Published Jun 13, 2008
AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN
2 Articles; 1,291 Posts
A while back, I posted a thread about outrageous things hospitals expect you to do. I just remembered this, and I'm curious...what is the sickest yo have ever been, and the sup STILL insisted you show up?
I was fresh back from my honeymoon, and had worked about a week, and started to feel icky. I woke up one afternoon with a fever of 102. I worked nocs, so I called in and told the sup I was ill(I could barely talk). She said she did not care, I was the only ICU nurse scheduled, and I had to come in.
So I drive 45 miles, get to the unit, and we have NO patients. When that is the case, the ICU nurse is supposed to go to the floor and help (teeny hospital). I decided to take 5 minutes and put my head down before I headed out to the floor.
I remember waking up because I was cold, and I realized I was outside, being carried. The janitor, who I was friends with, had come through to mop, and had found me passed out behind the desk. The ER secretary had seen him come in the waiting room with me, and has sent him out the side door to carry me in the back, away from all the looky-loos. I was out again before we got into the ER. My fever was now 104.
The kicker? As the janitor carried me in, he heard the doc telling the sup that he needed an ICU bed. The janitor piped up and said that it would be a while for that bed. Doc, sup,AND patient all rounded on him with "Well, how do YOU know?" Janitor stepped in further, lifted me up a little higher, and said, "Because, HERE is your ICU nurse, THAT"S how I know!"
That got a reaction, he said.
Had I been conscious, I would have been hard pressed not to belt somebody, if I had heard that. And the sup had the gall to ask the doc if there was anything he could give me to fix it so I could stay and work! He took one look at my beet-red face and told her if I stayed, it would be in a bed, and that she had better call the relief nurse. She started wailing about there being no relief nurse, (because she had not scheduled one), and he told her she had better either get on the phone or suit up, her choice. I don't know what happened after that. I was only awake for that part of it, and I was so mad, I'm glad I passed back out. Probably saved me from getting fired.
Anything like this ever happen to you? I'd dearly love to hear it. 5 years ago, and that still makes me mad to think about.
luvschoolnursing, LPN
651 Posts
Well...I tried to call off dead once...:chuckle
racing-mom4, BSN, RN
1,446 Posts
Iam sure it made you mad, but it made me smile just envisioning the ER doc asking for an ICU bed and the janitor telling him there wasnt one. LOVE IT
Your a great writer. I enjoyed the story!!!
I have nothing to compare, i only ever find myself sick on my days off...whats with that???
KaroSnowQueen, RN
960 Posts
Wow. I don't have anything that bad. Although I was called during my grandmother's visitation at the funeral home and asked if I could come into work "when I was done there." My sister took that call and told her "Absolutely not, and I am not even telling her you called until she is ready to go back to work!"
And another time, I had a kidney stone and chills and a fever of 103 by 12 noon on a 12 hr shift and told to stay until my "relief got there." Oh did you call somebody in for me? No, she meant the 7 pm girl. Gee thanks.
Thank you. I like to write. Too bad there's no money in it. LOL, oh well!
Wow. I don't have anything that bad. Although I was called during my grandmother's visitation at the funeral home and asked if I could come into work "when I was done there." My sister took that call and told her "Absolutely not, and I am not even telling her you called until she is ready to go back to work!"And another time, I had a kidney stone and chills and a fever of 103 by 12 noon on a 12 hr shift and told to stay until my "relief got there." Oh did you call somebody in for me? No, she meant the 7 pm girl. Gee thanks.
Geez. They're all heart, aren't they?
Lorie P.
755 Posts
how about spending 5 days in the hospital with salmonella food poisoning and bacteremia, in the room across from the nsg manager's office and asked on the day of discharge if you need to be taken off the schedule for the next 3 days? this was after the infection control nurse said that i had to be fever and diarrhea free for a full 24 hours before even thinking about returning to work!
then got wrote up for missing 3 days of work and wanting to know if i had a legitament excuse for calling in??
this still ticks me off when i think about it!:angryfire
this was 2 years ago and i no longer work for these jerks!!
Holy cow! I don't blame you. I'd have told them to make those 3 days the first of my 2 week notice!
hotmama2be
108 Posts
"And another time, I had a kidney stone and chills and a fever of 103 by 12 noon on a 12 hr shift and told to stay until my "relief got there." Oh did you call somebody in for me? No, she meant the 7 pm girl. Gee thanks."
Kidney pain is the worst I got a horrible infection one time it just me hit like a ton of bricks I couldn't even stand let alone breath. I was actually at work at the time and I was in tears because of the pain and I had to wait for someone to relieve me !!!! Just to let you know I was waitress at the time and the manager still asked me to take tables and deliver food !!!!!!
chenoaspirit, ASN, RN
1,010 Posts
I had two doc appts after working noc shift. I scheduled them immediately after getting off work so I could get them over with and get in bed to work again that night. My doc appt was an hour away though. Well, when I got to the doc appt, they told me that with my test results, they thought I had ovarian cancer and I needed to do further tests that day. So it took most of the day. I called my charge nurse immediately and told her that I could not work that night because of working all night, being at doc appts all day, with no sleep and I was upset after what the doc told me. The charge nurse called the coordinator, who called me on my cell and said "you cant call in because of lack of sleep!" Even though I told her that I was just dx'ed with ovarian cancer. I called the DON who let me off work, I went home and cried. The next night was my night off, I was forced to go work on another floor as my punishment for calling off. I ended up having a hysterectomy, colectomy, chole, rectopexy, appy (all in one surgery) about 4 months after that. I ended up not having cancer, but had severe endometriosis with tumors that had attached my organs to one another. But they didnt care. We all are just warm bodies to fill in the empty gaps in the schedules.
Babs0512
846 Posts
I work PACU, and I was on call this past Christmas. I've worked in this hospital 16 years, I've NEVER missed a holiday. I awoke at 0200 Christmas morning vomiting. I vomited every 20 minutes like clock work. I was hot and then shivering cold, on and off. About 0600, I vomited AND had diarrhea at the same time - also at that instant I developed the worst HA of my life, I thought I would pass out right there on the toilet holding my "big pink bowl" filled with puke.
My husband had had enough, he said "I'm taking you to the ER." Ever felt so sick that death was an option? That's how I felt. So I get to the ER, they put in an IV, drew blood, ordered a CT of the brain. Gave me Compazine and Toradol, and lots of fluids. It was after 0700 by this point, and my call started at 0700. I told my husband I had to call the supervisor and try to get someone to cover call. He told me he already call me in at 0400 (oops, I didn't even know that).
Anyway, CT was neg, I refused the LP, after fluids, and medicaton, I was discharged home feeling like I'd been hit by a truck.
My boss and co-wokers were ******!! The nurse who covered for me, never got called in, but made it clear that I "Owe" her one.
I call human resourses to find out what I did wrong. They said, "were you sick?" I said "yes", "did you have a doctors note", I said "yes", HR said "Then what's the problem?" I said, you'd have to ask my boss.
Never heard any more about it, but my yearly eval is coming up, and I AM 100% POSITIVE IT WILL BE BROUGHT UP THEN.