Low census days (whine)

roxannekkb · Aug 11, 2003

There is always something that you can do at work, even if the census is slow. QA, cleaning up the unit, staff development, do education modules, patient teaching, writing up care plans, etc. There's all the stuff that can be done that no one has time to do when it's busy.

As I said before, this system of cancelling staff people because of low census puts nursing in the same category as a migrant worker, a seasonal worker, or a day laborer. We are supposed to be a profession. Being forced to lose a day's pay or to take vacation when you don't want it does not equate with being a professional. I find this to be one of the most insulting things about nursing, and yet I've found few nurses who speak up against it. And the only thing I've seen a union do, is making cancellation by seniority. That works really well--all the junior people eventually quit, and the staffing shortage is chronic. That happened when I worked at Kaiser.

There is no excuse for this. A nurse commits to a certain number of hours per week, that should be honored by the employer. Afterall, if a nurse wants to cancel a shift, what happens? The hospital throws a tizzy. Nurses get written up for calling in sick. You get disciplined. But yet, the employer has the right to do it to you?

As I said before, no wonder there's a shortage. This is just one more aspect to workplace abuse.

nurse51rn · Aug 11, 2003

If staffing is up and census is down, we get offered a paid on call. If you don't take it when it's offered, you get pulled to cover the unit where the paid on call is. It doesn't seem to matter that our unit fills up every night from ED admits. Last night we had 10 admits (we were full staffed-thank heavens). But when we tried to transfer out a patient in sustained SVT, we were told that there were paid on calls in IMC, CCU, and ICU and they didn't have enough nurses to cover an "extra" patient. Hmmmm...I thought the whole idea of a POC was to call out a nurse when needed.

joyflnoyz, LPN · Aug 12, 2003

The facility I work at now has been sending nurses and cnas home all summer. The policy is: 1st to be sent home is anyone on overtime. Then the shift supe asks who wants to go home, by seniority..he who has the most seniority has 1st choice. If no one volunteers, then it's by reverse seniority..low man on totm pole goes home. 99 times out of 100 I say NO. By the time I split my day (I work afternoon shift) get ready adn drive the 20 some miles to work, I don't want to go home without being paid!

Saturday I was exhausted