Pregnancy and light duty

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Hey all. 

I am almost 34 weeks pregnant and am starting to struggle a lot at work. I work med surg with 6 patients. I am finding that I still get heavy assignments, find myself lifting way too much patient-wise, moving beds, barely sitting down or having enough time to even drink water. I really only have Braxton Hicks contractions at work and my back kills me at work!

I don’t feel I am going to be able to work full duty until term. Did any of you have any luck with light duty? At my work they have accommodated light duty for other nurses, I just don’t know with covid and everything going on how it’ll work. ? I am planning on trying to make it two more weeks and then talking with my doctor about light duty. It’s just SUCH a bad time for this amidst the pandemic but I am pregnant, and it is what it is. ?

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I think your first action should be to care for yourself the way nurses should feel they can whether they are pregnant or not.

For example, there is likely a job description that gives an idea of what you should be able to lift and I can almost guarantee it is significantly less than what is involved in moving a heavy patient even with another helper. You need to ask for help and pretty much insist on it. Next, you must drink water. All of us should. And in the grand scheme and birds-eye view of everything-everything, there is no real reason not to. The place isn't going to go up in flames if we do, and if it were going to go up in flames because nurses drink water, then other people would be the first ones with a duty to change something instead of nurses feeling like they can't take a drink or  don't have time to keep themselves minimally hydrated.

The rest of this is going to depend up on your doctor's recommendations and the way the idea of light duty is received by your employer. Many a nurse has been told that they need to be off if they can't perform the complete role.

Take the easy actions (mentioned in examples above, etc.) in the interest of your own health until you get this figured out.

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6 minutes ago, JKL33 said:

I think your first action should be to care for yourself the way nurses should feel they can whether they are pregnant or not.

For example, there is likely a job description that gives an idea of what you should be able to lift and I can almost guarantee it is significantly less than what is involved in moving a heavy patient even with another helper. You need to ask for help and pretty much insist on it. Next, you must drink water. All of us should. And in the grand scheme and birds-eye view of everything-everything, there is no real reason not to. The place isn't going to go up in flames if we do, and if it were going to go up in flames because nurses drink water, then other people would be the first ones with a duty to change something instead of nurses feeling like they can't take a drink or  don't have time to keep themselves minimally hydrated.

The rest of this is going to depend up on your doctor's recommendations and the way the idea of light duty is received by your employer. Many a nurse has been told that they need to be off if they can't perform the complete role.

Take the easy actions (mentioned in examples above, etc.) in the interest of your own health until you get this figured out.

Thanks for your reply. I agree that I need to take those basic actions but honestly most shifts I’m so busy I can barely get a moment to get water. Also asking for help is doable but hard. I float a lot because I’m pregnant and work on a covid floor, and a lot of times I get major attitude from CNAs when I ask then for help. The other night I was THE ONLY NURSE with a CNA on an overflow area. I had to call upstairs for witnesses and whatnot. I’m not making excuses, I just feel that my workplace is not accommodating at all being pregnant, and I am starting to feel I’m putting myself and my baby at risk. 
I will try to be better about insisting I need help, but I am hoping I am able to go the light duty route. Thank you! 

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2 hours ago, Swirl531 said:

Hey all. 

I am almost 34 weeks pregnant and am starting to struggle a lot at work. I work med surg with 6 patients. I am finding that I still get heavy assignments, find myself lifting way too much patient-wise, moving beds, barely sitting down or having enough time to even drink water. I really only have Braxton Hicks contractions at work and my back kills me at work!

I don’t feel I am going to be able to work full duty until term. Did any of you have any luck with light duty? At my work they have accommodated light duty for other nurses, I just don’t know with covid and everything going on how it’ll work. ? I am planning on trying to make it two more weeks and then talking with my doctor about light duty. It’s just SUCH a bad time for this amidst the pandemic but I am pregnant, and it is what it is. ?

 

I've never seen "light duty" for a pregnant nurse or any other sort of floor nurse. You can either do the job, or you're written off the schedule until you can.

As with everything, there are probably exceptions. I don't think they're terribly common, though.

