Hi, the hospital I work for in Texas has instituted a new policy of forcing all non-clinical nurses to go back to bedside nursing and take care of COVID patients. Nurses are told that they don't have a choice but resignation.
I haven't done bedside nursing in over 7 years (been doing quality and informatics) and feel that I don't have it in me (skillwise and desire) to go back to bedside nursing. What should I do?
- Can hospitals really force people to resign or is this just a tactic so that they don't have to pay unemployment?
Texas failed to implement a strategy to control the outbreak. No masks, no shutdown. Now they are in crisis and ready to throw you into a situation you can't handle.
Glad I live in NJ where the governor responded appropriately. There's no way I'm leaving.
We did shutdown in Texas. We are requiring masks. Houston has required them since April basically. I worked up in NYC in April/may. There were plenty of people there not wearing masks and social distancing.
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
Any of our nurses who were physically compromised or had medical conditions that put them at higher risk were shuttled sideways into non direct patient contact roles.
Id say its not OK and should not be tolerated, you Yanks have some wierd employment laws eg the employer has all the rights, and the employee has to suck it up if they want the job
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
6 hours ago, Tenebrae said:
Any of our nurses who were physically compromised or had medical conditions that put them at higher risk were shuttled sideways into non direct patient contact roles.
Id say its not OK and should not be tolerated, you Yanks have some wierd employment laws eg the employer has all the rights, and the employee has to suck it up if they want the job
Where I work those at high risk aren’t placed in direct patient care either. But those who aren’t at high risk, don’t have high risk family living with them but just don’t want to? ?♀️ Not sure that’s the same thing. To me, it’s what we nurses are here for. If not us, then who? I don’t see anything wrong with requiring a nurse to be a nurse.
Hi, the hospital I work for in Texas has instituted a new policy of forcing all non-clinical nurses to go back to bedside nursing and take care of COVID patients.
Just curious: Does this new policy include all of your Nursing Leadership including your Chief Nursing Officer/Executive(s)?
No, you won't qualify for unemployment if they are offering you a job and you refuse it.
Safe Harbor can and should be invoked if they do not give you options for training and precepting to get up to speed.
The staffing situation in the hot spots in Texas is dire. I am not using that word lightly. They don't have a choice. They need nurses at the bedside more than in informatics right now and are asking nurses to step up everywhere. I understand your reluctance. But yes, they definitely are within the law to do this. After all, bottom line is that we are all nurses and capable of providing hands on care.
No, actually. We aren't all capable of being thrown into bedside nursing especially after having been gone a while. Are you even for real here?
There also was a ton of information out through the ANA and ANCC about upskilling
I am glad to hear of it but did I miss where the ANA advocated for nurses to get PPE equipment early in the pandemic, still continuing until now? Education is one of the areas we feel that are important but getting appropriate PPE is a major concern and except for the NPs visit to HM Trump (where the NP backtracked) where are the ads and editorials from ANA demanding nurses be furnished with our safety necessities?
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
12 hours ago, Nurse SMS said:
Where I work those at high risk aren’t placed in direct patient care either. But those who aren’t at high risk, don’t have high risk family living with them but just don’t want to? ?♀️ Not sure that’s the same thing. To me, it’s what we nurses are here for. If not us, then who? I don’t see anything wrong with requiring a nurse to be a nurse.
Our management have made it very clear that if we don't want to work with coivid positive patients we don't have to. The other side of that is that if someone declines to work with covid +ve patients they may be sent out to other wards
Re Safe Harbor - unless things have changed, Calif (?) was the only state to have Safe Harbor legislation. And just to remind all, Safe Harbor does NOT give the employee a pass to avoid an unwanted assignment. No!
It is the employee's opp'ty to alert Admin that the employee is working UNDER PROTEST. The employee CANNOT REFUSE an assignment - to do so is basically refusing to work. That refusal is a fire-able action considered as JOB ABANDONMENT. So the employee will be working the assignment UNDER PROTEST.
SAFE HARBOR is a very serious employee activity. It is NOT an afterthought; it is NOT a threat. Safe Harbor MUST be declared BEFORE the employee accepts the assigned assignment and Admin must be notified immed. And there should be some type of paperwork documentation that explains the employee's stance that the assignment poses a real threat to pt SAFETY.
What happens after is that there must be a peer/group mandatory conference (within a designated time frame) that reviews the situation under complaint. A decision is then determined.
I wish I could remember more details. There was a great article piece presented by the Commuter, a very knowledgeable past respondent here. I tried a quick search here and there are some other good pieces that also explain SH better.
To dianah - please, if you could locate & post that Commuter address piece. I think it would provide much needed info for many. TY in advance, if you can help. I know she posted it before 8/2017.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
On 7/19/2020 at 7:51 AM, Orion81RN said:
No, actually. We aren't all capable of being thrown into bedside nursing especially after having been gone a while. Are you even for real here?
