I work in a small community hospital, emergency room. The hospital is very involved in this big push for customer service right now. Though many of the changes are patient based and generally well accepted, many of them are very insensitive and border on legal and ethical issues with staff. For instance, many workers have been forced to change uniforms with a week's notice, being measured for and getting one to two uniforms given to them, having to pay exorbitant prices if they want more (obviously having one uniform when you work 6 or 7 days in a row will be an issue). In the beginning of the year, nurses will be required to change to white uniforms, with no clothing allowance or uniforms given (i as well as most nurses spend several hundred dollars a year on the navy uniforms we have worn for years and now will have absolutely no use for). Starting today, we are no longer allowed to have any food or drinks anywhere on the unit, which i totally understand the food, but our break room is very out of the way from the rest of the unit, and anyone working 12 hr shifts in a busy er knows you are lucky if you get 10 mins to eat a lunch let alone get breaks where you can get something to drink. I don't see how i can be made to run like crazy all those hours and not be allowed to have a bottle of water in the nursing station, which is high enough to be totally out of view of any patients. Imagine telling someone in a desk job that they are allowed to drink only on their breaks, that's ludicrous. Also, and yes, i am a smoker, and beginning in jan 1, we are no longer allowed to smoke anywhere on hospital property, including outside, parking lots, etc, there will be no designated smoking area. The kicker is, leaving the hospital grounds is considered patient abandonment even if on a break or at lunch, and punishable by immediate termination. Can a job legally say what i can or can't do on a break?? any input from others going through something similar would be great.
