Along the lines of the "But I have little kids . . . . " thread:
One of my co-workers announced her pregnancy this week, stating that she was no longer willing to work weekends or holidays because she's going to be a parent. She also has to have Christmas off because this is going to be her last child-free Christmas. Oh and by the way, she can't take care of anyone with VRE, MRSA, or any other type of isolation. "Yukky wounds" make her nauseous, so she can't take those patients -- in fact, wouldn't it be best to just have her do charge all the time?
We're a large unit and have 1 - 6 nurses pregnant at any given time. Plus there are those who can't travel to interventional radiology, take infected patients, etc. because they're TRYING to get pregnant.
The last nurse to have her baby had to sit in the chair her entire shift "because I'm pregnant," and had orientees to do everything for her. Not the role of I preceptor, I'm thinking!
What's the strangest/most irritating thing you've had a coworker demand because she's pregnant?
my little one had the cord wrapped around her neck AND a knot in it but she was just fine (well she had to stay in the nursery for a week because she had wet lungs and a possibility of infection but non of that was related to the cord problems.)
I am a little surprised at the lack of empathy for on this board regarding pregnant coworkers.
While I agree that weekends and holidays should not be excused just because you are pregnant... that is utterly ridiculous....
I will still gladly lift, take isolation patients, and do woundcare on an especially smelly wound if it is going to make my coworker sick. (pregnant or not)
While part of nursing involves doing unpleasant things, if a fellow coworker needs a little slack, I will gladly help. I expect that one day when I decide to have a family they will do the same for me.
I feel like this board is almost anti-pregnancy with the negative things about people not working at all just because they may need help with lifting. What about someone on light duty? You don't give them a hand????
We nurses need to look out for eachother. I guess in my work environment we try to be team players and help out as much as possible. We had three nurses loose pregnancies in a quick amount of time and while I can't specifically blame it on the working conditions, it certainly opened our eyes....
It isn't just a pregnancy issue though... if someone is behind, we help them out too...whether it be getting some vitals, doing an assessment, giving some meds, catching them up on charting... whatever needs to be done.
Maybe some of the posters are frustrated because fellow coworkers take advantage of being pregnant, I don't know. I guess I just don't understand the negativity towards it.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
not a lack of empathy...really!
but we can't work w/those who simply cannot even try to pull their own weight by making unreasonable demands. if this is a lack of compassion...then ok
call me mean. i dont care...it's not personal. i have enough to do w/o taking up everyone's slack due to personal excuses. this shortage already makes patient-nurse ratios teeter on the brim of the unsafe and NOW i have to work with folks who won't even attempt to work with me? maybe it's best a person who feels she cannot work get a doctor's note and not work. or change jobs. whatever....
i did not make those excuses myself so i would appreciate similar consideration from my pregnant and NONpregnant coworkers and i am NOT changing my life or schedule to take up THEIR slack, sorry,
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
and of course we as a team help those who are burdened and behind but why should a woman start making demands to change her schedule and patient assignments the minute she get a positive pregnancy test? THAT is unreasonable and unprofessional and burdensome to the team she works with.
I used to work with a nurse who was 7 months pregnant AND had an arm in a sling with a dislocated shoulder who insisted on doing everything herself. The patients joked that she looked like she needed to be in the hospital worse than they did! But now I can easily remember how green I was during early pregnancy, threw up 3 times a day every day all nine months. Kinda hard to function like that especially when the intra-abdominal pressure from pregnancy and vomiting causes more than what a "depends" can handle. Used to drink my antacid of choice straight from the bottle that I kept at the nurses's station. Have a little heart. I didn't make any "demands" but I also worked in a hospital where the staff believed in all the old wives' tales. they would NOT allow me to look at a trauma or to work with the dead/dying for fear it would "mark my baby". The attendings wouldn't let me do chest compressions. They would stand there and order me to stop doing them. And one nurse informed me that I shouldn't be picking fruit from a tree because that tree would never bear fruit again if I did. SO, it was interesting to say the least.
but we can't work w/those who simply cannot even try to pull their own weight by making unreasonable demands. if this is a lack of compassion...then ok
call me mean. i dont care...it's not personal. i have enough to do w/o taking up everyone's slack due to personal excuses. this shortage already makes patient-nurse ratios teeter on the brim of the unsafe and NOW i have to work with folks who won't even attempt to work with me? maybe it's best a person who feels she cannot work get a doctor's note and not work. or change jobs. whatever....
i did not make those excuses myself so i would appreciate similar consideration from my pregnant and NONpregnant coworkers and i am NOT changing my life or schedule to take up THEIR slack, sorry,
we obviously don't agree on this. that is fine. i am glad we are not coworkers. no offense. but attitudes like that is what makes the nursing shortage. helping out a coworker who is otherwise a great asset to the unit for a few months is no problem in my book.
