Know OSHA

JerseyLilly · Aug 29, 2011

I was just hired at a Dr.'s office to be an IV RN. 3 days a week to do IV Chelation, ALA and IV nutrition therapy. Thought this was my dream job. This is a small practice. Just me, the Dr. and a receptionist. Finding out my responsibilities start with vitals, IV's, patient monitoring then... I also have to do all scheduling, referrals, fixing 176 charts, labs, (little things like scheduling sleep studies for a pt who is going out of town 150 miles away). I am supposed to do all of this while monitoring the pts that are getting IV's. Check on them every 15 minutes, hydrate them, feed them, toilet them all while doing office work. Ok so far it is all tolerable but today Dr. says Tues is the day I will have to take over OSHA for the office too. The only thing I know about this is that it is major and a lot of work. I know there are only 3 total workers for this office but he is talking Hippa, OSHA, MSDS and blah blah blah. Can anyone tell me what I am going to have to do. I really got suckered into a job that I did not sign up for. The part time hours just doing IV's sounded great and I agreed to take a huge pay cut due to the simplicity of the job description. I am being paid $20 an hour for the IV stuff. All this other stuff I am going to have to start from ground zero. No one ever even starting record keeping. This is a new office but WOW I don't have a clue. Will this make me an occupational nurse with such a small number of staff. Please am I crazy to take this extra or should I tell him no not without more money.

I would ask for full time hours if you are able to work full time. It sounds like a new business, possibly a new urgent care center??? The OSHA guidelines for record keeping are located online--just do a google search for recordibility--anything beyond first aide is usually a record-able for an employer. The OSHA summary must be posted every February 1st in a manufacturing/or other organizational setting. I think because this is a new business, it has not defined what the essential duties will be. If you have only 3 workers, that is probably the reason why--all upstart duties are shared or clear lines of who does what is not established yet! I would speak to the person who hired you to see if it can be negotiated for more hours and a clearer job description. Unfortunately, many of these new businesses, are often times started by medical people who do not have a management background. If worse comes to worse, then start looking for another job elsewhere. Hope this helps!

katkonk, BSN, RN · Nov 12, 2011

Don't know what has happened in the meantime, but I would ask for as many hours as it takes to get the job done, AND most importantly, some classes so that you (a) know what you are doing (b) get a certification if someone asks and © get nursing continuing education that is paid for. You cannot do something when someone has not taught you what to do. There are always OSHA classes for healthcare and small business facilities. Recordability likely will not be an issue for you, but OSHA mandates for safety, recordkeeping, etc. will. Get the classes or get out of there. Good luck. And you would only be able to log some of your hours toward occupational health, if you are thinking about trying for a certification later on, since you do primarily clinical work not related to occ. health. You will need a HIPAA class, an OSHA class, and an infection control class. I know we used stericycle at one location for our biohazard waste, and they had a nurse that came to do an audit of our clinic. It was amazing the amount of info I learned from her. Plan about 3 to 4 hours for just attending to that though, you cannot be doing other things. If you use stericycle, call them and ask them about it, tell them what you need. Our nurse auditor/educator was excellent. Acutally, I would do that FIRST, and you will have a good idea of what else you need to follow up on. Good luck!