Lost my job again!!!

Moogie · Aug 9, 2009

In my state, vocational rehab will only spend money on people who don't have college degrees, so despite the fact that I desparately wanted to get a MSN in Education, because I have a BA in something else as well as Dip,I don't qualify; you might. Look into that.

Please---check with financial aid at your nearest university. Especially with your BA in another field, you would be a good candidate for an RN to MSN program. Because of the current and projected shortage of nursing instructors, the government has created incentives for nurses to go back to graduate school. I believe that there are forgivable loan programs for prospective nurse educators who go for MSNs or PhDs.

Don't give up.

I first hurt my back on the job at age 23; when I was 42, I was rear-ended by a SUV and ended up with a whiplash injury. Ended up with a couple of cervical disk fusions and a plate in my neck. Lived with pain, especially in the back and shoulders, for years. Finally was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I do have a BSN (started with an ADN) so it's a little easier for me to find non-bedside jobs. I also taught clinicals and skills lab at a baccalaureate program for a couple of years and found that teaching was not as tough on my back as other jobs in nursing. Had to drop out of a MSN program because of finances and other issues, then got married and moved out of the area. Now I'm working on the admission process in a BSN to PhD program---with the intention of teaching again. I've been a bit surprised at the amount of financial aid available---and sometimes, financial aid can help cover your living expenses. (Just a bit of a warning, though---you can't get financial aid if you're a non-degree student, not even if you're taking a couple of classes before you actually start your program. I can't be admitted until January in my program and had hoped to take a couple of classes this fall----wrong---can't get aid because of the "non-degree" status of that one semester. Phooey. I'll just wait then.)

Again, please don't give up.

Reallyconfused0160 · Aug 9, 2009

Hi,

I am sorry about your back pain and I know what it's like and I'm not even a nurse yet. I have one pre-req before I can be waitlisted. I was in a car accident and herniated L4/5 S1 and wow how painful.

They told me after 9 months of pain to have surgery, I put it off. My pain has since improved greatly with physical therapy, losing weight and so forth. I will be a nurse, even if I have a back problem. The way I see it is, every or most professions require lifting etc., and I want to be a nurse so I'm going to.

I will not get surgery no matter how much they push me to. Why should I let them if it is getting better? Why, so I can be on pain meds for the rest of my life, no thank you. I am having a hard enough time getting off of these percocets as it is.

Don't ever think that anything can't happen to you. I was perfectly healthy and got into an auto accident. Are nurses really this mean to each other?

Reallyconfused0160 · Aug 9, 2009

Moogie- I have an associates and two bachelors and I'll be going for my ADN in a year or two. What you need to do is pick any degree program, no matter what it is, then you are classified as being in a program and qualify for Financial Aid. I did it many times. Even if you declare a major in English, Bio, Math, anything, doesn't matter, and take the courses you need to. I am entering my major as General Studies to take A and P so I can be wait listed.

Reallyconfused0160 · Aug 9, 2009

Sorry for all the post, and sorry moogie if i misread your post about declaring a major. Honestly, sometimes I feel like just jumping into an accelerated BSN because of my educational background, but those things are so darn expensive and they also have waitlists. I want to do it the slow way.

I never really thought about nurses and back pain until i started looking in to the profession. I looked into it years ago, but chose other fields because I thought I was not smart enough.

Maybe I have finally realized at the age of 33 i can do anything i want as long as I put my mind to it. I've been through the hospital- gone so many times, wish I hadn't. I just was type of a hypercondriact, and guess what, I'm over that now...Funny

One thing that really p's me off is that I was dx'd with Bipolar disorder. I am not Bipolar but I guess if you tell the doctor that somedays you feel happy, other days sad, you're bipolar!!

I just wish I knew what info I knew now back then. I was thrown so many prescription drugs at me, and not knowing much about them took them. Klonipin for anxiety- GOD! I would have been better off without this stupid drug. Oxycodone for back pain- Ok, yes it did help me for a while, but I stayed on it to long and developed an addiction. Now, anyone can become addicted to this stuff. I'm working on tapering down, I've been on it for a year now. I was even thrown anti-phsycotic meds from my doctor. My MD is a great guy, but I don't know how or why he ended up dx'n me with Bipolar. Just a term they place on you when they don't know what else to do.

