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.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
I was working 14-hour days after a bad LTC survey, trying to help formulate the plan of correction and go through 45 charts page by page, when I got pneumonia. I had a fever of 103, looked and felt like death warmed over, even had to take my home nebulizer and breathing treatment solutions with me to work because the pneumonia had also set off my asthma. One day a couple of the staff nurses tried to talk me into going home because they had noted that my nail beds were a bit dusky and I had a SpO2 of 85% on room air; but the corporate people insisted that I stay and keep working on those charts to make sure there weren't any gaps in the documentation.
Finally, I crawled home at 10 o'clock at night after about the sixth consecutive 12+ hour day and didn't wake up for 36 hours. My husband had called in for me, but I was fired the following Monday for my "lack of commitment" to the job. :icon_roll
Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.
Oh, honey...:icon_hug:I'm so sorry. I hope you're better. I'm glad it wasn't cancer. And I hope those neenerheads you worked under have to have an appy through their nose for what they did to you!
Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.
I was working 14-hour days after a bad LTC survey, trying to help formulate the plan of correction and go through 45 charts page by page, when I got pneumonia. I had a fever of 103, looked and felt like death warmed over, even had to take my home nebulizer and breathing treatment solutions with me to work because the pneumonia had also set off my asthma. One day a couple of the staff nurses tried to talk me into going home because they had noted that my nail beds were a bit dusky and I had a SpO2 of 85% on room air; but the corporate people insisted that I stay and keep working on those charts to make sure there weren't any gaps in the documentation.
Finally, I crawled home at 10 o'clock at night after about the sixth consecutive 12+ hour day and didn't wake up for 36 hours. My husband had called in for me, but I was fired the following Monday for my "lack of commitment" to the job. :icon_roll
But you had such a strong commitment to living...gads, and they wonder why they can't keep staff.
Wow! I am really surprised by all of this! At our hospital, if you appear sick, they will send you home quick! We frequently get reminders that if we come in sick, we are only increasing the chances of infecting our patients.
Oh, honey...:icon_hug:I'm so sorry. I hope you're better. I'm glad it wasn't cancer. And I hope those neenerheads you worked under have to have an appy through their nose for what they did to you!
Me too. We, as nurses, are expected to care for the sick, but not care for ourselves when WE are sick. And thanks for your concern. Im glad too that it wasnt cancer.
I was working 14-hour days after a bad LTC survey, trying to help formulate the plan of correction and go through 45 charts page by page, when I got pneumonia. I had a fever of 103, looked and felt like death warmed over, even had to take my home nebulizer and breathing treatment solutions with me to work because the pneumonia had also set off my asthma. One day a couple of the staff nurses tried to talk me into going home because they had noted that my nail beds were a bit dusky and I had a SpO2 of 85% on room air; but the corporate people insisted that I stay and keep working on those charts to make sure there weren't any gaps in the documentation.
Finally, I crawled home at 10 o'clock at night after about the sixth consecutive 12+ hour day and didn't wake up for 36 hours. My husband had called in for me, but I was fired the following Monday for my "lack of commitment" to the job. :icon_roll
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
I was actually RELIEVED when they did it. And I got unemployment benefits too, because I wasn't fired 'for cause'. I was fired because four years of bad management had landed this facility in deep doo-doo, and I couldn't fix it in four months. No biggie.
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.
They're pigs. How completely uncaring and mean.
I'm glad you didn't have cancer but sorry you went through all the surgeries and illness. Hugs.
I was actually RELIEVED when they did it. And I got unemployment benefits too, because I wasn't fired 'for cause'. I was fired because four years of bad management had landed this facility in deep doo-doo, and I couldn't fix it in four months. No biggie.
I was part of a lay off in a job prior to nursing and was RELIEVED as well. I literally skipped out of the place. You'd have thought I'd won the lottery.
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.
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.
Not at all laughing at your pain but a janitor holding you over his head showing where the ICU nurse was at is priceless. I swear it should be a Mastercard commercial. And ya just know he loved sticking it to her. She should be ashamed of herself. I wish I was there to see her face when the doc told her to get someone or suit up. I probably would have peed on the floor. :chuckle
My brother is not a healthcare worker, but when he was in college, he worked briefly at a laundry because the hours were very flexible and the job paid fairly well. One night, he went to the ER with chest pain which turned out to be pleurisy, and when he called them in the morning to explain the situation, they said, "Can you come in at noon?"
Of course heart attacks are extremely rare in 20-something men but not impossible, but he quit right then rather than be treated that way. And I knew better than to apply there myself; the turnover was extremely high for a reason!
VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN
22 Articles; 9,996 Posts
I was working 14-hour days after a bad LTC survey, trying to help formulate the plan of correction and go through 45 charts page by page, when I got pneumonia. I had a fever of 103, looked and felt like death warmed over, even had to take my home nebulizer and breathing treatment solutions with me to work because the pneumonia had also set off my asthma. One day a couple of the staff nurses tried to talk me into going home because they had noted that my nail beds were a bit dusky and I had a SpO2 of 85% on room air; but the corporate people insisted that I stay and keep working on those charts to make sure there weren't any gaps in the documentation.
Finally, I crawled home at 10 o'clock at night after about the sixth consecutive 12+ hour day and didn't wake up for 36 hours. My husband had called in for me, but I was fired the following Monday for my "lack of commitment" to the job. :icon_roll