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 med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.
Brother. Well, I think it's official....nurses don't matter one whit unless there's no warm body to fill the schedule. I should be mad, but it just makes me really, really sad that it has come to this.
What is sick is that in amy other profession, this wouldn't fly.
I would go to work with hyper emesis (at that time, I thought it was normal to have Mroning sickness that bad) The LTC didn't care that I spent my whole shift (yes...at leas 6.5 hrs of it) in the bathroom. They just wanted a body (I was a supervisor) and hey...I wanted a paycheck. I ended up quitting and they were sad to see me go. WTHeck? I would come in late and spend all day in the bathroom...they call that work?? That was a salaried position.
With DC #4, I started to pick up shifts at another LTC.. two days of classroom orientation, one day on the floor. Of course, I was sent on my own after "all that training". It wouldn't have been so bad, but I was on the heaviest floor, the only RN except for the supervisor for 3-11 and was told part way into the **** that I would be covering another hall too. At this same time, I suffering from urinary retention, my good old morning/ all day sickness, all the other prenancy things and a UTI (first ever in my life). To top that off....I was having some good old braxton Hicks contractions for the fun of it.
Hmmm....the supervisor told me to "drink some water and offered to cath me if I need it" After that she just told me that there were two incidents in the next hall that I needed to take care of.
I had severe food poisoning and couldn't walk straight, although i had stopped vomiting i couldnt eat either. i still went into work and took care of my patients and was chewed out because i got behind. i was so dizzy that after each patient i had to sit down for 20 mins to keep from passing out
I don't have anything to say, except I am so sorry for all these experiences. Tazzi, I am so sorry about your brother. I have some stories I could tell, too, but I need my BP to not shoot through the roof, lol.
i work in an endoscopy center, so i thought this was hilarious that my boss did this to me.
i had a CT which showed a probable lung mass (which ended up being scar tissue from asthma), and had to go in for a bronchoscopy at the facility accross the street, same dr's work there, just different days. my procedure was scheduled at 10am. i asked my boss for the day off, and she said no. so i went to work at 7am, and had one of my co-workers hep-lock me with an IV and worked with it until 9am. (i felt like a crack head too, when i flushed my own IV before leaving)
i called my boss at 9am and told her dr. f and i were leaving, so we could go to the other facility to get my bronch done. she asked if i was coming back and i said no. "well why not? it only takes 45 minutes". i explained to her that no, i couldnt come back because i was receiving IV morphine and versed and would need to be monitored at the facility and then be driven home.... to which my boss replied....
"can't you go without sedation??" haha. i asked her how much she would like to see someone shove a fiber optic tube down her nose into her trachea and lungs, get washings and bxs done with no sedation. no thanks.
got written up for that one, but dr. f gave me a nice note for her. its amazing how silly nurse managers can be when in a staffing crisis.
As a new grad I had worked for 18 months without ever calling in. I was so sick with the flu and called in at 11 pm the night before. The night shift started calling me back at 5:30 am to see if I was really sick because they did not want to bother anyone else/:no:
I was so sick one night and knew there was NO way I'd be able to make my next shift - I was barely getting thru the present one - and the mgr wanted to talk with me directly (mind you it's like 22:00) and "discuss" it with me. She had it in her mind that I had a concert or something I wanted to go to bc I "called in" while still working the previous shift. Okay, so I can KIND OF see her point, but, COME ON!!!!
I was so sick one night and knew there was NO way I'd be able to make my next shift - I was barely getting thru the present one - and the mgr wanted to talk with me directly (mind you it's like 22:00) and "discuss" it with me. She had it in her mind that I had a concert or something I wanted to go to bc I "called in" while still working the previous shift. Okay, so I can KIND OF see her point, but, COME ON!!!!
My hospital's policy is that sick notes are required at the NM's discretion, supposedly if you show a "pattern of abuse". I worked sick once, and by the end of the night I was so bad the charge nurse told me flat out "Don't come in tomorrow." So I didn't. Paycheck comes, and it's way short. Why, you ask? I didn't bring a note for the shift I was told not to come in for.
My hospital's policy is that sick notes are required at the NM's discretion, supposedly if you show a "pattern of abuse". I worked sick once, and by the end of the night I was so bad the charge nurse told me flat out "Don't come in tomorrow." So I didn't. Paycheck comes, and it's way short. Why, you ask? I didn't bring a note for the shift I was told not to come in for.
Specializes in CTICU, Interventional Cardiology, CCU.
I had asthamatic bronchitus a few months ago. I had told my manager at night I wasn't feeling well, while I was at work. She didn;t believe me, said it's just my asthma..I knew better, b/c everytime I have asthamatic bronchitus I end up with pneumonia. I said I couldn;t breathe and evey breath I took was a struggle and my albuterol wasn;t working, I was dizzy and was seeing stars, and almost passed out in a pt's room. I made it home that morning, only for my BP to be in the toilet like 85/50, my HR was 140 and I was whaling on my inhaler way too often. I had been working non-stop 12 hour, which ended up being 14 hour NOC shitfs in a row like 5/7 nights b/c I was mandated OT,before I finally went to the Doc. I had a 103 fever and a SPO2 of 87%, when I landed in my MD's office. My fiance had to drag me to the MD, literally. The MD said I was stepps away from landing in the hosp. with pneumonia.
I knew I had to work the next night, and I also knew we were short staffed. Needless to say when I called out, my manager left me a message asking if I was comming in. I said what was wrong with me and I got YELLED AT!! I had called out as soon as I got home from the MD's, which was at 12 PM for the shift I was susposed to work that night. I had given more than enough time to let them know I was sick.
The manager said to me, "well can you walk? I doubt that your that sick? just get in here, you will fell better" I had my MD call the manager and explain how sick I was, and that even if I could walk I was NOT to go into work.
I was out of work for 1 week, thank god it fell on the week I took vacation. But I was put on predisolone, levaquin, 2 types of neb TX, narcotic oral suspension, and some other meds. My fever got to the point it was 104. I refused to go to the ER. I was wheeezing and could not breathe.
Never again will I put my body through that abuse. I like living and breathing. I will not allow work to dictate how SICK I really am.
I was working nocs at the time. I felt nauseous at the beginning of my shift and ended up with severe vomiting and diarrhea at 3am. I remember vomiting in at least three patient bathrooms because I knew I would never make it back to the desk. Charge nurse told me in so many words to buck it up and get through until 7am. I worked with terrific nursing assistants both nocs and oncoming day shift at 5 and 6am. They got me though and I told them so.
I went home with a bath basin next to me in the car that I used x2 to throw up. Barely got out of bed for the next three days.
If I had to do over again, I would have made it a point to barf on the charge nurses' shoes.
Okay, so I can KIND OF see her point, but, COME ON!!!!
AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN
2 Articles; 1,291 Posts
Brother. Well, I think it's official....nurses don't matter one whit unless there's no warm body to fill the schedule. I should be mad, but it just makes me really, really sad that it has come to this.