I should probably let this go but...

[agldragonRN]

okay we had this bad snow storm in new jersey and i worked 3-11 when it started on sunday. everybody was calling out and they needed people for the 11-7 shift. they were asking everybody if they could stay and i initially said no but i felt bad and called staffing back and told them to put me on a "back-up". i was prepared to stay anyway as i brought extra scrub and food just in case nobody relieves me on my floor.

my reliever came and i was told i will be on another floor. i said okay as they really needed people. so i worked 11-7 shift and did not get relieved until 9am so i worked 18 hours straight. i had to be back at 3pm that day (monday) so i wanted to go home which i did at 10am and slept for 3 hours and got ready to go to work.

so i came to work for my 3-11 shift. there are two wings on my floor and the other nurse worked 7-3 shift that day and also doing 3-11 shift as staffing was really short. at around 8pm, i was informed by the other nurse that she was leaving and i needed to count the narcs and take over her 25 patients. i said what nobody told me about this. she said they made a deal with her that is why she was doing double and she had to go home because she had school the next day. i told her it was not fair that nobody told me about this and i also did double the day before and worked 18 hours and only slept for 3 hours.

i called the supervisor to confirm and asked her if i needed to take over the other nurse's patients and she said "yeah she needs to go home". i told her nobody from staffing or supervisor told me about this that i also did 18 hours and only slept for 3 hours. she proceeded to tell me that the other nurse needed to go and did not acknowledge the fact that nobody informed me i will be working by myself taking care of 50 patients. she said "talk to staffing tomorrow", which is today and is my day off.

i did take over the other nurse's patients and luckily nothing happened. i am coming to work tomorrow and i am still a little upset that the staffing did not tell me about the deal they made with the other nurse and that supervisor did not even acknowledge that i also worked 18 hours prior and had 3 hrs sleep. should i let this go as nothing happened anyway and the staffing were really short of nurses so they had to make deals with people? this incident is making me a bitter person and not wanting to help when they need nurses to stay over the next time they become short staff.

thanks for reading my vent.

[Zookeeper3]

I'm almost 16 years in and I promise you the NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED! I work extra shifts, I switch my schedule and yes I still stay late because I love my staff and patients. I usually end up with the short end of the stick each time.

When it gets old and I'm burnt... I take care of me first... work my chosen schedule, only switch if it benefits me and say no very often. Once I'm rested, I have more to give back. I go in spurts.

you sound ready for some "me" time, and you can't be faulted for that... you'll hit a time again in the future when your less burnt and more willing, it's the nature of nursing. If you don't take that time for you and just keep giving, they will just keep sucking the life from you, and then you're DONE and burnt out. Don't even start the cycle and you'll be healthy and aok!

you did a wonderful thing to help, be satisfied in that, but keep it in the back of your mind and question staffing when you make changes.

[TDCHIM]

update:

so i went to work today and spoke to the staffing person who made the "deal" with the other nurse. i told her i was not happy the way she treated me on monday especially i helped out the day prior and worked 18 hours straight. she then said that she did not have to let me know i was going to be by myself after 8pm because i "came to work to work" and that we had state of emergency. she then proceeded to tell me that she did not make the deal with the other nurse and that the other nurse was the one who said she was leaving at 8pm.

i was getting upset already so i clarified what she said and she said "yeah". i told her ok i will talk to the administrator right now and tell him what she had told me. she told me i could talk to her boss which is the adon. i told her no that i will go straight to the administrator. i went to the administrator's office and i was told he is on vacation so i went up to my unit's floor. the adon called me on my floor and asked me what was the issue. i explained to her the whole story and she said the staffing lady probably should have not made that deal that she appreciated i helped out but it was a state of emergency and most nurses did what i did.

i just said "okay" and the conversation was over.

i then spoke to my unit manager and told her how the 3-11 building supervisor treated me as well on the phone. my unit manager said that yeah the supervisor told her i was mad and nasty on the phone. i told my unit manager i was not nasty but yeah i was upset because the supervisor kept dismissing my explanation that i worked 18 hours as well and it was not fair that nobody told me and that the supervisor kept commanding me to go and count with the other nurse. the supervisor told her i was upset and mad the whole shift. i said no i only started getting upset at 8pm when i first heard i was taking over the whole floor. i told my unit manager that nobody would be happy if they did that to somebody and she agreed with me.

i've never worked as a nurse, but i've been thrown under the office politics bus often enough to get a bad vibe from this. you might want to watch your back in addition to learning a lesson from this unfair situation. you were treated horribly and put into a dangerous situation, and it sounds like everyone knows it. now it seems history's being revised, leaving you cast as a malcontent who "was upset and mad the whole shift," wasn't willing to work during her shift, and is now making unreasonable demands of management. at the same time, they're downplaying the significant contributions and sacrifices you made during a state of emergency by saying most nurses did what you did (which appears to be untrue, considering how desperate they were for people to stay and work). i may be wrong, but what you're describing has all my internal alarms sounding. keep an eye out for more trouble - and meanwhile it might be a good idea to dust off your resume.

[BrookeeLou_RN]

I agree with last poster......be careful. yes, they were absolutely wrong but in this job market..I would suggest treading lightly with those who hold the power over your job. The government can say healthcare is recession-proof till they are blue in the face. Truth be known.....jobs are harder to come by and employers know it.

Take a mental health day.. relax..then think about what is best for your future.

Best of luck!