Hi im not sure if this is the right sub category but hopefully someone can help me out. Ive scoured the internet and was not able to find any information regarding what a non-hospital employee can and cannot do in an operating room.

I'll explain this in the most annonymous way possible.. I work for a large company that contracts me and others like me to a hospital for the purpose of maintence to said company's equipment in the hospital. This is the only thing in our job description. We're urged by managers to "help out" the O.R. in whatever way we can and it seems the hospital has interpetted that in the form of wanting us to perform hospital employee duties, such as cleaning rooms.

My question is.. Isnt that illegal? I have always been under the impression that non-employees arent able to physically touch anything within an OR espicially if it involves the general upkeep of the rooms they use to operate in.. that it would be a severe contamination risk to have an outsider involved in this sort of thing and therefore a huge legal liability?

Maybe im off base but if someone could let me know about this I would really appreciate it. There has been a complaint from a key hospital employee that our "duties are not being fulfilled," and by "our duties" it sounds like they mean picking chunks of people off of the floor, which has nothing to do with me and which is defininitely not something i signed on for.

Please let me know if im off base and if i should just look for a different job thats a little less degrading, but this company makes a ton of money off of my position (other hospitals with other implimentations) and if this is something that is technically not legal than if i were to be terminated and i did have a case then the company would badly want to settle out of court to avoid any attention being drawn to its program and protect the millions of dollars of revenues generated from the programs other instances.

Where do I go from here? Do I have anything? (in regard to what a non-hospital employee can and cannot do in an operating room, being pressured to do so and ultimately being fired for not doing so)

I really appreciate any replies.

I can understand that this is a frustrating situation for you. Every state has different laws regarding this. I would suggest that the best thing for you to do would be to contact your local labor board. They should be able to answer your questions.

You can also check with your state's Board of Medicine - usually they are the ones with oversight regarding O.R. sanitation minimum requirements, etc.

Aughsum,

If you leave or get fired - you're gone, either way.

If you want protection for a winnable lawsuit for retaliatory discharge,
report it anonymously to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

When the investigation begins with OSHA asking/admitting to the hospital:

1. Admitting that they had an anonymous report;
2. Let’s see your cleaning/sanitizing schedule and who did each time on the schedule;
3. Let’s see the education record to see who/how/when workers were trained to:

a. Use the chemicals;
b. Safety precautions with chemical use;
c. Protective gear – goggles, gloves, mask;
d. Policy on cleaning surgery suites;
e. Approved chemicals for use in surgery suites;
f. Sterile technique;
g. Worker Contamination Prevention;
h. Kinds of contaminations/spills/splashes;
i. Fire Hazard training while using cleaning chemicals;
j. Electrical Hazard and chemical use;
k. HIPPA – confidentiality training.[/COLOR]
They will quickly figure out that it is YOU, and they will possibly even confront you or have one of your friends ask you. Admit it. When you are targeted, after admitting it, well, start reporting it to HR. The closer the date of firing to "the reporting" the better for a jury to understand that it WAS retaliation.

Carefully save ALL of your documents in a well organized file to give to your attorney.
Don’t get complacent about recordkeeping; this is what your case is built upon.

They will be so mad and so pride full that they will single you out for RETALIATION.
They will do all sorts of things to harass you. Just write it down/report it.

I don’t know why it always becomes a battle of the wills to “Just do the Right Thing.”
And it isn’t right to ask you to do some things that are dangerous and that you are not trained for.

If you can’t do the record keeping & fighting just move on to another job.
Fighting is not for the faint of heart, that’s why bullys get away with this illegal behavior.
Most people will not stand up for themselves for the chilling effect that retaliation has on the group.
That is why it is against the law to retaliate when someone is trying to warn others of dangerous practices.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not a lawyer –
But, I am like the Wagon Wheel, I’ve been through it before.

All the best to you, and especially the poor patients at that hospital.