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

[cannoli]

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!!!!!!!

That quote was from a previous poster, not me.

I think you may have taken what was said out of context.

[Dixielee, BSN, RN]

I am glad this was resolved in a manner you can live with, but like others, it looks like you may need to look elsewhere for a job soon. I resigned a position in an ER a year ago because I felt that every day was a dangerous situation. We were constantly understaffed and overworked. We have patients lined up and down the halls, cardiac patients in chairs on monitors, or not, if we were out of them. Patients headed off to CT or Ultrasound and we wouldn't even know they were gone. Charts missing when residents would take them off the unit without anyone realizing it, drunks and thugs sleeping it off in the waiting room who would come back and ask for snacks, blankets and coffee. One day my husband asked me how much it would cost to replace my nursing license. I wasn't sure what he meant, and he said if I were held responsible for someones injury or death because I was too busy to notice changes, could I get another license if I lost it? It did make me stop and think at the remifications. I had been so busy just surviving each shift, I didn't have the mental energy to think any farther, it all seemed so hopeless at the time. In any case, I resigned post haste and have not regreted it one bit. I still have friends who are there and wont leave for one reason or another, but it is still no better and getting worse. So, my advice is to find a situation you can be comfortable with, and go with it. I have learned in my many years of nursing that sadly, we are generally just numbers on a schedule and we will be used and abused as long as we allow it to happen. Look after yourself first, then you patients will be safely cared for. If you don't look after your own interests, no one will.

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

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! :)

Right on, moondancer - I thought the exact same thing!!