It was slight anxiety I had. Sometimes I wish I could go back and edit my records! I do have battles to face - my first- getting off these stupid Oxycodones. Now I know why they are so controlled.

I just feel so bad with nurses who study for so long, put all the effort into it and then get injured and treated like scum. It's not right. What goes around comes around and those people who fire people for back injuries, I'm sorry to say, will lay in their own bed. One day they might get an injury and be in the same situation.

My mom has been a nurse for at least 25 years. I don't know how she does it. She works at the state hospital. She does more than just bedside, and all she has is her ADN and makes 44 bucks an hour, not bad considering she doesn't have a BSN. But I do know one thing...She is ready for retirement. She's 55, I think she's staying on a year or more for a better pension. I've heard the horror stories, guys howling at the moon, although she can never tell me in detail anything about anyone. Just as much to say ...I can't deal with these people howling at the moon anymore!

My goal is to get my ADN or even LPN to RN to BSN and go into nursing that deals with addiction. That's my passion and by reading some of these posts, they do make me second guess, but I'll never know until I try, right?

I hope your back gets better. It is such a horrific intense pain. I've had the shooting down the leg, which is the worse thing. I also have a condition called Trigeminal Neuralgia, and that pain is awful but I learned to live with it.

I see so many nice nurses and then so many grumpy nurses, now i know why some of you are grumpy, with all the crap you have to deal with. Is there National Nurse Day?

Guest343211 · Aug 11, 2009

Obviously you didn't read the part of my post that said, "I am not saying that this is what you are doing." Please read the ENTIRE post before commenting that I am not understanding.
There are TONS of nurses that work every day that have back disabilities. Nursing is one of the top professions for back injuries. They have information all over the hospital on how to prevent them, how to keep them from getting worse, and how to manage them. It's a hazard of our profession.
However....if you are disclosing this fact, have a known lifting restriction, I seriously doubt that this is why you are losing your jobs....as many more nurses work nursing jobs every day, with weight restrictions, that don't lose their jobs.
My post was only stated to get you to take an objective look at what you are doing and saying...if you choose not to go that route, then you'll never find out why you are losing your jobs.
No employee of any company should fear an involuntary termination when that employer has no reason to let you go. That is called a LAY OFF.
If you are let go for a CAUSE...that is what they call being fired.
If they didn't have a concrete reason to let you go, then I sure as heck would have not feared them firing me...in fact, it would have given you huge ammunition for a lawsuit.
But when you quit....or asked to resign...you didn't state the reason...but I am sure they gave you one....which you didn't post at all.

Well, I certainly don't think that anyone needs to feel ruffled, so to speak. And I see you trying to take an objective look at things.

But here's the thing. Unless a person is under contract, union or otherwise, in the USA, they generally work under an old doctrine called At-Will-Employment. AWE does NOT NEED CAUSE to fire, discharge, or let someone go. Under the doctrine an employee can be dismissed for "cause or no cause at all." The balance that AWE supporters try to make is in the weak sense of balance; b/c the doctrine can go either way. That is an employee can terminate the work relationship at any time for reason or not, as can the employer for reason or not. Some small percentage of cases can be won in court in spite of AWE. Nevertheless they are so very few and far between--extremely microscopic, so to speak. The vast majority of any cases for unfair dismissal are lost by the employee or ex-employee. That is the sad reality. Now, just try to leave an employer for reason or not, and not give them due notice. LOL. . .they could in turn use this against you in reference, and if it is a fact, they can use it. So it would be a fact that you left w/o due notice. So that could hurt you in terms of future employment. They, the employers in AWE states, however, can decide to fire you for cause or no cause, or anything they want, short of EEOC protected class issues (which by the way, you have to be able to solidly prove if such a violation occurred), and they can do it w/o any notice to you at all. AWE looks good to those that don't understand the overall impact and the real shifts in power. In short, if people want to be capricious and fire you or get you fired, under AWE it is MORE that feasible, and it happens every single day to many.

