Is this considered a burn out?

[bTRUE]

I'm no stranger to mandates due to weather conditions but I actually began to feel helpless these past few days because of the snow blizzard in NY that ended up being more intense than anticipated. I worked 24 mandated hours on a subacute rehab floor. 1st shift I was assigned 8 patients, 2nd shift and 3rd shift we were just so short staffed that we had no set assignments! We just ran the floor answering call bells while 1 nurse handed out meds to 33 patients . We were snowed in , I couldn't even leave if I shoveled my car out bc someones car was stuck in front of my car in the parking lot hahaha.

But anyway , my 1st and 2nd shift went smoothly , but that 3rd shift may have really pushed me over the edge and I don't know if it's burn out or if I genuinely mean what I'm saying when I say that nursing is the worst profession anyone could sign themselves up for.

3rd shift was 630am-230pm , I literally never had a chance to sit and eat... Many nurses actually snuck out so that made us even more short staffed. I personally could never do that to my team or patients but some people think their lives are more important than ours so they are more entitled to go home during a emergency mandated snow storm. But anyway , I hated everything about today. Call bells were non stop, patients complaining about EVERYTHING regardless of how many times I explained the situation and apologized. I just felt like the patients especially were ticking me off. I found myself crashing, chills, and body shaking. It was a feeling I don't think I've ever had. Soon after that i got to go home , meanwhile another nurse stayed for her 4th shift in a row (mandated ) .. But after a few hours sleep I'm still really angry about today and just in a overall bad mood. Everything upsets me even the slightest little thing i start crying lol

I do have to go to work tomorrow and the next day. I'm dreading it but hoping when I wake up tomorrow ill feel better.

..... Is this burn out? ? Well either way how do you guys handle it when you have feelings like this? And what can nurses really do when they are put in such horrible working conditions ? Legally? I feel like I was just emotionally and physically abused. So much so I'm a emotional train wreck !

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

Maybe not burn-out exactly, but it sounds like exhaustion and some dehydration. Points to you for sticking it out while the weenies snuck out. I hope they face disiciplinary action. I think if you get some rest, extra fluids and some cocoa perhaps you'll start to feel better.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

yeah . i can see this happening where i work. most are smart enough to call out . I have been stuck there during a weather disaster . after 16.5hrs, i do not care much to hear the bs whines about the food or window views etc...... it does suck. alot. to the point there are places i would love to live that i wont for the small chance i may have to stay during bad weather. really it is insane to expect a nurse to work 16.5hrs, "sleep" 8 or not at all in the break room and start again all at 100%. yeah sure..... one time there were simply not enough people to rotate and some of us worked 20hrs in a row. do not think for a moment the manager was there or helped with anything. yet we are expected to run in, knowing what lies ahead ( do nit blame any one for calling off), and work 46445 hrs with a smile! sure

[bTRUE]

I of course have gone back to work everyday since then because I was scheduled to, I actually worked with one of the girls that snuck off . She told me that she didn't stay bc it was her weekend off. I get that, but i don't have any sympathy or think she is truly a right fit for nursing if she has that mindset. What's ONE weekend out of your year for the better good and safety of the facility that pays her ? I asked her if she thinks she will get in trouble. She said no way, but later on told me she's applied for other jobs on her weekend off , that she's "done" with our facility .... If only she knows how it feels to actually work the mandated hours short handed then maybe she would quit and do us all a favor in the meantime.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

.......

3rd shift was 630am-230pm , I literally never had a chance to sit and eat... Many nurses actually snuck out so that made us even more short staffed.

What do you mean "snuck out"? Do you mean quietly clocked out and abandoned their patients? If so, this is a much bigger issue than leaving you short-staffed.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Looks like monkeybug and I are on the same mental wave-length!

bTRUE--you said you spoke with one of the nurses that "snuck off" and of her desire to quit....but didn't address what she actually DID: Did she clock out and leave her patients to suffer neglect unless you and others picked up the slack? If that is true, it's worth a report to your State BON and she can expect loss of licensure... a new NURSING job is hardly her biggest concern in that case.

Am I reading this wrong?

