What constitutes an essential employee?

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Specializes in Peds.

Hello,newbie to this site here! Looking for advice/guidance. Sorry for the disjointed posts!

I work private duty 12 hour shifts with vent/trach patients,mostly children.

The parents are trained with all aspects of care. Most get 24 hour nursing,but some do get 16 hours/day 7 days a week.

Question#1 How are homecare nurses essential employees if the parents/caregivers are trained in the patient's care? I understand hospitals and nursing homes,but homecare that has trained caregivers? I am not convinced we are.

The other question is about safety. My company does not have gloves,hand sanitizer,gowns,goggles,or masks. My company told us not to assume a client has Covid 19 even though they may run fevers,chills,have respiratory issues. On top of that,many parents have told me they won't take their children to the hospital even if they did suspect Covid 19 because most likely,the hospital cannot do anything anyway. (I assume that is mostly true.) But then all nursing care would fall on the nurses,exposing us. Then we take it home to our families.

Question#2 . Can you refuse care based on lack of PPE?

I believe you cannot,however,we do not even have the basics. How am I supposed to work without gloves.

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Specializes in Peds.

SO nobody knows?

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I found out today that essential personnel is more broad than I thought. Construction companies are apparently essential.

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Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.

If you took one nurse away from bedside nursing in the hospital, the other nurses would pick up the slack as best they could. If you take one nurse away from private duty nursing, the parents would pick up the slack as best they could.

Just because they would somehow carry on does not mean that the nurse was not essential personal. Essential personal refers to the type of work that we do, not whether that one nurse was irreplaceable.

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Specializes in Peds.

So apparently one agency around here told their nurses they were not essential since parents can pick up the slack,since after all,it is their child.

They also know nursing is not guaranteed,which is why they sign contracts with the agency before starting care.

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Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.
On ‎3‎/‎24‎/‎2020 at 12:47 AM, Runsoncoffee99 said:

So apparently one agency around here told their nurses they were not essential since parents can pick up the slack,since after all,it is their child.

They also know nursing is not guaranteed,which is why they sign contracts with the agency before starting care.

That agency is confused.

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