Quote From: maikalaI was hired as a Emergency Department Secretary and over time I was also asked to perform clinical duties such as take a patients first vitals, help with transport from ambulance stretch to er stretcher, put patients on bed pans and commodes. Transport patients to inpatient bed on other floors, operating rooms, helped with catherization of patients (male and female), cleaned up bodily fluids, helped patients from stretchers into wheel chairs, helped with suture care, cleaned patience's, transported deceased patients from emergency room to cooler located on the other side of hospital. Transported patients with and without oxygen. This is to mention a few. I resigned from my position with a letter. The policy give an employee 3 days to contact and I did call in the first two days to explain I was ill and had been seeing a doctor. I became very depressed as I knew I could not fulfill my secretarial duties while caring for patients as requested by nurses and doctors of the emergency department. They put in my record that I abandoned my job and they did not hear from me again. I have not beable to get a job in medical offices (where I live) are affiliated with this Hospital cannot hire me as a result of the determination. The human resource manager refuses to change the status (she wasn't employed by hospital at the time of occurrence and will not even consider listing to me. I received unemployment as it was determined I left due to the demands put on me. I had NO certification and was not even CPR certified. This just give you an idea why I need help to correct this emotionally disturbing situation say nothing about all the money I could have made during this time.
The hospital had no right to ask you to perform nursing & cleaning duties if you were employed in the capacity of secretary. You need to recruit evidence such as affidavits from other employees who witnessed the requests for you to undertake these duties. The hospital is liable for any claims made against them by patients you cared for at their request.
I am so glad I do not work for a private hospital system and know I and my fellow employees all know where the lines are. I would never ask the unit secretary of our pediatric ICU to watch a patient while I went to lunch ,went to bathroom or to assist in any patient care at all. She is not qualified and cannot be held responsible for any orders I may give her other than secretarial. This situation is disgusting and typical of a private system where important rules are flaunted. I have seen people in Australia placed in similar situations by a private system intent on profit before people at any cost to the people even endangering their lives. If you can prove that the hospital insisted you perform these duties then you have a case. Gather evidence carefully and you can send them to the wall for putting you in this situation. There are medicolegal implications for allowing unqualified staff to care for patients.It would be like me as an RN performing surgery !