Jolie

First of all, anyone can sue for anything, and sometimes people do. But suing for wrongful termination is rarely successful unless a solid case can be built that an employee's rights have been violated and/or a contract willingly breeched. Most states are employment-at-will states, meaning that either the employee or employer can break the working relationship at any time for any reason OTHER than those protected by law, such as age, religion, national origin, disability. I highlight this because many workers want to ignore that this is a 2-way street. They want to be able to punish their employer if they don't like the way they are treated, but rarely consider the way that they treat their employer and co-workers as part of the deal. It is a commonly held belief that resigning from a position automatically renders one ineligible for unemployment compensation, while being involuntarily terminated assures one of unemployment benefits. This is an oversimplification of the truth. When an employee willfully resigns for reasons such as returning to school, moving, staying home to provide care to a child/family member, or taking another job, the employer is usually absolved of any responsibility to provide unemployment benefits to the former employee. When an employee is fired for gross and/or willful misconduct, the employer is usually likewise off the hook for unemployment. Anything between (especially if there is a disagreement between employer and employee) is a gray area subject to interpretation by an unemployment judge. So sometimes, an employee will resign, yet still be able to collect unemployment. Sometimes and employee will be involuntarily terminated, yet be unable to collect. It really depends upon the series of events leading up to the dismissal. Was the employee beyond his/her probationary period? If there were problems with the employee's performance, were they well documented? Did the employee receive adequate training and supervision? Were there corrective actions documented? What was the employee's response to these re-teaching or re-training sessions? These are just some of the factors that an unemployment judge will consider in making a decision. As an employer, I can assure you that we don't take lightly the decision to terminate an employee. Recruiting, interviewing and hiring is an expensive process. It is usually easier and cheaper to work with an employee, even very intensively, than it is to fire someone and start over. By the time we reach the point of dismissing an employee, we have a mound of paperwork to document the process. Unless we believe the employee to be truly dangerous, we might consider allowing that person to resign rather than be fired. Not because it will impact his/her unemployment eligibility. It won't. Our documentation will support our side in court, but because they can then truthfully answer potential employers' questions that they left the job voluntarily. I won't mislead a future employer in giving a reference, but nor do I want our experience to place a black mark on that person's applications at other jobs where s/he may be a better fit. Make sense? Or clear as mud :)

Turd, There are a number of classifications of midwives here in the U.S. CNM's (Certified Nurse Midwives) are advanced practice RN's with privileges and responsibilities similar to nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and certified registered nurse anesthetists. They are Masters prepared RN's with specialized training. CPM's (Certified Professional Midwives) are non-nurses with formal education in the care of childbearing women. They are certified by a professional body (I don't know the name of it.) and legally recognized to practice in some states, but not all. Lay midwives offer prenatal care and delivery services based upon an apprentice type of education. They are not licensed to practice and their practice is illegal in many states. I believe this article describes a midwife in England, where most prenatal care and delivery services are provided by midwives. In England, most women do not seek or receive physican care for pregnancy, unless a complication is identified.

The answer to this depends upon your state law and your district's policy. In NE, OTC meds can legally be administered by trained school staff with only a parent's note. However, our district policy requires a physician's note for any and all meds, in addition to parent's authorization. So in my district, re-writing the policy wouldn't fly. I recommend keeping hard candy available for kids with scratchy throats and nuisance coughs. Works just as well, IMO, and no hassle over doctor's authorizations. I do make sure the little ones sit still while they suck on the candy, though.

So in your states, what type of documentation is required for exemptions? In NE, medical exemptions must be signed by a physician or advanced practice nurse. No one else will do, much to the dismay of families who try to pass off a note from their dentist or chiropractor. Religious exemptions are signed by parents, but require notarization, which cuts down on frivilous or lazy reasons.

madwife, I believe you are on to something! My mom attended a 3 year diploma program in the 1950's. In terms of actual months of attendance, she had a longer program than I did 30 years later in obtaining my BSN. She went 3 solid years, save for a 2 week Christmas break. She had classroom instruction in science and other disciplines via a local university comparable to my general studies courses. But she also had over 40 hours per week in every clinical setting imaginable, and like you, took charge even before graduating. She worked as both a psych nurse and L&D nurse in the first few years following graduation and needed no additional training for either job. I believe the shift to college /university setting has had some advantages for nursing in terms of standardizing and improving the quality of science education, but has cost the profession plenty in loss of clinical access and limited clinical exposure of students. Like the previous poster, I graduated from a BSN program of great reputation and virtually 100% NCLEX pass rate (in 1986), but without the ability to function independently in any clinical setting. We were told even back then that it was our employer's responsibility to prepare us for our jobs! That has been the accepted norm for years, but is hurting new grads in this economy when employers understandably aren't willing to take the financial risk. Some states have added an internship requirement of new grads. That probably helps, but extends the education period and costs, and takes the responsibility away from nursing schools where it really belongs. I also bemoan the elimination of "graduate nurse" status by many states now that NCLEX results are almost immediate. The very best preparation I received for NCLEX was working as a GN. Review courses were unheard-of in my day, and completely unnecessary because we learned to act and think as a nurse in our first weeks on the unit before we took our boards.

