Canceled up to 3-4 times a WEEK. What do?!

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in ICU, CCU.

I'm a recent graduate, fortunate enough to land a job right away and have been in a community hospital ICU for just over a year now. The problem is I've been cut literally 3-4 times a week and it's impossible for me to really get my life started with such inconsistent income. I was offered another ICU job but turned it down as they also cancel by seniority.

What my boss is doing to remedy the situation? Hiring another person for our shift (med-surg transfer) with more experience than me so I'd be bumped down even further.

Sorry if I'm ranting... just difficult because I'm saving for a wedding and for a house, but my last paycheck was literally ZILCH, NADA, ZERO, NOTHING for 2 weeks, I was canceled straight for two weeks.

Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

Regardless of seniority, it is not fair for the same person to be canceled every time. Most places I have worked have a list they keep of dates people were canceled last and whoever is farthest back on the list gets canceled first. It is not fair to you to not be bringing home any money while you have coworkers that are getting shifts during that time. I would start looking for another job, or at the minimum a PRN/agency job.

Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

oh the great benefits you get from a union shop (assumption). So glad I work in a right-to-work state. We rotate so that everyone feels the pain. Another choice is to cross-train into another department and then call whoever does scheduling prior to a shift to see if a spot needs to be filled. The more versatile you are the more valuable you are. I remember getting only 18 hours/wk during the summer in Pedi, so I cross-trained to other departments and had my choice of shifts.

I tend to get cancelled alot too. This is why every nurse needs a PRN job on the side unless they work in a specialty that never cancels ( LTC, ER, and etc. ).

This is exactly why I personally try to always maintain 2 jobs. I work both ER and home health. If one job doesn't act right then the other compensates. If theres no overtime in my ER, theres plenty of home health patient's I can see.

Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.

We always had a list and took turns (unless someone volunteered, an people volunteered all the time). It was usually seasonal. If we were cancelled a lot in May and June, we could expect to pick up extra shifts in August and September. Maybe your coworkers could give you some insight on if this is a regular thing, an anomaly, or just something that happens in the warm weather months. Surely things will pick up in flu season if it is a seasonal thing. I concur with those suggesting you look elsewhere. Put out some applications elsewhere, while you still have that job. Most places do cancel sometimes, but it seems to be a bit much where you are now.

Specializes in Oncology.

That's crazy. I never get cancelled because I work on a unit that's always full in a tertiary care hospital with a waiting list for patients to transfer to from community hospitals. In the exceedingly rare circumstance that we have time off available we fight over it and I never get it because I'm too low of seniority. I feel awful for you, though. What a mess! I agree it should be rotated. I also agree with suggestions to cross train and get an agency job. You need to talk to your union if you have one. Good luck!

oh the great benefits you get from a union shop (assumption). So glad I work in a right-to-work state. We rotate so that everyone feels the pain. Another choice is to cross-train into another department and then call whoever does scheduling prior to a shift to see if a spot needs to be filled. The more versatile you are the more valuable you are. I remember getting only 18 hours/wk during the summer in Pedi, so I cross-trained to other departments and had my choice of shifts.

Unfortunately I am not in a right to work state so I know how this guy feels....unions :sniff:

Specializes in Oncology.

Another thought: ask if you can work nights if you get cancelled for days and vice versa. This is even more insane because as a new grad you need to get consistent experience. My hospital doesn't allow part time new grads for this reason. You can lose a lot in two weeks in the beginning.

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

That is HORRIBLE.

Hospital census has taken a nosedive - all over the country & this has had a severe impact on staffing. There is a USA Today article (10-13) A job engine sputters as hospitals cut staff which reveals that nearly 42,000 healthcare industry jobs have been lost since January 2013. At some point, the hospital should just decrease the number of FTE's to reflect what is actually needed & cut the extra ones loose... this would be better than trying to keep everyone hanging on with false hope.

I remember a dismal winter when since the hospital paid so much OT to us agency nurses over Thanksgiving-New Year's they pretty much stopped calling any of us. The upshot: six days' work in three months. Well, I got a lot of sewing done.

Then of course the regular staff got so they wouldn't accept great gobs of overtime anymore and demanded that they start calling agency staff again (by then, many of us were regulars even in the ICUs), and they started using us again right through the holidays. Love those 2 double shifts-in-a-weekend-Christmas stretches. There's the mortgage right there.

Lather, rinse, repeat... This went on for four years, and then I moved away. Probably still happening.

In answer to your question of "What to do?" I am assuming you are in a prn/casual position, not a regular staff position?

1) Budget as if you will not work next week. You might not.

2) Hang on and work your way up the seniority ladder. Yes, it takes a long time. But changing jobs drops you to the bottom of it every time.

2a) Orient to more units, and to other hospitals if you are prn. Might as well be prn anywhere. Volunteer for the undesirable shifts-- nights, weekends, holidays; offer to trade days with regular staff to cover theirs if they would like time off. It's less likely you'll get called off on one of those days.

3) Ask your boss to clarify the unit policy on bumping-- is it "experience (anywhere)" or "seniority (here)" or "everyone takes turns"? She might never have thought about it.

4) Propose a system of keeping track of "bump" days for all regular staff, so everyone shares the responsibilities of being called off.

Specializes in NICU.

Union facility--we get called off on a turn basis. We also get mandatory overtime on a turn basis. It works, usually.

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