Assingment under protest

Nurses Safety

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Just curious if anyone here has ever used an Assingment Under Protest form and what was the result? What happens to these forms after you hand them in to managment and....should copies be sent to risk management?....lt just seem for all the talk and proactive measures, nothing ever seems to change. At least that is the impression l get from reading various post here...And what about retaliation???...and was it worth it in the end?..Sorry for all the questions, but things have become unbearable at work lately. Seems we are expected to do more and more with less and less....you've heard the story before....We are a BUSY ER....coorperate admin won't admit becaues we are a smaller sattlelite hosp..but...right off the interstate, many bars and ECF's all around and a booming community.....we have 23 beds in our ER. l work 2nd/3d shift we don't even have a NA after 8:30 pm!

A while back, the nurses were given the responsibility of doing the EKG's....then they tell us we have a 10min window to get it done for c/o CP..and the time frame is based on their registration time....When the ER is rocking, and staffing isn't optimal to start with, it is not uncommon to be the only nurse working up a pale sweaty CP....takes forever sometimes when you are alone....... sorry, l digress......

Has anyone ever used an assingment under protest form then experienced retaliation?.....advise and suggestions appreciated........thanks.......LR

I feel for ya Leah. I look forward to the responses to this question. I've yet to inquire as to the where abouts of this form at my facility, but I feel it's time to find out, make a few copies, and keep them in my mailbox. :rolleyes:

Heather

Yes Heathe, l'm with you...just wonder if we will run into each other in the ''free government cheese line'' after we use them?..

LR...........:eek:

:rotfl: :lol2: :rotfl:

Not the same thing, but along the same lines.....

I was put in a position once that I wasn't comfortable with. We have a post partum unit and nursery. We also have a gyn/antepartum unit, and they sometimes take our overflow post partum patients. For this reason, this unit has it's own nursery. Now at the time I was not oriented to charge nurse in the nursery, I was a capable 2nd RN though. Well, the smaller nursery only requires 1 person to staff it (CRAZY!), so they decided to put me in there.

I did it, but the next day I placed a typed letter on my supervisors desk. I respectfully declined being placed in such a capacity until I had received formal orientation, and requested that all people in charge of making staffing decisions for my shift be alerted to this. I also had a copy of the letter placed in my file in Human Resources.

No backlash. Of course, I had to beg to even get within a mile of the nursery for about 6 months.

Heather

Here are two places to find out a little bit of information, on assignment despite of objection.

http://www.ana.org/readroom/position/workplac/wkassign.htm

http://www.florenceproject.org/ado.shtml

On a personal note, I brought one to work intending on utilizing it when the staffing numbers were so low they were causing immediate danger to the residents (I work in LTC and Subacute) and when the topic was presented the retaliation factor became a priority for me. I have since left the position, wishing I would have used the tool. I have heard of a few nurses using the form in the hospital setting with better results, they took the assignment but atleast it was noted thier concerns and a paper trail was established.

Michele

Sorry l.rae that you're having a rough time. I sure do know how it feels!

The worse experience I ever had (and the one that forever changed my attitude about management) was when I was working LTC on the medicare hall. I had 36 residents, IVs, extensive dressing changes, most were bedrest, two peritoneal dialysis residents, etc. And I was alone. And, I do mean alone. No CNAs, no CMTs, nothing. Just me. Just me to feed, turn, reposition, pass meds, do IVs, treatments, answer call lights, chart, etc. There was no one to pull to the hall because the entire building was staffed like that, while management sat in their offices laughing and eating pizza. While my residents suffered.

I called my BON, and they said don't take the assignment at all. But, silly me!, I believed that if I wasn't there, my residents wouldn't have anyone. So, they said to do a protest letter. I was afraid I'd get fired. But, the BON said, you might lose your job, but that's better than losing your license.

I hand wrote an "assignment under protest" letter, made copies, hand delivered one to admin, mailed one to the BON, another to the Division of Aging. Then, I refused to take the same assignment the next day. They terminated me for "refusing to take an assignment."

I heard that when DOA walked in, magically, they had sufficient staff. They staffed with agency and shipping in nurses on temporary permits from other states. Management can ALWAYS find staff when they want to bad enough. That's worth repeating: Management can ALWAYS find staff when they want to bad enough.:mad:

By the way, I was subpoened for three different lawsuits as a witness. One was federal medicare fraud, one from a family about a hip fx d/t negligence, and another was wrongful death. Happy as can be that I had documented a protest!

I have filled out 2-3 AUPs. I have yet to see any changes or feedback. I filed these for inadequate staffing. But then, because staffing is so bad on my unit, we are now having the natural consequence of mass RN exodus. About 10 of us are leaving. I am going to transfer to another unit soon, one that in general, is not as high acuity. I am tired of being treated like dirt, and doing the work of 2 nurses for the price of one. :(

I have never seen this form. Wouldn't mind having it handy though. I agree that it is better to lose your job than your license. It's hard to stand up to management, but if something goes wrong, they are going to believe management over 1 nurse unless there is documentation. I'm glad I read this post. I think I'll change my colors and find this form.

Originally posted by l.rae

Has anyone ever used an assingment under protest form then experienced retaliation?.....advise and suggestions appreciated........thanks.......LR

No retaliation...Just nothing changed. Or, it changed for a week and went back to "normal". I guess this could be a subtle form of retaliation?

In New York, I've filled them out daily!!! Management does not care for them, because it throws all the responsibility in their lap, if something disasterous happened with a patient. I would have 15 pat. at a time--MRSA, hips/knees, tele, and babies on apnea monitors, not to mention all the other surgicals. I would fill them out every shift I worked, and daily. It forces the administration to look at staffing, and after an hour passed they had enough staff. Here in NY they're called Protest of Assignment. In that hospital the nursing dept., union, and nurse each got a copy. We are to keep them for 7 yrs.

Everyone has a different opinion of what poor staffing is. I work on a ltc/rehab floor. Max is 40 pts, we usually have 34-40. We are suppose to have 4 cna's. We usually have 3, we are suppose to have 2 nurses, but I and every nurse on 3-11 almost always work alone. Rehab pts know what they are suppose to do to get back on their feet and they complain loudly that there is not enough staff to help them. My shift is supposed to end at 11:15. Our census was 39 the last 2 nights I worked and I was still passing meds and doing treatments at 11:00 when next shift nurse came on. Its crazy.

Because their isn't enough aides I often stop and give bedpans or walk pts to BR,etc. I don't mind, but it does slow me down. The other night I asked an aide to help me hold a pt over so I could put a new duoderm on coccyx, pt needed a new attend, and there were none in the room, as usual. Central supply is suppose to make sure attends are in closets, but there are never any in pts rooms. Sometimes there's no attends on the unit. Then we have to call and ask for them. If we complain about anything it is thrown back in our faces that WE should find a way to fix things or prevent them from happening.

Just give us enough staff and give us the supplies we need, before we have to beg for them.

Thanks for all the responses...l don't think anything will ever change..it is so discouraging....our acuity..ER...waxes and wanes so staffing needs vary, but they don't staff for worst case scenario.....now have a mandatory call list...so there you have it. They truely do not care about the nursing shortage...l just don't get it.......LR

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