refusal of assignment

[anurse4life]

I went in to work this morning i work 7-7. Only to find out that i had been "floated " to an area that works 5-5 and i have no expertise in. The assignment was to heavy for me and i did not have acceptable and knowledgable skills. Needless to say i refused the assignment and was sent home. I had never punched in. I am now awaiting me "meeting" with suporvisors to discuss my "punishment". Right now i am very frustrated, i thought that i worked in a field that had compassion and worked with humans, not in a coffee shop handing out lattes'. Has anyone else ever been in this position or am i out here floating all by myself?? thanks for listening

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

Check your states practice act. Most states, like Texas, have a "Safe Harbor" claus that a nurse can involke for her or patient safety reasons. Does require a lot of documentation.....so start jotting down all facts if you haven't already.

Good Luck with the meeting........C

Actually, to my knowledge, Texas is one of the few "right to work" states that has this clause. (By the way, what is that right to work crap anyway - they should call it what it is: right to fire).

I live in a right to work state and we have no such protective clause. You cannot lose your license (on an abandonment charge), for refusing an assignment - but you can be fired. OTOH, if you accept the assignment to protect your job, but provide sub-standard care for whatever reason (too many patients, not familiar with patient population, etc.) you CAN lose your license because the board is concerned with protecting your patients from you - not protecting you from your employer

I only suggest bringing along a copy of the NPA for that state to provide documentation of the nurse's responsiblity to provide safe, competent care to patients and to refuse the assignment if unable to provide safe, competent care. (Management loses sight of that responsibility all too often).

[zenman]

Call them and tell them you would like to reschedule at a time your attorney can make it to the meeting.

[hoolahan, ASN, RN]

No offense, but you need to present your case a little more clearly to your supervisors than you did here.

Stick to facts, not emotions. Take your resume, did you ever have that kind of experience? I am sure you didn't from what you said, so it is a kind of proof.

Say exactly why you felt it was unsafe. What procedures occur on that floor that you are unprepared to deal with?

I was once offered $160 hour, triple time holiday agency pay, to work Peds, in a hospital I had never set foot in. "But there are only two kids on the unit." "You have peds experience. BUT, my peds was in a CT ICU where anesthesia started all the IV's. Most kids had some kind of central line, and we just dealt with heart conditions. My husband thought I was insane to turn down this money, but I put it this way to him,

"Hon, if it were your child who came in with seizures in the ER and needed and IV and IV meds pushed, would you want me, a nurse who has never started an IV on a kid in her career, to be your child's nurse, or do you want the cracker jack peds nurse who can get the IV using the force?"

He completely understood my point when put that way.

If I were you, I would call my BON and ask for how to deal with this situation. I would also ask the supervisor to show me the policy for refusing assignments. If there isn't one, and they give you anything more than a "write up" in your file, I would contact HR and file a grievance. It might also be a good idea to have a non-biased witness, another nurse colleague, so they can't gang up on you, and a witness is always good in he-said she-said type of scenarios.

Good luck to you. I would have done the same thing, and have. I was always told the key thing to say is, "I feel it is an unsafe assignment because...."

[hoolahan, ASN, RN]

Call them and tell them you would like to reschedule at a time your attorney can make it to the meeting.

EXCELLENT suggestion!!! heehee

[MichaelSSSS]

I think I would take a copy of my state's nurse practice act to this little meeting. You have the legal and ethical responsibility to your patients to put their safety before management's whims.

Excellent Idea

[anurse4life]

THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To each and everyone of you that gave support and suggestions. My meeting today went well. I have been employed with my current facility for 6 year and have to admit i can be a hot head at times. However i went in for the meeting and to my surprise they actually listened to me. I stated my case and was treated fairly. I received 3 days unpaid leave for insubordination and rudeness to a supervisor which i have to admit i deserved. BUT, i still have my job AND they have begun as of today to cross train and orient IN a POLICY. My boss was fair and truly went to bat for me, today was a hard lesson to learn and even though i had a loss of pay it allowed a door to open that i hope will allow a safer working envornment for nurses at our facility. When i left work this morning i truly thought thats it i am done. but i hope over the next few weeks working closely with my boss (at her suggestion) i can assist with policies to protect us for safe staffing and still allow us to meet the needs for our patients. :)

[cannoli]

THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To each and everyone of you that gave support and suggestions. My meeting today went well. I have been employed with my current facility for 6 year and have to admit i can be a hot head at times. However i went in for the meeting and to my surprise they actually listened to me. I stated my case and was treated fairly. I received 3 days unpaid leave for insubordination and rudeness to a supervisor which i have to admit i deserved. BUT, i still have my job AND they have begun as of today to cross train and orient IN a POLICY. My boss was fair and truly went to bat for me, today was a hard lesson to learn and even though i had a loss of pay it allowed a door to open that i hope will allow a safer working envornment for nurses at our facility. When i left work this morning i truly thought thats it i am done. but i hope over the next few weeks working closely with my boss (at her suggestion) i can assist with policies to protect us for safe staffing and still allow us to meet the needs for our patients. :)

Well, I guess I'm glad that that is all you got, but I don't think you should have received any type of punishment, I think you were entirely within your rights to refuse. After all it was a safety issue, the safety of the patients (and of you and your license). Just think what could have happened if you had accepted and something adverse had happened, a lawsuit, criminal charges, who know?

After the dust dies down, if it were me I think I would look around for another place to work, somewhere that's more supportive of the staff. Of course, there may be no better place, the way conditions are these days. My motto is, they need me more than I need them. They are not short of nurses where you work? They can afford to lose one? It seems like there is more bullying and bad treatment now than ever before.

Good luck!

[hoolahan, ASN, RN]

Good for you anurse4life! If you honestly feel you deserved the time off, then I guess I will have to trust you on that one.

Now, when they call you later to ask if you can please come in, ask them to destroy the write up, remove it from your file, and then you will come in, and get that in writing, an e-mail would be good. Just have a supervoisor e-mail you this aggreement in writing at home, and it will all be behind you.

Who wants to place bets on how fast they call her to come in?

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

Good for you anurse4life! If you honestly feel you deserved the time off, then I guess I will have to trust you on that one.

Now, when they call you later to ask if you can please come in, ask them to destroy the write up, remove it from your file, and then you will come in, and get that in writing, an e-mail would be good. Just have a supervoisor e-mail you this aggreement in writing at home, and it will all be behind you.

Who wants to place bets on how fast they call her to come in?

Hoolahan; that's beautiful!!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Congratulations -- I'm glad it went well for you!

[TracyB,RN, RN]

"people are hired to work; not to refuse assignments."

It's a matter of PATIENT SAFETY.

Ok, so you are just supposed to accept an assignment, that you KNOW you cannot adequately or SAFELY perform.... talk about jeopardizing PATIENT SAFETY!!!

Just because I have been a nurse for 12 years, doesn't mean I should get floated to an area that I have ZERO experience in, other than nursing school.

I speak for myself when I say, I have NO business birthing babies, or working ICU.

I totally agree with the OP... When in doubt, DON'T!!!!!!!

[gypsyatheart]

Well, I'm glad you are happy with this outcome, but, if it were me, I would be finding another job in a New York minute!

In essence, by "punishing" you, and you accepting it, it's like an admission of guilt. Oh, boo hoo, the "supervisor" got her feelings hurt cause you you refused an unsafe assignment....? Like another poster said, "it's all in your attitude". If you go in there with your head hung low, as if you are indeed guilty of some crime, of course, mgmt is gonna take advantage of that! I don't understand why you were "punished" at all. We are not school children, needing punishment doled out by our teachers/parents! We are professionals....

Remember mgmt is not looking out for our best interests, or the patients, for that matter, they have only their staffing grids and numbers and budget that they are concerned about. They have no problem , obviously, coercing staff, and jeopardizing pt care in order to meet their needs!

I don't mean to sound rude or mean, but this type of stuff really gets to me, and I guess I'm in a bit of an onery mood this am!

Good luck to you! :)

THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To each and everyone of you that gave support and suggestions. My meeting today went well. I have been employed with my current facility for 6 year and have to admit i can be a hot head at times. However i went in for the meeting and to my surprise they actually listened to me. I stated my case and was treated fairly. I received 3 days unpaid leave for insubordination and rudeness to a supervisor which i have to admit i deserved. BUT, i still have my job AND they have begun as of today to cross train and orient IN a POLICY. My boss was fair and truly went to bat for me, today was a hard lesson to learn and even though i had a loss of pay it allowed a door to open that i hope will allow a safer working envornment for nurses at our facility. When i left work this morning i truly thought thats it i am done. but i hope over the next few weeks working closely with my boss (at her suggestion) i can assist with policies to protect us for safe staffing and still allow us to meet the needs for our patients. :)