MZ33 wrote:An odd situation, to say the least. The "you are team leader and oh-so-valuable" is BS. I'm curious as to whether all physicians and upper echelon of mgmt have the same clause, although I see no point in pushing the issue now. If you do a stellar job, establish yourself, and continue to rise through the ranks, you may be able to influence such policies later on.
Non-motorcycling trauma staff are usually as paranoid about motorcycling as they are about drunk- or drugged-driving. I certainly was, largely because a rider can do everything right and still get badly hurt. In my experience, easily two-thirds of trauma victims had a hand in their predicament. One that springs to mind is the guy that fractured both heels the 4th time he jumped from the hotel balcony into the swimming pool. (Gee, it worked before . . . nothing will happen . . .) He summarizes the MSF "Ladder of Risk" nicely.
And of course, the newsworthy events around motorcycling are often gruesome, tragic, and frequently involve some level of irresponsible behavior on the part of the rider. We get bad press. Is it worse than flying small planes, skiing, riding horses? How about cutting down trees? Probably not too much. Be interesting if you could find percentages of injury for each. But the public perception of motorcycling is that it is aggressively dangerous, rebellious, and irresponsible behavior. That is what you are working against. I'll bet the hospital has restrictions on smoking, also. They don't like patients seeing healthcare workers doing unhealthy things.
Strangely enough, the percentage of firemen, police officers, paramedics and ER staff that ride seems to be higher than the general population--that is anecdotal also, but if you ever feel the need to research a masters project, there you go . . .
Okay, as an update, things are changing some what. The guy I'm depending on right now is an old family friend and has been the person that the familly has called in an emergency for I don't know how many years. He's very good and he is as disgusted as I am about all this stuff that has come down. So that's one for me.
Since yesterday, I've gotten 3 counter offers from different hospitals. Part of the situation is that I chose to get my nursing degree instead of teaching but this fact that I was wanted to be an instructor is also part of my resume. So I'm getting offers to help rebuild existing ER facilities. One in the city I live in and in 2 other cities. So there are other posibilities and none of them are requireing me to stop any of my behaviors on my off time. The corperation/hospital has admitted that they have no other canidates for the job. Which is kind of frightening for what are they expecting from me.
However, the corperation that I want to go work for has a reputation for being *ssh*les and as a for profit company, they really work for the bottom line among other things. I don't know what the upper management does or doesn't do. However, newly hired doctors and middle mangement types complain about excessive intrusion into their private lives. I had heard this before but it it didn't affect me at the time.
Nevertheless as I speak, a middlemangement type from the company itself has called my lawyer and my lawyer is expecting a return call soon. It seems that they might have been a bit hasty and now want to wipe the slate clean. My lawer thinks they want me to feel my best working for this company/hospital and don't want any hard feelings between them and me. The very fact that they are trying so hard to get me, an American instead of an alien because they can pay less for them, shows that there is something in me that they want from me. So I'm just waitng for them to make a counter offer.
As for the situation I find myself in, the ACLU and the national nurses advocacy group both have said that with the increase of nurses salaries due to the shortage of qualified nurses, that many nurses are complaining of overbearing on the part of these big healthcare corperations. I'm the one of the few so far to be abused over riding a motorcycle. But many have complained of being required to lose wieght to improper relationships. Smoking is a big no-no. And while nurses with experience seem to be less effected, it's the newer ones that are being pushed around.
As for emergency personnel riding more I've never noticed this but thosed that do have a tendency to be more hard core about it. But most ER people don't follow that course for most of them don't ride at all and frightened for people that do. I guess when you've seen one squid too many, you lose perspective. And to put this in perspective, the city I live in is growing or has grown so fast that it's gotten dangerous out there. To many cars and trucks occupying the same space with motorcycles and scooters is not a healthy situation.
Well, this is interesting. The hospital has dropped their concerns over my extra-curricular activities. However, they are requiring a 3 year contract to be signed. I'll still get salary increases but I can't leave for 3 years. Also I have to sign assurances that I won't smoke , do drugs or commit felonies. There is more but it's doable.
However, I've heard of other people with similar situations. And as corperations feel that they wield a bigger stick among their employees because of the economic slow down. Will this sort of thing happen to more people. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a lawyer. (I still have to pay for him somehow.) And like seat belts, what new plans do the corperations have for our own safety?
Hey, that means I can put out more pictures.