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1 hour ago, Sour Lemon said:

I've never seen "light duty" for a pregnant nurse or any other sort of floor nurse. You can either do the job, or you're written off the schedule until you can.

As with everything, there are probably exceptions. I don't think they're terribly common, though.

Really? That’s interesting. About a year ago there were 3 pregnant nurses all on light duty on my floor! 

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25 minutes ago, Swirl531 said:

Really? That’s interesting. About a year ago there were 3 pregnant nurses all on light duty on my floor! 

And ...that's probably why it's uncommon. "Everybody" would be on light duty, leaving the heavy stuff for an unfortunate few.

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Specializes in Peds ED.
5 hours ago, Sour Lemon said:

I've never seen "light duty" for a pregnant nurse or any other sort of floor nurse. You can either do the job, or you're written off the schedule until you can.

As with everything, there are probably exceptions. I don't think they're terribly common, though.

With a healthy pregnancy without problems it’s not really necessary but if it’s becoming disabling, working with the OB and the hospital to find light duty options isn’t any worse than the accommodations I’ve seen for nurses with other illnesses or injuries. I think every hospital I’ve worked at has a light duty option available, it’s a matter of qualifying for it with employee health and the treating provided. My current hospital uses our transfer center, triage lines, covid call center as light duty posts.

I realize not every hospital will and then it’s time to to consider going out in FMLA early, but it’s worth looking in to.

 

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2 hours ago, HiddencatBSN said:

With a healthy pregnancy without problems it’s not really necessary but if it’s becoming disabling, working with the OB and the hospital to find light duty options isn’t any worse than the accommodations I’ve seen for nurses with other illnesses or injuries. I think every hospital I’ve worked at has a light duty option available, it’s a matter of qualifying for it with employee health and the treating provided. My current hospital uses our transfer center, triage lines, covid call center as light duty posts.

I realize not every hospital will and then it’s time to to consider going out in FMLA early, but it’s worth looking in to.

 

I'm not making a judgement call about about the reason being any better or worse. I'm only saying, that in my experience, light duty = off the schedule.

If that's an option she does have, then good for her. Sincerely. I went on medical leave at five months with my first one.

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I cut my hours back.  My OB wrote for either 8 hour shifts or 2 twelves.  No more than 24 in a week.  They chose the 2 shifts.  I ended up using my PTO up before leave but I was having difficulty at 24 weeks.  I made it up until my 37th week by doing that.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.

Some nurses on my unit have gone to light duty even before 34 weeks. We often don't have a clerk, so they will be a clerk or do audits or help out with things that don't require lifting, like IVs or passing PO meds, etc. I think some doctors are strict and say either on the floor or off, but our version of light duty is just restrictions on lifting/physical tasks. Usually management is nice though and has the light duty nurses do only admin stuff, but when they get bored they help us with hands on stuff. Would it be possible to help out on the floor as a resource/break nurse but not have to pull/push/turn/lift? Or could you get FMLA? I think it sounds bad to work so hard and not be able to drink water and have contractions. Wish you good luck. You're almost there!

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Thanks for all of your replies. At my job, I have seen several nurses that go on light duty help with unit clerk things which in turn helps the charge nurse and the floor. I am just nervous how my work will respond right now with COVID going on. I have worked at this company for over 6 years in different areas, so I am hoping they'll be accommodating. I'm truly trying to push it as far as I can, but I think once I get to the 36 week mark, that'll be my wits end. Or, just hoping I deliver right at 37 weeks!... ha, wishful thinking. 

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Specializes in Peds ED.
17 hours ago, Sour Lemon said:

I'm not making a judgement call about about the reason being any better or worse. I'm only saying, that in my experience, light duty = off the schedule.

If that's an option she does have, then good for her. Sincerely. I went on medical leave at five months with my first one.

I didn't think you were being judgmental at all- I know not all places will offer light duty but in my experience it's not uncommon for that to be an option (whether it's an easy option to access I don't know). When I was pregnant and switching jobs the place I was hired wouldn't hire me with any restrictions regardless of how minor or temporary they were, but for already hired employees there was a light duty option.

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