Of course I am. I mentioned in my post that there should be training and precepting provided. I work in one of these hospitals. We are literally full and we literally do not have enough staff to care for the patients. It's a reality of the situation at this juncture.
10 hours ago, amoLucia said:
To Orion and several others here -
Re Safe Harbor - unless things have changed, Calif (?) was the only state to have Safe Harbor legislation. And just to remind all, Safe Harbor does NOT give the employee a pass to avoid an unwanted assignment. No!
It is the employee's opp'ty to alert Admin that the employee is working UNDER PROTEST. The employee CANNOT REFUSE an assignment - to do so is basically refusing to work. That refusal is a fire-able action considered as JOB ABANDONMENT. So the employee will be working the assignment UNDER PROTEST.
SAFE HARBOR is a very serious employee activity. It is NOT an afterthought; it is NOT a threat. Safe Harbor MUST be declared BEFORE the employee accepts the assigned assignment and Admin must be notified immed. And there should be some type of paperwork documentation that explains the employee's stance that the assignment poses a real threat to pt SAFETY.
What happens after is that there must be a peer/group mandatory conference (within a designated time frame) that reviews the situation under complaint. A decision is then determined.
I wish I could remember more details. There was a great article piece presented by the Commuter, a very knowledgeable past respondent here. I tried a quick search here and there are some other good pieces that also explain SH better.
To dianah - please, if you could locate & post that Commuter address piece. I think it would provide much needed info for many. TY in advance, if you can help. I know she posted it before 8/2017.
Exactly. Safe Harbor simply provides certain protections. It doesn't relieve someone of an unwanted or unsafe assignment. The duty is still the patient.
Of course I am. I mentioned in my post that there should be training and precepting provided. I work in one of these hospitals. We are literally full and we literally do not have enough staff to care for the patients. It's a reality of the situation at this juncture.
Exactly. Safe Harbor simply provides certain protections. It doesn't relieve someone of an unwanted or unsafe assignment. The duty is still the patient.
1) the "training" is a joke.
2) No. If I'm hired in a non-clinical role, I'm not letting anyone bully me into doing any job other than what I signed up for. I'd do it if I chose to but not bc my work told me I have to. That's ***. That's like telling someone in QA at my private duty company that they have to do a shift at a patient's house with a couple hours of training. No. Unacceptable. I don't care if you think otherwise. This isn't the military. That sounds like the mentality of the nursing profession that is holding us back bc we don't stand up for ourselves. Thanks for that ?
Re Safe Harbor - unless things have changed, Calif (?) was the only state to have Safe Harbor legislation. And just to remind all, Safe Harbor does NOT give the employee a pass to avoid an unwanted assignment. No!
It is the employee's opp'ty to alert Admin that the employee is working UNDER PROTEST. The employee CANNOT REFUSE an assignment - to do so is basically refusing to work. That refusal is a fire-able action considered as JOB ABANDONMENT. So the employee will be working the assignment UNDER PROTEST.
SAFE HARBOR is a very serious employee activity. It is NOT an afterthought; it is NOT a threat. Safe Harbor MUST be declared BEFORE the employee accepts the assigned assignment and Admin must be notified immed. And there should be some type of paperwork documentation that explains the employee's stance that the assignment poses a real threat to pt SAFETY.
What happens after is that there must be a peer/group mandatory conference (within a designated time frame) that reviews the situation under complaint. A decision is then determined.
I wish I could remember more details. There was a great article piece presented by the Commuter, a very knowledgeable past respondent here. I tried a quick search here and there are some other good pieces that also explain SH better.
To dianah - please, if you could locate & post that Commuter address piece. I think it would provide much needed info for many. TY in advance, if you can help. I know she posted it before 8/2017.
I have no idea why you are addressing me in this. I said nothing of Safe Harbor. I understand if they refuse to do it, they can be fired. It's bull *** but I understand that reality. That's not going to keep me from yelling BS BS BS and making it known to EVERYONE that it's bs.
Orion81RN - I do apologize. MY error in that you were not questioning Safe Harbor.
I did bring up the topic because there are many here who really do NOT have a full understanding of what SH is all about. Esp in the fine details. There is an intricate process that must be followed by all parties in order for the intentions of Safe Harbor to be honored and not voided.
And I do agree that much of what occurs to the 'floor working staff' is a crock of BS that has made them impotent against the higher-upper nsg admin and corp biggies.
Kyrshamarks, BSN, RN
1 Article; 631 Posts
We did shutdown in Texas. We are requiring masks. Houston has required them since April basically. I worked up in NYC in April/may. There were plenty of people there not wearing masks and social distancing.