Considering asking for an ADHD accommodation at work

[Anonymous]

I am so exhausted from the multi-page epic email I just sent my colleague mentor (former student preceptor) that I am too lazy to go in depth on here in a way that makes sense. organizing thoughts all day is really tiring.. and the med died long ago.. but part of the beauty of posting here is the acceptance of disjointed stream on consciousness, right? ok.

I originally began to inquire whether or not I had ADD shortly after I obtained this job in April. This is my first major responsibility career position. I am a nurse practitioner. Aside from a year and a half in an hourly position as a RN, I have always been a full time school….sporadic work person. Anyhow, when I began, I was working 12 hours a day in order to finish 6 hours full of work. ok..thought that was just a learning curve, but I did not start improving. —-blah blah blah…discovery..all the random crap I’ve done my whole life and didn’t know why—-blah blah blah

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so I do get diagnosed formally and treated. With medication and employing organization and time-management strategies (many I learned here), I have accomplished a full 8 hour load of work in the same 12 hours. to be fair, there is a lot more added work now related to having a growing caseload. People don’t stop existing between their appointments!!! lol

now I have been working sooooo hard to whittle this 12 hours down. I know that the problem is me rather than my work because my MD/NP colleagues do not have this problem. Everyone else packs out of the office at 5-6pm. Every site I have precepted with has been similar. even my private practice preceptor. people pack out at 5-6pm (at the latest). usually closer to 5pm. For me, leaving before 7pm is an exception. Leaving around 8:15pm is the normal. I was once there at 10pm. The cleaning crew usually leaves before 8pm. The problem is that I end up being by myself in a large vacant community health building without the alarm on or security. (I’m actually not usually by myself because I have a fellow ADD RN buddy. but we still should not be in this building alone without security). The lights turn off at 9pm and I have had to use my smartphone flashlight application to light part of my way out.

ok..the point..

It has now been mandated that everyone leave the building at 6pm or the front desk staff have to call the vice president on her cellphone. I had an internal panic attack. I am completely unable to finish my work by 6pm. not even close enough to finishing to leave some remaining work for the next day. They are telling me that I need to drive to our after hours clinic to finish my work there. so… i get to interrupt my momentum of work, find another computer, in a foreign place, to reorganize myself to finish out my day. That is a minimum of one extra additional hour to my time, leaving me at 13 hours. Oh I forgot to mention that they mandated even more charting that I need to do…so let’s tabulate that to 13.5hours. It is too much. I just can’t. especially for a job in which I am paid to work 8 hour shifts with no benefits!!!! (part time 3 days a week).

I asked about being able to connect to the system from home. I was given a maybe, but I am a little bit skeptical.

_______________________________________________(the point of this post)_________________________

I confided in my trusted preceptor/mentor, who is extremely respected and has worked for this organization for years, that I have ADD and for advice about how to proceed. Do I just patiently nudge about the remote access? If the remote access is either denied or ignored, should I ask for an ADA disability accommodation? Should I just disclose anyway so people can better understand me and how to work with me? what am I really hiding? Most people have at least a vague idea about how late I stay, although I do not like to admit how late and will fudge a little (ie tell people 7:30 or joke “that is classified” and not say). I have multiple other ADD traits (which many are actually muted with the medication and others may not directly scream ADD, but make sense if added together). People are honestly kind of puzzled and try and give good-natured advice about how to save time and speed up. I have gotten some really good feedback on the quality of my work, so no complaints in that direction. They supported me when I found a creative scheduling strategy to avoid being double-booked with stand-by appointments.

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I am extremely frustrated about people telling me that I need to work faster and better manage time. I KNOW AND I’M TRYING REALLY REALLY HARD.

I accept 12, because well.. I am used to spending more time doing stuff others can do in less.. lifetime story.. however, I can’t deal with 13+ hour days, so something must be done…

I haven’t yet tried the booster dexedrine my Dr. gave me to take at the end of the day when the Vyvanse dies and I drag like cement, but I doubt it is going to outright solve this problem.

If people are interested, I’ll keep you posted about how this unfolds…I’ve already talked to my RN colleague about the issue (she didn’t know yet) and possible plans.

right now..it is just a mind scramble.

I’ve always been able to adapt in the past . pooooop

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[billd]

Where are you located? In the states:

http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/accommodation.html

Also check the ASKJAN web sites (Job accessibility network or whatever it’s called, part of the Dept of Labor, EEOC)

I work for of all things Voc Rehab state agency (IVRS) and let me tell you – I hope the clients fare better. It’s like pulling teeth, you jump through hoops, the management doesn’t have a clue as to how to handle the process – they can’t even correctly fill out the forms, they delay on purpose, and are VERY unwilling to just work with you.

I think they are just unhappy because I turned in a person pirating movies and software at work, made a stink about it, and because they want to for some reason enforce very strict hours – for our department only.

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[Anonymous]

Sugargrem, I totally hear you. You are new to this position and new to the workload. Naturally folks who have been there longer will be getting their work done sooner. My concern for you is that to go the ADA route might not be in your favor. My last position, they knew I had ADD and eventually used it against me….i might add that the administration there was pretty sick….all politics.

What I might suggest is that you partner up with someone and see if there are some areas where you may be able to perform the same quality of work but in less time. Perhaps there are some details that you are including that are not necessary.

For example: when I was being instructed on a new job duty, I was taught by several nurses how and what to write in the client’s chart. Then in an effort to cover all the bases, I was writing rather lengthy notes in chart when I was finally told that brievity /succinctness was all that was required.