I am pretty traditional about a great many things, but I have seen such, well, underhanded evil to people, their lives, professions, livelihood at the hands of this AWE doctrine. The bottom line is that the bulk of the advantage goes to the employers (presumably b/c they are the ones providing the jobs in the economy). But what it fails to do is to maintain a true balance in fair play--in a little thing called good faith. You accept a position and work hard and try to develop yourself in a position in good faith, yet they don't have to honor it from their end. In AWE places, which is just about every play overall in the US, what lawyers, administrators, and HR want will be something to use on paper, should any legal hearing be made. But it isn't necessary. It is usually just a cover-you-butt issue of policy in most institutions. All kinds of trumped up silliness or exaggerated silliness can be put into a file--that you the ex or current employee may or may not see. Its sole purpose is to simply have something for "coverage" just in case. But they don't even have to bother with that, say for example, if you are just a day or two before the 90 probationary period is up. Hmmm, someone decides, "Nah. Don't think we like him or her." No need to write anything except generating a simple, generic letter that says that you did not "make your probation" or the like. How convenient. NO cause is necessary. Under AWE, they have the aboslute right to have someone from within influence someone else and decide, "Ey. We don't like her. She probably "won't fit." Such nonsense is played out all the time. And, well, they also love using how many times an employee was counseled for excused absences. Doctor's note or not, most places have set policies on absences and how their occurrences fall. Listen, they almost always have a way to get rid of a person, unless the employee somehow falls under a protected EEOC status. Then it makes it a whole lot more difficult trying to get rid of those that fall under it or could fall under it. It still isn't perfectly easy to prove EEOC vilations, but it is a pain in their butt, with EEOC people coming in to investigate and any potential leak to the press--usually administration will just not bother upsetting the ole EEOC applecart--unless there is some very strong dislike for the person. But they stil know then that they must tread very cautiously in getting rid of someone that may fall under some EEOC status.

At the end of the day, unless you really need the unemployment, and even then in many cases you can still apply for it, but the big thing--again, in the end it is to be able to keep yourself employable. I would say unless there is some huge reason to fight some wrongful or unfair discharge, do your best to have a resignation and let that be the basis for leaving.

And many employment lawyers will advice you in this way b/c they know the odds and they know that AWE is something that is probably not going to change anytime soon. They will tell you to do what you can to be employable. You do what you can to "get the last word," so to speak. Not in a prideful way,, it is NOT about that. It is about self-preservation--in a self-preservation kind of way, you must maintain your ability to be as empoyable as possible. And trust me, no matter what they may or may not say upon reference checking, most other applications will ask if you have ever been discharged or terminated or some similar word. So even if it is unfair, and really many, many time it really is unfair, it automatically puts you in the down position.

Stay employable. That's the key to survival.

Reallyconfused0160 · Aug 15, 2009

I agree about staying employable. I was fired because I filed a WC claim at a non health care employer. They got upset with me because I appealed the WC claim, after harassing me. When I was terminated in an email that said I no longer have a position due to the pain I endure (not back pain, another type of physical pain caused by someone at the workplace), but they also put "If we can be of any help if you need a reference." I should have quit, but it would have been harder to obtain UI.

I was able to keep my unemployment, but had to fight for it. Unemployment benefits can be crucial to keep your head above water!

Moogie · Aug 15, 2009

Moogie- I have an associates and two bachelors and I'll be going for my ADN in a year or two. What you need to do is pick any degree program, no matter what it is, then you are classified as being in a program and qualify for Financial Aid. I did it many times. Even if you declare a major in English, Bio, Math, anything, doesn't matter, and take the courses you need to. I am entering my major as General Studies to take A and P so I can be wait listed.

Oh, hon, it's okay. :) Grad school is a different sort of animal and you have to apply for a different school (i.e., the College of Nursing or the College of Fine Arts) rather than declare a major. Even if you're waiting to get into a program (like I'll hopefully get into the program in July) but want to take classes before you get in, you're a non-degree student, eligible for zero financial aid.

