Is not answering the phone for work bad?

Nurses General Nursing

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Okay so I work at a Long-term care Nursing home. My position is originally a (0.2), but I pick up as much as I can. I work around 2-3 times per week (8 hour shifts), go to college, currently studying for my NLN Pre entrance exam, and I recently accepted a tutoring job. Since we are short-staffed, I ALWAYS get called in. Lately every time they ask me if I can work I am either studying my butt off or not available. Also, whenever they call, I either don't answer or accidentally miss their call. If I was an actual RN and not have to worry about school, I would defiantly go for the extra hours.....but I am just a CNA so the pay doesn't phase me much since it's low anyhow. Sometimes I feel like everyone talks behind other peoples back when they don't pick up a shift, but how do they know about our personal lives?!

I feel so bad for saying no, but school is much more important to me at the moment. I don't want to stress myself out anymore than I have to.

Let's use a different example to put this in a different light. Suppose the caller each time you don't answer is someone making lewd calls that does not use caller ID. You have learned that the best way to avoid such calls, or other unwanted calls, is to refuse to answer when you can't identify the caller. Do you think you have a right to avoid this caller? There is no unwritten law that says anyone MUST answer their phone when it rings. Period. Stop feeling guilty.

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When I was working in the hospital,I was called every..single.. day on my day off and OFFERED a shift. I never worked extra, and they knew that. Staffing always tries to fill a shift with regular staff first.

Don't make this personal, they are just trying to fill their staffing holes. Nobody cares if you take the OFFER or not. Work your required hours, focus on what YOU need to focus on.

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Don't feel bad. Don't answer if you don't want to. If they need to speak to you for another reason I would suspect they will leave you a VM and then yes, call them back. If you work your scheduled hours and don't routinely call out, don't feel bad. I have worked with staff that will pick up hours, but often call out for their SCHEDULED days. This puts a strain on the rest of us and I am happy that they pick up, but their mercurial attitude towards working stresses the rest of us out. I worked with a CNA once who bragged how many shifts a week she worked. Working with her was rough, since she spent most of the time on her phone/hiding from call lights. I know she was exhausted, but don't bother picking up if you're just going to come in and scroll through Facebook on your phone. Work your scheduled shifts and don't feel guilty. You need to be refreshed and relaxed (as much as one can be) during your time off.

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Nothing to feel bad about. It's best for you AND for your patients that you don't burn yourself out. If they're consistently calling around trying to get people to come in on their day off, they need to hire more staff.

On another note, you mentioned co-workers talking about people behind their back if they don't pick up extra shifts...just my two cents, I would not even worry about this at all. If they're that unprofessional, I don't care what they think anyway.

Good luck with school!

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I used to do the same thing. I was under no contractual obligation to answer my phone off duty or come in on my days off. I worked one extra day in 3.5 years of employment. I only worked that one time because my friend who was also charge called me and said they really needed the help. It was the only time she ever called me for this so I went in to help out my friend.

Your education should come first before anything else.

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Get used to answering once in a while and saying "No, I cannot come in today." It's a skill you'll need to develop.

Notice that this excellent advice does not include the phrase, "I'm sorry, but ..."

I read somewhere that women apologize something like a dozen or more times a day. Unless you have done something that truly warrants an apology or expresses sadness, like, "I'm sorry I hit your car," or, "I'm sorry I'm not able to volunteer tomorrow because I just had knee surgery," lose that word.

Saying to your kid, "I'm sorry, but you can't go out because you haven't done your chores" does not claim your authority in the way that, "You can't go out because ..." does.

So do practice saying to the staffing coordinator, "No, I cannot take that shift. Good luck. " But never, never say you're sorry about it.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Don't answer if you don't want to work. And if you happen to answer accidentally, tell them you've had a few drinks and you're about to have a few more. The "studying" thing makes you sound boring. ;)

Don't answer if you don't want to work, and if you do happen to answer, just say no. The "few drinks" comment given a few times makes you sound as though you have a drinking issue.

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Don't answer if you don't want to work, and if you do happen to answer, just say no. The "few drinks" comment given a few times makes you sound as though you have a drinking issue.

Agreed. I am only 50% serious and only 25% of the time.

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Don't answer if you don't want to work, and if you do happen to answer, just say no. The "few drinks" comment given a few times makes you sound as though you have a drinking issue.

There have been other threads like this one over the years and I know I told the story already about a supervisor calling me at midnight to come in a cover a shift. This was before cell phones and caller ID and you just answered your phone.

I told her I'd been drinking wine and she asked me how many drinks I had and then she did the math about how long it takes to metabolize the alcohol and told me to come in when those few hours had gone by.

So, don't tell them you were drinking because some other folks might just do the math too. ;)

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.

It's fine to ignore their calls. Do what you need to do. You could even block their number so you don't see them calling you, which I am sure causes stress. Call them when you can work, otherwise ignore them. Take care of yourself!!

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I used to have a hard time saying "no" when asked to work late (16 hours) and picking up extra days. I often regretted it the minute "yes" escaped out of my mouth, realizing that the 4 hours of sleep between my 16 hour extended shift and scheduled 12 hour shift was really going to make me cranky as hell the next morning.

Many years later I have a legitimate reason why I cannot work late or come in on my day off-daycare hours definitely do not mirror nursing shift hours. My husband travels for work and my parents are great but they have lives of their own too and can only handle so many days a week covering the childcare gap between when aftercare ends and I'm home from work. I learned how to say "no" when I had to and that the facility will still be able to staff appropriately without me. Agency staffing costs more but it's there for a reason. I just wish I had realized this before burning myself out early on in my career. Everyone deserves time off from work and you should not feel obligated to come in when your not scheduled. Trust me, burn out stinks. It took me years to go back to a patient care role. You'll be working for the rest of your life and you don't want to end up dreading going in each day. Pick up extra shifts when you want to but feel free to say "no" if you'd rather not that day.

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There have been other threads like this one over the years and I know I told the story already about a supervisor calling me at midnight to come in a cover a shift. This was before cell phones and caller ID and you just answered your phone.

I told her I'd been drinking wine and she asked me how many drinks I had and then she did the math about how long it takes to metabolize the alcohol and told me to come in when those few hours had gone by.

So, don't tell them you were drinking because some other folks might just do the math too. ;)

I would have either loved or hated this boss. I can't believe she thought to do that. Or had the formula on hand to do it!

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