In addition to the inappropriate natue of the teacher advising the child care staff on this student's diabetes, I have concerns about the child care center's understanding of, and adherence to, state regulations regarding the administration of medicine and management of health conditions of children in their care. In our state, there are regulations regarding the provision of medicine and medical treatments in the child care setting. Licensed child care providers must follow these regulations and have physician's orders, parental permission, medications and supplies provided by the parents, and trained personnel. Our school district sponsors in-school child care before/after school and during school holidays. Even though these services are provided in our elementary and middle school buildings, the school staff is not authorized to administer medications or medical care during child care hours. Those services must be provided by child care staff. And the parents must provided duplicate supplies to be kept in the child care office. Under no circumstances are the child care staff members allowed to access supplies kept in the health office for use during the school day, and vice versa. I'm sure the teacher is concerned and well-meaning, but she may potentially be creating a legal landmine for the school district if something untoward happens to this child.

I don't know how the license check alerted officials to the fraud, but the article clearly indicated that when school district officials began to suspect this man, they did a license verifcation and found reason to suspect that he was impersonating the dead nurse. Perhaps it had to do with his age? My state the year the license was initially issued. I was intially licensed in 1986. If a 20-something tried to steal my identity, they would have a hard time passing themself off as a 47 year-old nurse.

Not all states require background checks, but all that was needed to catch this guy was a license verification with the BON. It is beyond my comprehension that any HR department accepted a paper copy of a license without on-line verification with the state. This could, and should have been detected before the impersonator's first day on the job.

This site has all the information you need. http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/ 3 important points: Children with head lice (even live lice) do not need to be sent home from school. Do not retreat any sooner than the product specifies. Using medicated shampoo too frequently will not clear up the infestation any sooner, but will cause terrible irritation of the scalp. Nightly combing is the most effective way to remove remaining lice and nits. If your family needs assistance, perhaps the school has a "petty cash" fund to help purchase products for re-treatment in 7-10 days.

I can't explain the physician's request, but would like to shed some light on external monitoring for preterm contractions/labor. I was on bedrest starting at 26 weeks with my first, 23 weeks with my second baby due to preterm labor, including shortened cervix, dilation and uterine contractions. My physician and I found external monitoring (both inpatient and outpatient) to be notoriously inaccurate. I frequently felt contractions that were not picked up by the monitor, no matter how many times or how many ways we adjusted the toco. I was a much better reporter of uterine activity than the monitor, and actually had nurses who tried to hold ordered doses of meds stating that I was having no contractions, even though I could clearly feel them. At one point, I was at home and called the home health/monitor nurse to report significant contractions. She had me monitor for an hour and called to happily report that I had a clean strip. I gave up and called my physician directly, he met me the hospital and found that my cervix had changed 2 cm since the last evaluation (from 4 cm to 6 cm). Thank goodness we both had the sense to trust our judgement rather than the monitor. My doc cited an article at that time that found virtually no difference in preventing prematurity in groups of women with preterm labor who were externally monitored versus those who weren't. Based on my experience, I can understand that. But in the end, we continued because we felt like we had to do something, and there were few, if any other options. Based upon scientific evidence, it's a wonder that insurance still pays for home OB monitoring.

I have worked in public health also and understand that there is a difference between taking records home when one has no "office" so to speak, versus taking home records out of a file from an established office within an institution. If the nurses had to hide the fact that they were removing records from the premises, they knew they were in the wrong. I walked out of my client visits records in hand, with everyone knowing full well that the records were coming home with me until they could be conveyed to my employer's office, usually once a month. And you are right, I was fully responsible for protecting the privacy of those records in my home.

Cost, primarily. Many cosmetic procedures are purely elective and not covered by insurance. Outpatient surgery centers can provide services at a more economical price, and with patients paying out of pocket, or going into debt to finance a procedure, cost is of utmost concern. There are many reputable centers which are properly staffed with anesthesia care providers, experienced OR and PACU nurses that have very good safety records. But there is always a risk of unforseen complications that may require transfer to an acute care hospital.

The "whistleblowers" may have initially been in the right to report the procedure. But to remove documentation from the facility and deliberately hide other records by mis-filing under other inmates' names....they lost their moral authority and credibility.

The article did not indicate that the back injury occured on the job. If it did not, I am amazed that any employer accomodated such significant restrictions for 7 years.

We always schedule our "talks" for the end of the day on Friday. The kids leave the building directly after the presentation, and by the time Monday comes around, the interest level had died considerably. I also add that if they have questions, they are to go to an adult at home or school. I tell them that their peers won't have the correct information, and for the most part, they believe and understand that. I'm surprised by the number of kids who come back later with questions.