It’s OK to say “NO”

Recently I have had a number of clients come to me with issues regarding their licenses.  In every one of those cases, the reason why this was an issue with the client was because they were afraid to say “no!”  However, you can’t be effective with your patients unless you take care of yourself first.  Sometimes you just have to say “no!”

One nurse was working in the emergency department on New Year’s Eve.  She was not feeling well but was afraid that if she told her supervisor that she was not feeling well and went home, she would get in trouble.  Who else would want to work on New Year’s Eve and, of course, the emergency department on that holiday is crazy!

Because she was not feeling well and did work, she made a mistake that caused her to lose her job and continues to haunt her to this day.  Had she just told her supervisor that she was ill and needed to go home, she would still have her job (of 7 years), not have made that mistake and not had to appear before the Licensing Board.

Another client was working in a facility in a rural area where two nurses had quit and one was on vacation.  There was no experienced staff to take care of those patients.  The only way the facility was able to get coverage was to get outside people who would have been unfamiliar with the patients.  She thought it was in the best interest of the patients to work 120 hours during that pay period so that the patients would have a staff member who knows them.  Unfortunately, as you probably can guess, she made a mistake which resulted in her being terminated after employment of 15 years and sent her on a trip before the Licensing Board.  Had she just said “no,” she would still have her job and would not have been called before the Board.

It is important to say “no” when your own health and well being is at stake.  As nurses, we tend to be a much better caretaker of everybody else than ourselves.  However, if we don’t take care of ourselves, the result can be not only detrimental to ourselves but to our patients as well.

Take care of yourself first so that your patients can be properly cared for by you.  Say “no” when you need to.  The consequences will be much less than if you accidently make a mistake.  Anyway, when you know in your heart you should say “no,” say “no” or it could have lasting effects on your health, your license, your career and your patients.