Katillac

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No. If they ask you to take an assignment in a unit you're not trained for (ICU, peds, L&D) and you refuse and they fire you, you can likely collect UI. In that case they would be firing you without appropriate cause. If you refuse to take a bedside position (say, med/surg or COVID unit without vented patients) simply because you don't want to, and you get fired for it, it's unlikely you can collect UI. See the difference? And yes. Without union protections and/or unless you are a member of a protected class and are fired for being a member of said class, you can be fired for pretty much anything.

https://wehavins.com/nv-nurses-legal-handbook/chapter-6-nursing-responsibility-and-the-law/ This citation concerns Nevada, but the laws are similar in many states. Nurses face serious potential consequences both legally and to their licenses for bad outcomes subsequent to care for which they are unqualified/untrained. Your employer, on the other hand, can likely terminate you for refusing an assignment, even an unsafe one. The fact that you were once a bedside nurse suggests you were adequately prepared at one time, so it would seem reasonable from a liability perspective to ask you to go back on the floor. However, working in a specialty unit would be a different story. Nobody can force you to resign. If you refuse an assignment, you can be fired. The employer will say it was with cause. You could appeal that, but again given your previous bedside work, unless the hospital was asking you to work in a specialty you hadn't been trained in, you'd be unlikely to prevail. Additionally, the hospital could say they downsized the informatics department d/t COVID and you were simply laid off, which wouldn't qualify you for unemployment. Or the hospital could claim you were adequately trained, you just didn't want to. Again, no unemployment. Not taking a floor assignment will likely result in consequences of some kind. Up to you what it's worth to refuse.

Here are my two favorite ways of responding in these situations, when someone doesn't get polite hints that I am not sharing personal information. 1) When asked something you don't want to get into, get a super quizzical look on your face and say, "Hmmmm. . . " as if you are pondering something. Then after a few seconds smile VERY brightly, and cheerfully say, "Nope. I don't have anything to say about that. But how are you?" 2) With an equally blinding smile, ask, "What makes you ask?" Whatever they respond with, you reply, "Ohhhh, I see," and then change the subject. If they persist, see #1.

For those who may be wondering, home made masks (which should really be called just face coverings) are primarily meant to stop virus-carrying large droplets from being spewed from the mouth of the wearer and being transported to the mouth or nose of the uninfected. Those droplets can be expelled when speaking, singing or laughing in addition to coughing or sneezing. Additionally, studies show a two layer tightly woven cotton face covering prevents approximately 50% of large droplet viral particles from reaching the wearer from an infected source. More protection is achieved by a third non-woven layer in the middle. In neither case is the protection as good as a quality manufactured surgical or procedure mask, and is far from as good as a properly fitted N95 mask.

This is truly reprehensible. Corporations have masks in supply, so they are reporting no shortages. Yet they are refusing to use them supported by poorly defined contingency level guidance from the CDC. The CDC in turn bows to the White House and supports the whole charade. Corporations save money and reputations, and people die. I actually heard in a meeting yesterday, "If everyone uses them for every COVID-19 patient, we will run out." The implication obviously is, "So we will hoard them for some imaginary future (when the masks are somehow more necessary?) use while putting HCWs at risk today." If this was proposed for a movie script, it would be discarded as too far fetched.

Included in the people talking about nurses' social contract and their duty to care is the Oregon State Board of Nursing. If the BON suggests a social contract is binding on nurses so should the facilities' part be in that same social contract - to keep nurses safe while in their employ. When one part of a contract is broken, the whole thing is null and void. ETA: It was GoodNP I was quoting. Not sure how that happened. Sorry, GoodNP and kindredspirit2021

Thank you so much for this! I looked into it, and by God Oregon actually has a plan ! The following is from Oregon Crisis Care Guidance: "The professional “duty to serve” must be balanced with the ethical principle of reciprocity, as healthcare workers should be assured of the safety resources they need to do their jobs." Can you tell me where it says that procedure masks are sufficient? I'm not being argumentative, I really want to know where that comes from in light of what they say in their crisis plan. Edited to say: Never mind, I found it. Minimum PPE for evaluating COVID-19 patients is face mask. AGPs require minimum N95. Minimum PPE necessary to evaluate patients with respiratory illness, suspected COVID-19, or confirmed COVID-19:•Face mask (I.e., surgical or procedural mask)•Eye protection (face shield or goggles)•Gown•Gloves Some procedures warrant a higher level of protection. See “Aerosol-Generating Procedures in Hospitals”. Aerosol-GeneratingProcedures (AGPs) in HospitalsAGPs (Appendix I) are much more commonin ED and hospital settings.When conducting AGPs for patientswith fever or respiratory symptoms, or with known or suspect COVID-19, HCP should utilizestandard, contact, and airborne precautions, including:•N95 mask or higher respiratory protection (includes powered air purifying respirators [PAPRs])•Eye protection(face shield or goggles)•Gown•Gloves

Does anyone have a credible reference to support that any state's BON would take action against a nurse who refused to work because of lack of appropriate PPE? I don't mean they might, or they could, or my cousin said her co-worker. I mean a source from a Nurse Practice Act or your state's BON regulations.

Good heavens. Here I was thinking the inadequate PPE was because these places couldn't get masks etc. because of shortages, not because they were too stingy. I'm so naive.

ICU One Pager:

I did a search in the PDFs of the nurse practice regulations for PA, and didn't find the word mandate, disaster or crisis. They are the folks who would censure your license. PA Act 102 specifies that you can be mandated to work overtime (including complete extra shifts) in times of "unforeseeable national or state emergencies". But that's a Department of Labor thing and allows them to fire you with cause (not take action on your license) for not working when they want during a crisis like this one. Nothing is said in either about penalties for quitting during emergencies, as long as you either have handed off in report or didn't take an assignment to begin with. Maybe it's a union thing?

The CDC is saying - responsibly, I think - that in the absence of an approved mask a scarf, a bandana or (by inference) a home made mask is better than nothing. The Deaconess post makes it seems there are CDC approved designs. Not so. There's a chart out there showing the % of viral particles various materials filter. HEPA fabric is way up there, but unfortunately you can't breathe through it. The cloth people are making masks out of in there homes filters around the 50% range. In fact non-N95 masks in general are far better for keeping the wearer from spewing droplets into the air than they are for protecting a wearer. I've made a bunch of masks but am only giving them to people I can specifically tell that they won't protect you from COVID-19.

I couldn't agree more. Being treated as a necessary but inconvenient cost burden hardly inspires selflessness and sacrifice. That makes, in my eyes, those who choose to stay and take the informed risk all the more heroic (casting no shade on those who for whatever reason choose not to stay). Times were strange already with corporations wanting to be granted the same rights as people while their employees are treated like disposable pawns in a profit and loss game. Utterly bizarre that those same corporations now expect the pawns to morph into martyrs.

I think you should try several different designs if you have material and skills! The critical piece that home made masks won't have is a special filter that's heat spun? heat formed? (can't remember the term). I think a piece of furnace filter is a great idea, if the mask is still able to be laundered. Any barrier is better than no barrier, and something that keeps it away from the nose is better than just cloth against the nose and mouth. Keep us posted with the best design you find!