Whew, shaved off a lot of time and made the assignment more bearable.

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[Anonymous]

billd. thank you for the site. very helpful. the organization is usually good hearted but very disorganized. I used the ADA card once before in my life and had to fill out confusing paperwork, but it eventually worked out for me. I worked the nightshift when I was first a RN. The nightshift triggered a pretty severe manic bipolar episode and I had to nearly walk out of a shift and was then on sick leave for a month. I was extremely responsible at work and knew when I had to bow out for patient safety. I filed ADA in order to get a day shift versus being fired. I got the day shift and didn’t have any bipolar problems after that. I left with a spotless record. Looking back, I infuriated my daytime coworkers with ADD traits I didn’t know I had lol.

Lakelly, what a miserable experience! I had a lot of problems at my last job..just bullying in general. actually bordering on emotional abuse. The ADD term was not thrown around as it was not diagnosed, but in retrospect, I think that those type of behaviors triggered them to target me. My job now is a little different in that I am extremely autonomous. No one is watching my every move and people in the office usually defer to me. I was terrified of enduring more bullying at this new job, but to my surprise, most people really like me!!!! I know exactly what you mean about the charting and have very similar problems. As a RN, I actually mastered the bare bones notes. The extra variable for me is that I see these clients regularly outpatient. The extra writing on the progress notes helps me remember details about each client’s life which greatly strengthens rapport. My memory is ok, but it is very slow to click. Without my notes, I probably would forget most details about the client until halfway through the appointment! (then I would remember absolutely everything after I have already embarrassed myself and made the client feel insignificant). I am working on trimming them down somewhat, as it is a time consumer. I’m lucky that I can type lightening fast. If I am in the right angle, I can type without looking at the keys or even the computer screen. You are right in that I need to be open-minded about what I can change; I’m stubborn

I got an email from my mentor that she would respond later when she had more time.. but she added the phrase “hang in there..it will all be ok”. I should probably take that at face value right now. My brain was in a huge panic yesterday.

*breathes*

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[Anonymous]

Sugarg, so please you are feeling better about it all. Knowing the situation etc is half the battle. Keep u the good work, time and experience will have things fall in to place more quickly. I believe the ability to try and not worry about it helps…easier said than done.

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[billd]

sugarg – I think we need a virtual hug – do hang in there.

In my case, I’m contacting lawyers because of the trouble they are causing for me here (probably because I’m also a whistleblower, there’s some retaliation) plus one of our state assemblypersons has offered to chat with me about things……..

I could “back off” and make things all ok again – but at what cost? That’s all I’ve ever done all my life and I’m sick of doing it.

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[Anonymous]

*virtual hugs*

ewwww to anything involving lawyers!! sorry you are in such a crappy situation . Backing off definitely enables them, although sometimes we are in a situation in which we just cant be that brave determined person. However, continuously backing down just creates a learned helplessness type of state of mind. It’s good that you are making a stand.

I hope this all works out and justice is served!

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[Anonymous]

ok.. first day back from work….. and I hear nothing of the big bad threat to kick us out of the building at 6pm. I seriously was not hearing voices, she specifically said that the office staff were going to search the buildings and call her on her personal cell phone if someone was still in the building (with the nefarious intention to finish up work of course!). Other colleagues have heard nothing about this at all. and I completely look like I’m raving and rambling.

I obviously jumped the gun here, but I know the threat exists. I always jump the gun. I am a PANIC FIX IT RIGHT NOW OR THE WORLD BURNS…versus..oh..let’s relax and see how it plays out.

now I’m wanting the internet to suck back in the long rambling email I wrote to my mentor…. I really should have slept on that. this kind of thing happens all the time..i try and learn… but at the moment.. there never seems to be a reason to sleep on it.

she did reply to me that she doesn’t think that there should be a problem and that ADHD is “barely a diagnosis”. kind of an insult to people who are severely impaired. even for me, i don’t consider myself that impaired, but the symptoms are extremely pervasive and seem to affect everything in my life in some way. however, I felt relieved that I didn’t lose my credibility and she did not lose her faith in me.

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[Anonymous]

I totally relate. I taught school (1st grade) for 11 years (my second career;i1st year teacher at age 48!). It took me so much longer to do things than everyone else–they left by four and I got to school an hour before they did and left an hour or two after they did. I thought no one noticed, but when I retired, the fellow teacher who presented me with a gift, joked that they all knew it took me 3 hours to do what other people did in one. I was surprised, and somewhat chagrined, to find out they knew!

I was so ashamed, while I was working, of how long it took me to do everything, and how disorganized I was. Believe it or not, I didn’t even realize I HAD ADD until a couple years ago, long after I retired, but I DO believe it impaired me, and I think it’s time the medical profession back us up when/if we ask for accomodations. It’s just as impairing as lots of other conditions that people are given workplace accomodations for.

What would worry me is that by asking, it could hurt you professionally some way. I’m very suspicious of management in general, and I have the firm belief that no one is so perfect that their supervisor could not find SOME grounds on which to terminate them. If you belong to a union, and it is a good one, then you are safer. I’ll be interested to see what others do. I just sacrificed ALL my freetime for the 11 years I taught, and that was very stressful and unhealthy for me. There’s GOT to be a better way!!! Good luck, SugarGremlin!!

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[Anonymous]

yes, monkeybarb!!!! there must be a better way to make the impact you want to make..to be extraordinary..without completely draining every second of free time!!!!!

I waste so much time just I don’t really know what I do..sometimes time just passes and I have nothing to show for it..well..every one here understands..

I am part of the medical profession >_<.

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