Wanting to go back to work after healing from a severe injury to me right hand

[Jenn Logan]

Hi,

 I’m hoping to get some opinions on my current situation. I have been a nurse for 18 years (LPN- 14 years, RN 4 years). On March 27th of this year glass severed the nerves and tendons in my right wrist. Ulnar and radial nerves were both severed. I had two surgeries to repair tendon and nerves.  The surgeon told me recovery from my type of injury could take up to a year before I have full use of my hand. Since my accident, I’ve come a long way for sure. But I still can’t use my dominant hand in many ways. I am really wanting to get back into work. I applied for a position at an ambulatory oncology clinic and tomorrow is my phone interview. I know that I will have some limitations at first. I have poor fine motor skills in that hand. I can write fairly well now but it takes longer. I don’t think I’ll have a problem with administrative, triage and patient education portions of the job. However, there’s no way I can start IV or venipuncture yet.

I’m not sure how to approach the fact of my temporary disability during my phone interview. I’m kind of hoping they will work with me for a few months as I gain my hand strength and fine motor skills back.  

Any thoughts or advice?

 

 

 

 

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Does the oncology clinic do chemo or are the pt's referred to an infusion clinic?   Do the clinic nurses obtain their own lab specimens  or are pt's sent to a lab where phlebotomists draw their blood?  Answers to those questions will determine how frequently you would likely be expected to perform venipunctures and IV starts in the clinic.  All the outpatient chemo offices in my area send pts to the infusion clinic and/or to the lab so there is very little if any venipuncture performed in the clinic.