Reneec

New school nurse in small public elementary. There seems to be some cliques of staff/parents/community that "have each others backs". As an outsider, I don't know who is tied in with whom at this point. I ran into a situation that I would like some advice on. A 4th grade student came to the clinic with complaints of sore throat. She had a note from her teacher stating that I had her medication in the clinic. The only medication/ consent form I had for this student was for epi pen. I tried some comfort measures and sent the student back to class. I informed the teacher that I had no OTC consent. Teacher called parent. Parent called me requesting Ibuprofen be given for anxiety. Parent says they have been giving her Ibuprofen for anxiety and it has been helpful. I instructed mom to complete medication consent and send medication to school ( per policy). About 30 minutes later, student returned to clinic saying she went to the secretary to get her medication but it was a sub so the the sent her to me. The sub secretary told this student that if I couldn't find her medication, that she would call the FT secretary to find out how to get it. Again I explained that I can't give medication without consent. Later, I tried to followed up with the student and the teacher said "everything is fine now". I suspect that someone gave this girl Ibuprofen but don't know who. Nor do I have proof. That being said, if OTC meds are being given by non certified staff, do I have any liability? Am I making too much out of the situation? I'm worried about students being given a medication that I am not aware of. Any advice is appreciated.

Five years ago, I was hired for CM/ your role. Prior to that, I had 15 years experience in outpatient areas. Because my current position was not direct patient care, I have never attended any nursing orientation or skills/ competency labs. Now my employer is requiring us to fill in at bedside when needed. I am very uncomfortable with this due to the length of time since I have actually worked in an inpatient environment. I have brought it to the attention of management that I feel incompetent to work at bedside. Time doesn’t allow for full orientation but I was offered 4 hrs IP charting classes and their support with procedures that I am not comfortable with. So far, the support I have received has been very awkward. I’m not confident that the people teaching me are competent either. I am not refusing to do this but I am requesting further training. I haven’t operated any of this equipment, given medication, read monitor strips or performed most procedures in over 20 years. My pleas for appropriate orientation are being ignored or I get written disciplinary action for having a bad attitude. Is there anything I can do to protect myself? I am 2 years from retirement. I don’t want to finish a 40 year career like this!

Not aware of any unions. Good luck with getting answers to your questions. I had many unanswered questions also. Resorted to calling the HR hotline. It took 3 weeks of phone tag to find out that HR contacted regional operation director with the "problem". I was told that only certain states have mandated staffing levels ( NY and CA). In these states staffing ratio is RN 1:12 and tech 1:4. I was also informed that state surveyors have never had an issue with staffing levels in any FMC clinic. So staffing- can be RN 1:30 and tech 1:6 and state surveyors have no concerns about it. Funny that a state surveyor cancan close thier eyes to inadequate staffing but god forbid that a box doesn't have an initial. Just a word of caution.... be careful. I feel that my efforts to provide adequate care to the patients have backfired. Staffing is now even tighter at times and all PTO requests are denied for me.

I am a new employee of FMC. I am being told that any PTO I have scheduled can and will be rescinded if the clinical manager needs to be away (meetings, personal time etc.) I certainly understand the need to keep the unit appropriately staffed. However, I recently found myself in an unsafe stafffing situation due to techs on PTO and manager needed to attend a meeting. When I inquired as to why a tech didn't have to rescend PTO to maintain adequate staffing ( as I am required to do), I was told "because you are a nurse". I was also informed that this level of staffing would occur in the future and if I didn't like it I should turn in my resignation. Is this FMC policy or unit specific policy? I am having difficulty finding the answer to this question.