateful that we can do positive things through this thread.

Again as I have said before, although we cannot lift there are plenty of other nursing skills we have to offer. The nursing shortage is only going to worsen as the current nurses age and baby boomers enter their more needful medical years. At some point, the solutions to the shortage with have to take thinking outside the box, into parameters that will utilize nurses with disabilities, nurses who still have abilities. We all have a lot to offer.

Actually we have been joking on my floor that we will never be able to retire. We'll be taking care of pts and ourselves, walking down the hall with our walkers and changing each others depends.

Let us therefore continue to care for each other now, as we may be taking care of each other for the duration.

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Thank you for the education. I appologize for my pollyanna posts earlier. :imbar

I believe all of us not just those who are disabled now need to become concerned and enlightened about this isssue. Because next week or month or year this could be me.

This is a very upsetting issue that we only become aware of when we ourselves are in that situation. :o

I am going to be following this thread closely to educate myself and others about this. What is happening to you is plain WRONG.

I do not want to waite until I am in your shoes. Thank you!

Respectfully

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Discarded, I have begun the process of applying for SSD and have many questions and concerns, as you do....on the application forms it asks about LTD monies and the like...they realize this will end. It takes months to get through the initial processing so everyone has told me to 'apply now' with the initial info, then go after the documentation in the months following. So...that is what I'm proceeding to do. Here's the link to the homepage and it leads to other forms, etc. and walks you through the app process, you can do the initial app online:

http://www.ssa.gov

I know of a nurse who has been on SSD for quite awhile and is finally getting assistance to return PT for her masters to teach and have gainful employment. She is allowed to make a small amount of money and still keep her benefits. Her state Rehab Association is assisting her. So....I know it isn't necessarily a dead end street...people do improve and return to school and work. There is also a nine month 'trial' work period where you continue to receive benefits while you see if you can hack work.

It is interesting reading on this SSD site and I'm educating myself about SSD....gives me something to focus on.:)

I am enjoying reading everyone's stories...maybe misery loves company ...LOL....but it feels good to not feel so alone. :)

PS...I've been also having panic attacks on top of the pain and depression.....I finally saw someone for it yesterday so I'm dealing with that... actually thought I might be having a heart attack last night...panic attacks are not fun...:(....thank you all for your prayers!

(((HUGS))) to all! And sorry so long...

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mattsmom,

Thank you for the encouragement. I think I'll give in and start that application process. My LTD company actually decided to pay for classes for work as a Legal Nurse Consultant. Something that I would be able to do from home. I'm almost through the program. We'll see how it works out.

I have my MSN and experience in research (that was the job I had when I started my disablility leave), I was a clinical instructor in a BSN program, a contributing author for a textbook and a few other things along the way. The Occupational rehab consultant was trying to help me get a job with an insurance company and was told that I was overqualified. Other insurance companies looked promising. Funny how those jobs were no longer "office" jobs, but suddenly changed to require travel to patient homes and the doctor's offices to gather information on the patient's medical history. (I'm no longer able to drive) One of the things that this Occupational rehab consultant said that sticks in my mind was that hospitals and other health institutions were the least compassionate and the hardest to deal with when trying to help disabled employees. If this is how they treat "one of their own" makes you wonder how they treat others. But then again they can make money off the illnesses, injuries, disabilities, misfortunes of others without having to lay out a penny for sick leave, health insurance etc.

I'm really sorry to hear about the pain you are in and the anxiety attacks and depression. You are in my thoughts and prayers. If there is any way that I can help you please let me know. Sometimes just someone to talk to who has been or is in the same/similar situation helps. Since I lost sensation and function in my lower extremities I no longer feel physical pain. The emotional pain is obviously hanging on. Our brains still work. We do have a lot to offer. I often wonder if the original authors of the ADA are aware of the holes that employers have shot through that disabilities act. Maybe our united group should find a way to contact the politicians responsible and see if they can help.

(((HUGS))) Sorry, this ended up much longer than I had intended.

Thanks for listening.

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