Pregnant and can't lift?

[RNsRWe]

I'm wondering when you really are not supposed to lift when pregnant? I'm sure I was quite careful with my first, but the reality of hauling a toddler around while pregnant with the second made me realize we are NOT made of glass

Anyway, we have a new nurse who announced her pregnancy at about five weeks and won't lift anything heavier than a chart. No boosts, etc. Now, I don't want to ask her to do anything she really shouldn't, but she is healthy, young, has not been told by her doctor to avoid any type of lifting, so....? We happen to be insanely short-handed so finding someone to move her patients or whatever can be problematic. I imagine as time goes on she'll be even less "able". The charge nurse is dealing with it by not dealing with it just yet.

Anyone have any ideas about this?

[MyGranniePanties]

Good lord...pregnancy is NOT considered a medical disability.

Have you finished nursing school yet?

You have to treat pregnancy IF WARRANTED the same as any other short-term disability...and if you have a short-term disability, guess what you have to have? A doctor's note.

As a former upper-level manager AND a mother of two, I can assure you that the law did not require me to treat pregnant women ANY differently than any other employee UNLESS a physician's order said I had to.

But you cannot show up to work, announce you are pregnant, and expect everyone to bow down...the law DOES NOT require an employer to do that.

To my knowledge (and please correct me if I'm wrong, cause I just went back and reviewed what I posted) I have not said anything that contradicts anything you just posted. I *never* said that the law doesn't require a doctors note. I also *never* said that all pregnant women are in the same boat. What I did say (and if you can shut off the red light behind your raging eyes and actually comprehend it) was that it is up to the EMPLOYER, the pregnant woman, and her DOCTOR to decide the best course of action for the INDIVIDUAL. it is NOT up to a bunch of gossiping drama queens that ACT like they know what conversations go on in privacy between said persons. Maybe I should have spelled it out this way from the beginning instead of assuming that educated health care providers can read between the lines and infer for themselves. Bottom line is unless you are the one making the decisions in your place of employment-- mine your own business and do your job. Btw the law does NOT require a pregnant woman to get a doctors note. The law is written to where she is only *required* to get one if her employer asks her too.

[pedicurn, LPN, RN]

Maybe if all tried to be more considerate to our coworkers - pregnant and nonpregnant; then we wouldn't have these slinging matches.

After all - the nonpregnant staff might need some consideration from their child-bearing coworkers sometimes too .... divorce? chronic health cdt? bereavement?

You never know.

As an aside - have known of more than a few pregnancies that have ended unexpectedly (low risk). ...many second trimester. These nurses were working in high stress, busy units.

Maybe work related? maybe not? Hard to prove

[melmarie23, MSN, RN]

my guess would be that it would depend on whether she was high risk or not.

but heck, I was still running (even 5k races) until about my 7th month. And I will still going the gym, walking and lifting weights right up until I was 8.5-9months pregnant. Staying fit is important in pregnancy and if you are low risk, all the more reason to exercise. It does mom and baby a wealth of good.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

my guess would be that it would depend on whether she was high risk or not.

but heck, I was still running (even 5k races) until about my 7th month. And I will still going the gym, walking and lifting weights right up until I was 8.5-9months pregnant. Staying fit is important in pregnancy and if you are low risk, all the more reason to exercise. It does mom and baby a wealth of good.

...but if she was high risk, I am assuming that she would have been diagnosed by her OB as high risk and have a doctor's note listing any special activiites she needed to limit. To me, that is reasonable accomodations.

You were able to run the 5K races while pregnant, because I am just taking a guess...you ran before you got pregnant? Therefore, it was part of your normal activities.

I just want everyone to know, that I would GLADLY take over an isolation assignment from someone that is pregnant or other procedures dealing with radiation, etc.

However, as someone that went to work miserable more than once, my fuse gets short in dealing with pregnant women that treats it as a disease that they need to be cured of.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

To my knowledge (and please correct me if I'm wrong, cause I just went back and reviewed what I posted) I have not said anything that contradicts anything you just posted. I *never* said that the law doesn't require a doctors note. I also *never* said that all pregnant women are in the same boat. What I did say (and if you can shut off the red light behind your raging eyes and actually comprehend it) was that it is up to the EMPLOYER, the pregnant woman, and her DOCTOR to decide the best course of action for the INDIVIDUAL. it is NOT up to a bunch of gossiping drama queens that ACT like they know what conversations go on in privacy between said persons. Maybe I should have spelled it out this way from the beginning instead of assuming that educated health care providers can read between the lines and infer for themselves. Bottom line is unless you are the one making the decisions in your place of employment-- mine your own business and do your job. Btw the law does NOT require a pregnant woman to get a doctors note. The law is written to where she is only *required* to get one if her employer asks her too.

When you...

1) Copy and paste my post.

2) State that "where did people get that pregnancy was NOT a disability, you need to educate yourselves!"

3) Copy a link to the EEOC, which as far as they are concerned, mostly deal with pregnancy discrimination.

Uh, that is not going to come across as you being concerned with the behavior of the co-workers, nor did you state so.

That wasn't the point of the OP either. I do have a serious problem working with pregnant women (and we all have) that "milk it" for all it is worth and think that a pregnancy gives them a blank check to get out of as many assignments as possible.

You are ABSOLUTELY 100% wrong that a woman does NOT have to get a doctor's note when she needs for her work assignment to be changed that is CRITICAL to her job.

In healthcare, the hospital typically has protocols for pregnant co-workers in working with particular patients, participating in certain procedures, etc. To me, that is fair and reasonable and should not require a physician's note. However, if your JOB DESCRIPTION requires you to consistently be able to lift up to 100 lbs with assistance and you all the sudden show up and say, "I can't lift anything more than 10 lbs"...you had better have a physician's note UNLESS the employer is really, really nice and decides to go on your word...but the law doesn't require them to.

You also cannot suddenly announce that you are not coming to work and must "stay on bed rest" unless you have a physician's note to back it up with.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

OP: generally, employers have to treat pregnant women the same way they treat any other short-term disability and make the necessary accomodations. However, pregnancy (or short-term disability) doesn't protect you from being fired for poor performance if your employer can prove that they'd fire someone who wasn't pregnant/disabled for the same poor performance. For example, if you spend more of your time at work in the bathroom throwing up due to morning sickness and not getting your work done, you can get fired for poor performance.

So your nurse colleague who is refusing to lift anything more than a chart may find herself without a job--and legally so...especially if she doesn't have any medical support (i.e., doctor's restrictions) to back her up. She should contact her doctor, then her HR department.