Pregnancy is not a disease!!! (vent)

[RN4life#1]

I am so upset right now:angryfire I work as a PCT in a busy ER on the weekends. There is a girl who found out she is pregnant a couple of months ago, and now she thinks that's an excuse not to do her share of the work. We have 22 er rooms in which we have 3 PCT's to cover 2 in the back splitting rooms and 1 in triage. Last night the pregnant tech who is 4-5 months pregnant (3rd child by the way) would not empty her laundry bags or help take her admitted patients upstaris! Now I understand if you have complications then you should be at home or on light duty, not in the er where it is very busy for you to just fold your arms and ignore your work!. I had to take her patients up and mine and still maintain the care for my own pts. I am not the one who got her pregnant if she feels she can't carry out her duties then maybe she and the baby's father need to work it out where she can stay at home, because employers are to treat you like any other employee who is not pregnant.

I hope I don't come off sounding mean but that's how I feel, I have two kids of my own and worked very hard with both until it was time for me to deliver with no mercy:trout:. You do what you got to do!

[fergus51]

So much drama and martyrs...

Not wanting to do all a pregnant coworkers work just because they are pregnant (ie still healthy) doesn't make people mean. It also doesn't mean they won't help pregnant coworkers with actual problems. Those are two separate issues.

[RNCRNA2BE]

Ok RNCRNA2BE I hear what your saying and no one is asking that she put off having a chid and true know can predict the outcome of the pregnancy, BUT why should I have to pick up your slack b/c you are preg. If the job is more than she can handle pls look for another position where the work is not as physicaly demanding.

I get your point as well, but it's not so easy to just get another job. Who else will let me sit behind a desk and pay me my rn salary that I order to pay my bills. At my job, I asked for light duty at the time and was told that there was none. I had to take a loa and return with full duty. Luckily, everything has been fine since I've been back.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Give and take.....this is what I would say to any pregnant coworker who refuses to take up any slack or do her share in some way or another....

Pregnant women can and darn well should take up slack in other areas that lie in the realm of their abilities. And I am sorry, but MRSA, VRE and TB and other such illnesses are just as dangerous to my kids and loved ones as they would be your family, newborn, unborn or otherwise. I do not want to take such diseases home any more than you do. So why should I take all the isolation patients for you? If your dr writes a note for a given situation, I accept that. But don't tell me yours and your family's safety is more important than mine, cause I ain't bitin'. And remember, if you are that concerned, in the public, at Walmart, church, social gatherings, restaurants, you can pick up MRSA, TB and CMV (and other possibly dangerous communicable diseases) easily, as you have no idea with whom you are surrounding yourself. Are you going to give up such outings? I hardly think so. You (as well as all of us) took on bedside nursing knowing that potential exposure to nasty diseases, hard work, long hours and night/weekend/holiday shifts were part of the package.

Your pregnancy did not suddenly change any of that, especially for your colleagues beside you.

So my answer would be to do what I did when pregnant: Take universal and recommended precautions; please, just do your job to the best of your ability. I will gladly do some of the heavy lifting for you, (because I don't want to see you in preterm labor or injured )----but perhaps you can do some of the meal tray passes, med passes, discharges, paperwork, etc. for me? If you can't do anything in your job description, then do your beleaguered coworkers a favor and get some medical leave of absence and give us all a break.

If this sounds mean, I am sorry----but I find some people's excuses just plain lame and I do not take too kindly to a person thinking the safety and wellbeing of her family may be more important than those of anyone else's.

Give and take.

[RNCRNA2BE]

This situation in the OP is a person who doesn't want to work BECAUSE she is pregnant. If she knows that she doesn't want to work at be pregnant, then she needs to make other arrangements. Either don't get pregnant or find a job that will allow pregnancy within the scope of what she is willing to do.

I worked pregnant, until 10 days before my son was born because I had to work. My coworkers were great, and I picked up slack when they didn't want me to do something. Instead of pushing beds, I would give their meds. To refuse to do the job that you are being paid for and NOT be of assistance to your coworkers has nothing to do with their situation..it has to do with lazyness.

If there is a real medical reason that one cannot do the job then their doctor needs to step in a put them out on disability. It's a two way street and your coworkers will work with you, as long as you continue to work fair.

Trust me my reading comprehension skills are not failing me. As usual the thread is morphing into something else. From just plain lazy coworker who happens to be pregnant to women who are pregnant should not receive consideration. I said that laziness on the job is not acceptable whether pregnant or not. I wasn't lazy. That's probably what got me into trouble.

[RNCRNA2BE]

Give and take people. Pregnant women can AND should take up slack in other areas. And I am sorry, but MRSA is just as dangerous to my kids and dh as it would be your family, newborn, unborn or otherwise. I do not want to take it home any more than you do. So why should I take all the isolation patients for you? If your dr writes a note for a given situation, I accept that. But don't tell me yours and your family's safety is more important than mine, cause I ain't bitin'. Take precautions, like the rest of us and please, just do your job to the best of your ability. I will do some of the heavy lifting for you, (because I don't want to see you in preterm labor)----but perhaps you can do some of the meal tray passes, med passes, discharges, paperwork, and other things for me?

GIVE and TAKE.

Oh, I have no prob with mrsa or vre patients. The only patients I won't touch are the ones who come with the possibility of teratogenic effects on my baby like shingles, or tb. I'm sorry, but who is willing to take rifampin or give their child mental retardation by taking care of a shingles or tb patient? Not me for sure.

[SmilingBluEyes]

And no one said you should have to risk known hospital exposure to certain such diseases. You can always get a dr note for such situations, obviously.....and as I said, be aware public exposure is very possible, if not likely, so you can't always control these things.

When I was pregnant, I took care of patients with possible (and later, known) TB and known MRSA, and took the appropriate precautions. If a known case of CMV, for example, came in, I would have asked to defer. This is not what the original complaint was however, from what I read....

The thread started out discussing women who won't take ANY isolation patients, lift a finger or do their share, all at the cost to their coworkers. These are the ones who need to take a LOA and give their coworkers a break or just buck up and do their part, barring certain known teratogenic situations like you describe above.