Taking Kids to the Job is it OK?

Shed13911 · Jul 23, 2004

Not only is it not OK, it may be illegal. The employer is paying for you to do a job and not care for the kids. The patients are not getting your full attention as you are trying to make sure that the little ones do not get into anything they shouldn't. I worked some places where the doctors would bring their own children when they made rounds and expected the nurses to look after them when they saw pts. What are the kids being exposed to while in the facility? I think the liability alone for the employer would be enough to sway them as to forbid it. If they knew about it and did nothing about it, they could be liable for the injuries to the pts/children while on the premises. :imbar I bet their insurance could skyrocket if the insurance company knew that children were being brought in by the staff!!! :uhoh21:

Farkinott, RN · Jul 23, 2004

I have worked with many many colleagues who have had to bring their kids to work at some stage for any amount of reasons. Usually they are solo parents struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food in their belly. I am certain that none of them willingly bring their children to work.

Instead of focussing on so called regulations and liability maybe a bit of understanding and compassion would be more productive!

Destinystar · Jul 23, 2004

farkinott what do you suggest as a solution that would allow employees to bring their kids to work without compromising patient care or violating any policies, etc? i agree that the parents are doing it out of desperation. i think it has a lot to do with the nursing shortage. people dont know what to do with the kids so they can work these odd hours. :)

i have worked with many many colleagues who have had to bring their kids to work at some stage for any amount of reasons. usually they are solo parents struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food in their belly. i am certain that none of them willingly bring their children to work.
instead of focussing on so called regulations and liability maybe a bit of understanding and compassion would be more productive!

Destinystar · Jul 23, 2004

you definatly bring up some valid points:p

not only is it not ok, it may be illegal. the employer is paying for you to do a job and not care for the kids. the patients are not getting your full attention as you are trying to make sure that the little ones do not get into anything they shouldn't. i worked some places where the doctors would bring their own children when they made rounds and expected the nurses to look after them when they saw pts. what are the kids being exposed to while in the facility? i think the liability alone for the employer would be enough to sway them as to forbid it. if they knew about it and did nothing about it, they could be liable for the injuries to the pts/children while on the premises. :imbar i bet their insurance could skyrocket if the insurance company knew that children were being brought in by the staff!!! :uhoh21:

TexasPoodleMix · Jul 23, 2004

Once while I was at a gyno. appt. the Dr's very small obnoxious children were running around the office halls. There I am in stirrups and the kids banging on the door. :uhoh3: Call me cold, but I didn't think it was cute or funny at all. Now if it were a puppy scratching on the door that may have been a different story ! LOL :rotfl:

leslie :-D · Jul 23, 2004

it's certainly not a desirable situation, and compassion has nothing to do with it. it's a job with responsibilities, implications and risks.

farkinott, we can't guide our entire lives on compassion; it often gets in the way of good judgement. peace.

leslie

Destinystar · Jul 25, 2004

a few of the places i worked at employees were allowed to bring their kids or just showed up with them. i cant believe that some places dont have policies about this sort of thing. only in ltc.:uhoh21:

it's certainly not a desirable situation, and compassion has nothing to do with it. it's a job with responsibilities, implications and risks.
farkinott, we can't guide our entire lives on compassion; it often gets in the way of good judgement. peace.
leslie

Blackcat99 · Jul 25, 2004

I've worked at LTC's where the supervisors tell the nurses to bring their kids with them to work rather than be a call-off on the weekends. Working in LTC is a very difficult job. I don't know how a nurse can watch her kids and still do a good job as a nurse. Anyway, as long as they don't ask me to watch their kids and if they only do this once in a great while when it's an emergency I don't get upset about it.

dotter · Jul 25, 2004

My daughter used to go with me in the summers when school was out. We did have permission from the administration tho. She helped the activities director some and just enjoyed visiting with the residents. They enjoyed her too. I still have some papers that she wrote and had one of the residents sign where she adopted them. I can't remember how old she was, probably pre teens. At the time she said she was going to be an activities director but in reality she became an RN and is administrator in a home aide facility. At the time I worried about her "bothering" people but I think it was actually good for her and for them too. I know this isn't exactly what ya'll are talking about but it's another side to the story.

elkpark · Jul 25, 2004

Taking Kids to the Job is it OK?

No. .

hypnotic_nurse · Jul 26, 2004

When my kids were preteens, I worked in pharmaceutical research -- which is often one-on-one with patients and lots of time for paperwork during the day. When one or another kid was sick (earaches, mostly) and I couldn't reschedule my patients or had a monitor visit, adminstration allowed me to bring the kids to work (there were separate offices so they didn't have any patient contact). The other nurses I worked with also sometimes had to bring their children; we all looked out for each other's kids when they had to be there. I was very lucky to have had that job at that point in my life.

It worked pretty well, but it's not a typical nursing job, either. :)