.... helping out a coworker who is otherwise a great asset to the unit for a few months is no problem in my book.
This nurse didn't want to be helped out; she wanted special treatment. Can't work weekends or holidays because she pregnant? Give me a break. Can't do the essential functions of the job because she's pregnant? Maybe she should take an early (and permanent) LOA. She made demands that had no relationship to her delicate condition and I doubt if this Drama Queen was ever an asset to her unit.
I agreed in all my posts that the person shouldn't be given weekends off and holidays off... that is ridiculous.
I really wasn't even referring to this original gal who thought she should get preferential treatment. My comments were more towards pregant coworkers in general.
I worked for 5 years at a pediatric specialty hospital. This hospital liked to hire GNs right out of school vs nurses from other locales. Therefore, everyone was relatively young and in the serious childbearing years.
There were times on my unit that 1/3 to 1/2 of the nurses were pregnant at any given time. It wasn't enough for those of us who weren't to "lend a hand". The hospital put in place a very rigid policy of "if you are here, you work". No exceptions for pregnancy. Their philosophy was that if you use all the precautions indicated there was no need to excuse pregnant women from isolation patients, etc.
When people showed up with notes from MDs, the nurse was told they could go on disability. The only exception I saw was for a nurse who had a proven negative titre for chicken pox. They allowed her to skip those kids.
Personally, I appreciated the hospital's policy. Otherwise in my years there I'd have had to do the work of 2-3 people.
While I agree that the nurse in Ruby's first post is making outrageous and un-fair demands, I am really surprised at the pregnant bashing band wagon that seems to have gained momentum here. Unless I am mis-reading a lot of these posts, and I certainly could be, it sounds like most of you won't cut any kind of break for any pregnant person, period.
All the "sista" talk aside I really thought that there would be more compassion amongst women. Don't you remember feeling like absolute crud those 9 months? The puking at everything? Wouldn't it have been nice if someone would have cut you a break?
I have worked with pregnant people before and have traded various duties with them within reason, ie. I'll do your heavier work if you do my lighter work, I'll make sure you get enough break time to eat lunch, etc. and have never had a problem with it. Women make up the majority of people in the nursing profession. To expect all of them to quit and find other jobs because they are pregnant for 9 months is rediculous. Exactly how is that going to help the shortage? Floors are short staffed as it is. I doubt there are a lot of people lining to take their spots.
We as health care professionals know that pregnant women need to take better care of themselves and limit certain activities and exposure to certain chemicals and viruses. To expect a co-worker not to do this just because they 'are a nurse' is beyond me.
I would certianly have an issue with a co-worker who was a slacker before pregnancy and an even bigger one after conceiving but luckily for me I have not had this experience. To treat an otherwise hard working co-worker like a lazy slacker just because they are pregnant is a real shame.
Specializes in Med-surg; OB/Well baby; pulmonology; RTS.
I too am a little suprised by some of the feelings about pregnant co-workers. :stone
NO, I don't think a co-worker that is pregnant should be able to demand that she be taken off of weekends and holidays. If she doesn't want to work weekends or holidays, she needs to find another job.
She should step in and help her co-workers if there are tasks she can't handle at the moment..ie. the "smelly" wound-if someone is gracious enough to take over wound care, she should go and check on her co-worker's patients-pass meds, give prn's, sign off orders....
Our Infection Control dept has a policy of the types of patients a pregnant co-worker may NOT take care of...and there are patients that ob/gyns do not want a pregnant woman exposed too....all of this needs to be respected and considered.
It would be ideal if a pregnant health care worker could stay at home during the entire duration of her pregnancy...but we know that is not possible for some.
I also am a firm believer in obtaining a note from your ob/gyn that details what your lifting limit should be (if any), what patients you are not to be exposed too...and giving it to your NM so that decisions can be made that benefit the whole unit, while protecting yourself and your unborn child.
I do know that there are pregnant co-workers that do not pull their load...and their are also NON-PREGNANT co-workers who are the same way....
I think we should all treat our co-workers the way we would want to be treated (or our spouses, sisters, etc) should we have any condition that limits what we can or can't do....
Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN
2 Articles; 3,563 Posts
I've had two pregnant co-workers in the last year, and they have not made any unreasonable requests.
Neither could work with our Hep B+ pts, understandable. One would ask me to take over with things that were making her nauseated, no problem.
Neither could lift.
As I have a hx of back injury and my back is about ruined, I have trouble lifting, too. We all help each other out and do the best we can.