  RN’s
best defense against abandonment charge: a written record
The risk of being charged with abandoning your patients if you refuse to work an extra shift or are called on to leave one critically ill patient to attend another is a spector that haunts many PEF nurses. So, members of the PEF Nurses Committee asked Patricia Greenberg, executive director of the Nurse Alliance of NYS 1199 SEIU, to join them at their March meeting to talk about the “Abandonment in Nursing” memo that the state Education Department (SED) sent to NYS licensed nurses, health care facilities and other interested parties last September. The memo was issued in response to questions from nurses and health care employers about actions that could be considered abandonment and possibly lead to charges against a nurse’s license for unprofessional conduct. The memo provides key terms that are used to clarify what is and is not abandonment. Greenberg said the information in this memo merely clarifies SED practice guidelines and should be used as a tool. This clarification is neither a law nor a regulation. Nurses all over New York are frequently threatened by management with nursing abandonment if they refuse to accept mandatory overtime, according to Greenberg. She emphasized the two words to focus on are “proper” and “reasonable,” but the definitions of each can vary according to work settings and situations. If you object to a work assignment, document the incident in writing as soon as possible, Greenberg advised. A signed and dated written record of what happened and when, what was said and the exact circumstances can be critical to your defense if you are charged with abandonment, because SED is only allowed to review actual objections that have been put on the record. PEF has distributed protest-of-assignment forms for you to use in documenting these incidents and others that create an unsafe working environment. For more forms, e-mail PEFNurse@pef.org or write to PEF Nurse Organizer, PO Box 12414, Albany, NY 12212-2414. — Tracy Scholz and Sherry Halbrook Outreach programs benefit thousands in Brooklyn Outstanding PEF nurses serve their community By DEBORAH A. MILES Dedication, concern and experience are just a few of the qualities of PEF nurses who work at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. They serve thousands of patients and residents in the Brooklyn area and continue to implement and expand health care programs at the hospital through clinics and in the community itself. “SUNY Downstate is the heart of Brooklyn,” said PEF member Grace Abraham, head nurse at the Midwood satellite clinic. “We are a teaching hospital and we serve a lot of people in different communities. “We provide a great service, not only to those who are ill, but also in preventative care.” Programs for everyone Some of the programs at Downstate include monthly community health lectures and expectant family education. They offer free screening for cardiac risk, diabetes, asthma and prostate cancer. Free or low-cost breast and cervical cancer screening are also available. And there are free support groups for smoking cessation, prostate cancer and diabetes. “There is a need for the services we provide and the community demands it,” said PEF member Betty Jung, a registered nurse in SUNY’s Patient Education Department and Center for Community Health Promotion and Wellness. “We address current health problems within the community,” Jung said. “Diabetes, cardiac disease and cancer top our list. We educate the community by teaching them skills to make healthy choices in their lives.” The community health center participates in more than 40 health fairs a year that attract thousands of Brooklyn residents. Most of the health care professionals who staff the fairs volunteer their time. The center also provides free, monthly blood-pressure screening, health counseling and health lectures at six senior citizen centers that have a combined membership of approximately 2,500 residents. Expanding into the community Getting the word out to the public about free health screenings or flu shots is accomplished by placing flyers in local bodegas, barbershops, laundromats and churches as well as mailings to 1,050 community residents. “We even have a preventative health outreach program through our family practice clinic at Wingate High School,” said PEF member Joy Fletcher, RN, a basic life support instructor in the Continuing Education Department for nurses. Downstate’s 350-bed hospital is usually fully occupied and the three satellite clinics (Midwood, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Lefferts Avenue) see a constant flow of patients with a variety of illnesses. “We provide services for a large, indigent population especially the undocumented ones,” Fletcher said. “We are always expanding to keep up with the demands of our patients and residents,” Abraham added. “We’ve become an integral part of the community, and our goal is to further health care needs.” Nurses give rave reviews for specialized training By DEBORAH A. MILES PEF nurses in western New York are giving the Public Service Workshop Program (PSWP) rave reviews after benefitting from some specialized programs during March. PSWP is a unique working partnership between PEF and the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER), and the state’s higher education community linking the intellectual resources of the university with the professional development needs of the state workforce. It is funded through the collective bargaining agreement between PEF and GOER. In January, labor and management met in the Buffalo office and agreed that tailor-made workshops would be a benefit to health care providers and their patients. “What made these workshops unique and popular is they specifically met the needs of nurses in certain areas,” said PEF Region1 Coordinator Joyce Degenhardt “The location and timing of the workshop were equally beneficial. The workshops were held at the institution and during the shift that the nurses worked,” she said. During two shifts at the Buffalo Psychiatric Center, a workshop on personality disorders was presented and more than 40 nurses attended each one. “We had a phenomenal turnout and the majority stayed for the entire workshop,” said PEF Division 180 Council Leader Barb Rock, a psychiatric nurse 2. “We got a lot of positive feedback from workers that this was something they could apply to their workplace,” she said. A workshop on psychotropic medications — drugs that people with personality disorders take — was also a hit with the nurses at the West Seneca Developmental Center. Nurses working at the state Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) at the Mohawk Correctional Facility were able to attend workshops on health assessment skills and blood-collection devices through teleconferencing. “DOCS nurses may not have to do a thorough physical assessment on a routine basis, so this workshop gave them the opportunity to refresh their assessment skills,” Degenhardt said. Another teleconferencing workshop on venues access devices – the system used to draw blood and start an IV — kept SUNY nurses apprised of the latest techniques. During May, the evaluations will be submitted to GOER with recommendations on what would be beneficial in the future. Degenhardt added, “When the contract is settled and we have money for the joint funding, these are programs we will definitely do again.”  Up-to-date information about all of
these and many more topics and events of interest to PEF
nurses are available on PEF’s online newsletter, “News For Nurses.”E-mail PEFNurses@pef.org to be added to the News for Nurses list. |
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