Angelwings49

I'm new to this site and would like to share my experience with a work related injury. I am a Registered Nurse of 15 years. I was employed by a hospital and contracted out to a home care agency. My job was to case manage home clients. At times my client load per day was from 6-8. While it may not sound like a heavy load one must keep in mind that the county I live in is huge and it could be 20-40 miles from one case to the next. With each of these visits out of the car came the computer bag, the nursing bag and the paperwork. Then into the clients home and back into the care ready for the next visit. One day in July as I was finishing my last case for the day, as I was putting the computer bag and nursing bag into the care, I felt a pull on my left forearm. I gave it no thought and proceeded to go home. the next morning the pain was not only in the muscle but also in the antecubital area and on the insde and outside of my elbow. I as most of us nurses do, decided to try to treat this thing in hopes of it going away. Two weeks later the pain was getting progressively worse. I had previously informed the supervisor and at that time I did fill out an incident report. On august 7th, I made a drs appointment in hopes that whatever was causing this pain would soon be resolved. I was told that I had medial and lateral epicondylitis. I was placed on a work restriction of no use of left arm and no repetiviteness. I informed the hospital that I was hired by and also the supervisor of the home care agency. As time went on I was still expected to do the 6-8 visits a day, so here I was continuing to carry the equipment I needed in and out of the car. As my luck proceeded, I began having the same symptoms in my right arm. I was in total disbelief that this could possibly occur in my right arm. The following week I went back for my Drs. appointment and informed him about the other arm. By this time I could no longer independently dress myself, comb my hair or even brush my teeth. The pain was so undescribable. It was as if the whole of my independence was taken away. My adls, my Iadls. The Dr. then placed me on 4 hours of work a day, with no lifting greater than 5 pounds, and no repetitious activities. Well, my case load decreased to 3-4 and at times 5 in a 4 hour period. I could no longer carry that ole computer bag in and out of every home. By the end of 2 weeks I was over 30 notes behind. I kept telling the supervisor that I was sinking and I had to get the notes caught up. Being that one of my restrictions was no repetition, I informed her I could not sit and type for 4 hours a day. It mattered not. My clients were given to another nurse and I was told I could not do any home visits until all my notes were caught up. By this time I was collecting temporary partial compensation benefits. Needless to say, I had to sit for 4 hours a day and in lieu of the pain and the restrictions I managed to get the notes caught up so I could resume my home visits the following week. As my luck continues the supervisor gave me 2 start of cares on a saturday and 3 on a sunday. No one must know that each start of care without the use of the computer was from one to one and a half hours, keeping in mind the traveling in between from case to case. My experience told me that for each start it meant 2 hours of keyboarding. Thus 5 starts =10 hours. I had informed the suypervisor that she was expecting me to do the unexpected. Her reply,"there is no one else and it has to be done". What alternatives did I have? I could think of several, but none whcih would have been a professional reply. So off I went, on the Saturday I ended up working 5 hours and 6 hours on Sunday. by the time I got home the pain was so severe that I took some motrin and went to bed. Being the next day was Monday and I had 10 hours of keyboarding ahead of me I called the supervisor and told her I needed help with entering the information into the laptop. Her reply, "Well you have 2 visits today, plus I need to have you do another start of care. OOOOOOOOOH my God went through my head. Anothe start and an additional 2 hours of keyboarding on top of the 10 still waiting for me. No need to remind her, she cared not. I got through that day and was so thankful to have the next day off. And then, back to work iwth a call to her in the morning to inform her that I needed some time to get some work done on the laptop and also reminding her I could not sit hour after hour on that computer. And guess what? Yep.........she gave me 2 more start of cares. NO way could I ever complete them. Another interesting point to keep in mind. You have 7 days to get each start of care completed, locked and into the state. I at this time was frustrated beyond frustration. I now have 8 starts to get done, plus the scheduled visits i had completed. The week end was here and I was off. Monday came and as required I called the supervisor only to have her tell me I HAD to find some time and get the computer notes done. What good to try telling her, the notes were not done at no fault of mine. Hmmmmm, I don't think she believed me. So once again, I am imprisoned to the confines of the computer. Ergonomics......not in the slightest. I spent my 4 hours that day typing in spite of my discomfort. I had reminded the supervisor that she was going against my restrictions not only with the repetiveness but that I also had worked over my 4 hour restriction on 6 occasions. She proceeded to inform me that I had to call my Dr. and have him change my restriction from 4 hrs a day to 4-6 hrs/day, "So the agency and the hospital don't get into trouble". "make it your priority". I was stunned and could not believe what I had heard. I then called the home care director at the hospital that hired me and informed her of this. she said, no they can not ask that of you. The next day, the supervisor called me and told me to call the home care director and tell her that her and I had talked and that I had misunderstood what she said to me. MISUNDERSTOOD, no I understood very well what she said to me. From here on nothing went right. Not that it did from the beginning. I ended up being placed on a one hour a day typing restriction. My left arm ended up swelling from the elbow to the wrist. From overuse per the Dr. So now here I was with even a tighter restriction. I was getting phone calls 1-2 times from the case manager from compensation. I kept her updated as to the course this was taking and things that were said to me. I asked her about the legality of what was happening to me and she had suggested I contact a lawyer. Which I did and found out alot more information. The human resource director called me and informed me that she had set up an appointment with the case manager from compensation and I had to be there. I told her I had to update my lawyer as to that meeting and I would get back to her. Per my lawyer, do not meet with any one. It can be arranged so I can be there, I was told. So this I told to the personel director. I went to work the next day and again was told that I could not do my home visits due to being so far behind on my computer notes and I was out of compliance because they were not done in the 7 day time frame. I just shook my head and proceeded to the imprisonment of that lap top again. The end of the week finally arrived. I was called inot the home care agency directors office and was told they could no longer meet my restrictions and I was to turn in my computer and my nursing bag. I was dumbfounded. Once they learned I had conferenced with a lawyer, it seemed like a great reason to get rid of me. I felt more of a relief that sorrow. I then called the hospital that I was hired by and asked it I could my 4 hours a day in the hospital or nursing home only to be told that the light duty is just for hospital employes. I stated, "well gee, I have a card that says I am an employee and also in the employees handbook it states that you will meet every light duty restriction. "I'll have to call you back". That was on 10/31/03. No call came. Instead I got a letter stating that the home care agency had elininated the RN position and replaced it with an LPN for "cost-effectiveness" and therefore my employment was terminated as of 11/7/03. So here I am collecting partial compensation and have since applied for partail unemployment. Several application I have sent out. Will anyone hire me with my restrictions? It appears not. As I sit and recall my years of nursing many thoughts come to my mind. How on earth can people be sor heartless. Does corporate monies mean more than a persons health and well being? It appears to be. Where will this all end up? I'm not sure. I gave so much of myself to the healthcare field over the past several years, I went above and beyond my call of duty more times than not and never felt any remorse in doing so. I was there when I was needed and even when not needed. I just can't understnad how people can be so ruthless and heartless and not care about a fellow nurse. Hopefully things will work out and someone out there will give me a chance to prove that I am a good person and a great nurse. thanks for listening. And yes, I understand how you feel. Angel