How guilty do you feel?

[anon456]

when your manager texts or calls because they are very short staffed, and you do not respond to the texts, knowing that your unit and your co-workers who you like very much are going to have a rough time?

I feel guilty about it, but I know that my coming in will not solve the overall administration problem of either poor planning or budget cuts or not hiring enough nurses or not retaining them well enough.

Does anyone else experience this on a regular basis, or is it just my unit?

[KradleDeanna]

It would be nice if management would help but they say they don't get payed for it. So I work when I can and want to just as they do.

[SubSippi]

The problem with always being able to find a nurse who will come in to cover an understaffed unit, is that eventually, it is no longer seen as a favor. Managers start to expect it, and you are seen as not pulling your weight by not being one of the ones who are always putting in overtime. If you were hired for a full time job, that means you were (more than likely) hired to work 36 hours a week. Being shift work, occasional overtime is part of the job, but it should be the exception, not the standard.

However, if you work in a place where this isn't a constant problem, but on a rare occasion your help is needed, I do think you should go in (if you can). We should be willing to help each other out in a pinch, but it's a slippery slope. Don't let people take advantage of you.

[duskyjewel]

My nurse manager came to me last week complaining that I don't come in on my days off. I just reminded her how she denied EVERYONE'S summer vacation and she was going to Croatia in two weeks on vacation. She just turned around and walked away, I guess enough said.

[Ethicsrn4life]

What other profession operates like this? What makes one feel guilty for systematic behavior to manipulate workers rather than fixing the problems

?

This issue of poor staffing is in epidemic proportions with the increase in pt acuities. MDs are not feeling guilty, they see this as administration problems.

These are their pts and they are compensated very well for their services, yet nurses feel guilty that they are unable to fix known problems that they have no control over.

Every time we come in knowing that administration is not attempting to address staffing issues we have essentially contributed to the problem in an attempt to be helpful.

We nurses have to assist in actual change by not allowing administration to use ineffective, abusive tactics to intentionally NOT fix issues like staffing problems. We are getting in the way of what needs to happen. So why should administration fix the problems?

We have set the nursing profession back 100 years.while trying to be helpful or feeling guilty. Also one person posted about manager's stating that one is not pulling their weight, if one does not respond to coming in to fill in gaps when nurses are off. This is problematic but almost a norm in nursing.

Again do other professions operate like this? Not if they are male oriented professions. Why? Because it is ineffective, inefficient and unprofessional. And the biggest reason is that men would not tolerate it. They would not be moved by guilt. They would actually laugh at the notion of a profession operating like this.

This is not criticizing nurses because we are mostly female, but a criticism of managers and healthcare administration that they choose to mistreat people who choose this profession.

We need to get tough about our identity as a profession and demand to be treated with respect in all aspects.

Stop feeling guilty,it is not a very useful emotion when change is necessary. Get angry that your administration would treat you this way. Disregarding your practice and pt safety.

Be an advocate for yourself,profession, and your pts.

DON'T COME IN WHEN YOUR FACILITY CHOOSES TO CORRECT PROBLEMATIC STAFFING BY CALLING YOU IN ON YOUR OFF DAYS unless it doesn't matter, then have a good , safe shift.

[bbRN1972]

When I was a new nurse, I would always come in extra because I couldn't say no. Now, I know that my family and my time with them is way more important.

[Caffeine_IV]

None. I've worked short so many times and not once have I seen a manager stay around and even pass out ice and blankets.

[delphine22]

I don't ignore calls, I always take them, and if I can't come in I say, "Sorry, I can't." No excuses, no explanations, just a simple and polite no. That way they know for sure I'm not coming and won't keep trying to repeat-call me if they are still desperate an hour later.

[AOx1]

The worst job I ever had was as a floor manager. I WAS the manager who wore scrubs, jumped in, and helped out. I fought administration to increase our budget to hire more nurses and cover the floor in a safe manner. I often worked 70 hour weeks, and was paid for 40. Despite rolling in cash, administration would never listen. I was caught in the middle, with no way to please administration, while meeting the needs of my staff for safe ratios and good pay. After nearly a year, I had enough. Never again. People say they want an involved manager who is unafraid to get his/her hands dirty, but this type of manager often burns out quickly when the hospital's climate is not supportive of good management. Most hospitals do not care at all about their nurses. They view them only as a commodity. Act accordingly when you decide if you "owe" it to them to pick up shifts.

I now work full time in nursing education, and PRN on the floor in a different facility that does care about staff. I have never looked back, and never felt guilty again about prioritizing myself first.

[Ethicsrn4life]

EXCELLENT POST....,THEIR LOSS OF AN EXCELLENT MANAGER trying ,advocating and learning that the climate would not change because they did not want it to. I applaud your efforts and admire your ability to recognize.the need for self preservation and safe practice

This manager saw the writing on the wall about nurses being expendable and got out with no regrets.

There are pt care facilities out there who have your same value system, but they are difficult to find. Nurses need to be tenacious about how we tolerate difficult situations when the climate of a facility is unsafe, and make a conscious decision about possible consquences.

WHEN things go south and they will. ..Is it worth practicing unsafely by being on autopilot bc it appears easier to just to put up with the status quo?

You certainly get to make the choice, or it will be made for you.

There is no fence sitting when nurses and managers are put in chronic situations of poor staffing and other unsafe practices

Sucking it up is the New World Order that you do not have to accept. You WILL be left out to dry when things go bad. You are signing an informed consent when you practice in unsafe environments.

I am posting a lot to this issue because of the losses that I have gone through because nurses are practicing in facilities that they KNOW are unsafe. As the post indicates nurses are practicing unsafely for various reasons ie guilt,money and pts are dying. Being sorry afterwards brings little comfort to their loved ones.

My mom and aunt were killed because nurses practiced at facilities that were unsafe(poor staffing) As a nurse and family member making quip statements about feeling quilty about staffing problems and working anyway, or saying not my problem, but you continue to work at these factories is insensitive as the least and complicit in potentially harming pts/families at its worst.

There is no greater pain than being in a profession that you love and then being assaulted by it.

Administration knowing that they operate unsafely does not excuse professional nurses from participating in this nightmare. Healthcare administration is willing and able to take the risk

Why should nurses take these risks with the lives that they have been entrusted with? If not for pts then why would any nurse risk their livelihood to practice in Bad places?

We have responsibities that are fat more reaching than most PROFESSIONALS, because we deal with people's lives. It should be our first priority to care for our patients in safe manners,at safe facilities.

It is very disturbing to see posts like "not my problem ',or "i felt guilty" ,or any other excuse used to continue to practice without regard to pt safety.

My pain and that of my family will never heal because everyone had choices (facility choosing to understaff because they could, nurses choosing to practice in these places because of guilt or whatever) except my mom,aunt.and other pts who have been harmed.

So i have very little tolerance for why the profession puts up with unsafe practices.

(Those nurses were left out to dry by their facilities. One was an experienced nurse, the other fairly new to the prodession.They had their licences revoked and will never pactice again, and they live with this reality everyday. Administration does not live with the reality that they continually put lives in danger by creating climates of unsafe practice. They settle financially .,but continue to operate like business asusual all while so many lives are destroyed).

Change will have to come from the practioners. And if you don't care PLEASE find another profession, it really is ok. But to hear this inflicts more pain on those who have had these traumatic losses,as well as those of us who do care about pts/families,and safe nursing practice.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

If you didn't immediately rescind your offer to work Friday and Saturday...you're a better person than I am.

instead of being satisfied and/or grateful for the fri/ sat help, their reply was 'why not tomorrow?'