Please feel free to PM me; I hear you saying that you want to go slow but going to an accelerated BSN program might be the most efficient way for you to reach your goal of getting a job that will be easier on your back.

Take care, okay?

Reallyconfused0160 · Aug 16, 2009

Hi Moogie!

Thanks for the reply. I've wondered about the accererated BSN program. I often doubt myself and wonder if I'm good enough to get in. I read forums where one school only accepted I believe 32 students out of 140. The cost is crazy too, but you are right, it might be the best way to get in. I'm thinking that maybe I should do the required pre-reqs and apply. If I do all the pre-reqs early,and apply, it can't hurt right? I'll have them done anyways (A/P2, Medical Micro, and a few others). The cost is more expensive but once I get into a program I'll be eligable for FA.

The school I went to put me into Gen. Studies Health Care so I'd be eligable for FA. I'm having such a hard time paying these bills, that without FA I'd be doomed to say the least. Are you waiting to get into an Accelerated program? Hope you get in!

Reallyconfused0160 · Aug 16, 2009

Do you know if there is a need for nurses to work overnight shifts? I am deff not a morning person, a true night owl! When I wake up, I am in extreme pain, not in my back, but my head. Where I used to work, one of my lovely co-workers decided she was going to be funny and threw ice at my head.

For about 3 yrs I went undx'd and they finally dx'd me with Trigeminal Neuralgia because of the ice. The pain feels like someone is constantly punching you in the face, but seems to be better as the day goes on, just hate the waking up part.

I wouldn't want any special treatment for this once I get into a job, but I did inquire about disability services at my school. This Tegratol is supposed to stop the pain. I just need my neurologist to listen to me and hear me out because it's not helping. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that he's a neuro, but when a med doesn't work, it's time for a change!! The narcotic pain pills that I'm on do nothing for it and I'm getting off of those. Just forgot what life was like without this terrible pain and now the WC is so slow.

It's funny how you can be one of the best employees, till you get injured by a co-worker! Blah. I'm better off not being with that company. I want a company that sets high standards.

lecavalier4 · Apr 21, 2010

I know I haven't posted in awhile, but I have been having really tough times. Thank you everyone for the support and understanding. I have been out of work since that job forced me to resign (July 2009). Well, let me rephrase that, I haven't had a full time job since July 2009. I worked for an agency doing flu shots in October 2009 for 5 or 6 shifts. But that's it. I haven't been able to find anything at all. I applied for unemployment, but was denied due to "I didn't make enough money in the quarter" or something of that nature. Right now I am on public welfare, which really sucks, but the health benefits are excellent. In the meantime, I applied for SSD/SSI and was denied - I have since acquired an attorney to appeal that decision. But even through all of that, I still have been applying for jobs - non-lifting or very little lifting jobs - and I still have not been hired. I have such a wonderful family that is very supportive. I live with my parents because I cannot afford to live an my own. I am single and have no children. I am currently looking at Universities to do RN to MSN for nursing education. But there is a problem with that too. If I am a full time student, I will lose my welfare benefits. Life just sucks right now, but I am still hanging on!

Sorry this post was so long!

rn5878 · Apr 26, 2012

actually babylady, i too have been let go because of my back...twice. i have had 3 back surgeries. the company stated that they felt that i could no longer perform the physical requirements of the job and that it would be a major liability to keep me working in an icu where i often perform heavy lifting. they still let me go even after i was cleared by neurosurgery. i spoke to a lawyer about it. they told me i had no case at all if the hospital felt i did not meet the physical requirements of the job. the lawyer also said the hospital was not required to accept a letter from a neurosurgeon whom was not their own. so lecavalier4 , i understand where you're coming from. it's an unfair situation and people are so judgmental and have nothing better to do than assume you're faking it or whatever. what they should be doing is taking care of their patients and minding their own business. i bust my butt at work, am charge nurse often, and have earned my ccrn and cnrn. i am on two committees. i feel like nurses are so mean to each other sometimes!

dhusc1228 · Apr 28, 2012

SS will turn you down the first time..good luck!