[bTRUE]

@RNsrWE , I'm sorry let me clarify , no she wasn't clocked in yet, but she was mandated to stay if we were short staffed in the morning (which of course we all know the scheduled day shift staff wasnt going to show) and that's why this was a "emergency" mandate . We had beds set up for those nurses to switch shifts with each other and get some rest. She got some rest and before the day shift began she jumped in a car with all the other nurses that wanted to leave and left the nurses working a double shift to then continue working into their 3rd shift because they had no one to switch off with to get rest.

[monkeybug]

@RNsrWE , I'm sorry let me clarify , no she wasn't clocked in yet, but she was mandated to stay if we were short staffed in the morning (which of course we all know the scheduled day shift staff wasnt going to show) and that's why this was a "emergency" mandate . We had beds set up for those nurses to switch shifts with each other and get some rest. She got some rest and before the day shift began she jumped in a car with all the other nurses that wanted to leave and left the nurses working a double shift to then continue working into their 3rd shift because they had no one to switch off with to get rest.

Wow, that still smacks of abandoment to me. I've seen a nurse threatened with abandonment because she was working an extra shift and not clocked in and they were going to pull a regularly scheduled nurse to another unit. This goes against policy, so she said she would leave and then the other nurse could stay on her home unit. The supervisor trotted out abandoment and the extra nurse stayed while the regular nurse went with much bad grace to the pull unit. We called the BON to see if this was abandonment (not clocked in, no report yet) and our BON said that it defintely could be. I'm sure rules differ from state to state, but that just doesn't seem right.

[CrazyGoonRN]

Wow I don't know how you did it. I once stayed 3 hrs after my 16 hr shift ended just because things were so crazy I couldn't finish in 16 hrs. The bad part was that it wouldn't have taken 3 more hrs if my supervisor would have left me alone and quit talking to me constantly.

You defiantly need a break from that place.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

... We called the BON to see if this was abandonment (not clocked in, no report yet) and our BON said that it defintely could be. I'm sure rules differ from state to state, but that just doesn't seem right.

Huh. I had always been under the impression that a nurse had to have received the patient assignment (meaning, she got report on her patient load) in order to have them really be "her" patients for the purpose of determining abandonment.

I've seen many a supervisor threaten "patient abandonment" in the face of a nurse balking at seeing she had a ridiculous number of patients and deciding she wasn't going to clock in. How can you "abandon" a patient you have not recognized responsibility for?

Not sure if clocking in means you've "accepted responsibility" either....simply because I have accepted the fact that my shift has begun and I'm prepared to work that shift doesn't mean I MUST accept absolutely everything thrown my way, right? For instance (going a bit silly, but bear with me) if I clock in at 6:59, and I see that my name is next to 19 patients, shouldn't I have the right to refuse to accept that assignment before being threatened with abandoning those patients? After all, writing my name next to a patient list doesn't mean I have accepted responsibility for them....but getting report on them does, I believe.

I think the threat of Patient Abandonment is used way more than it can actually be enforced.

Anyone have anything more concrete than that?

As a side note, even if that nurse "friend" of bTRUE's wasn't technically abandoning patients, she sure as hell was sticking it to her co-workers and in general being a cruddy human being.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Where was admin? They should have been there helping answer lights etc when they had nurses working triple shifts. What poor planning.

[bTRUE]

Where was admin? They should have been there helping answer lights etc when they had nurses working triple shifts. What poor planning.

Admin wasnt around until the day after the storm and he did jack for us, he didn't even feed us when all food places (that delivered) weren't open ( bc remember we were stuck there even not by choice bc our cars were still not plowed out in the employee parking lot ) so we all starved or ate crackers and coffee from the unit pantry (meant for patients) . Our previous admin ordered food for each shift and unit ! When he came in, I only recall him checking up on the unit , didn't speak much and then i never saw him again nor did I even care bc I was more focused on making sure my patients weren't still soiled from the night shift.

This was a emergency situation where whatever help WAS available on grounds should have stayed on grounds even if they weren't clocked it during night shift they are automaticity mandated to stay, rest up and clock in for day shift until more people show up! That's the perk of emergency mandates , no one wants to stay at work but that's the way it is . In this case the nurses didn't abandon any patients but they abandoned their team which in my opinion is equally has harmful bc of the under staff and over worked staff that they let down . I will be more than ****** if I find out they didn't get negative consequences for their lack of help.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Hope you submit that Joint Commission complaint ASAP. Your state health dept. too.