I am a full time nurse 3p-11p. Our 11-7 nurse is out on DBL. The charge nurse told me she will file Abandonment charges against my license If I don't pick up some of those extra shifts.
Here is the thing...it isn't Abandonment because they knew of those absences in a reasonable time frame to find appropriate coverage. We even have contract nurses available.
What can I do about all of this?
And she didn't even ask me to pick up the shift. She threatened me with mandation, and when I informed her she could not legally mandate me she immediately told me she would file abandonment charges against my licence.
I am not from NY but we have struggled with mandatory assignments and our union recommends if we don't feel safe we need to call our DON and state "I don't feel safe to accept this incoming assignment so I am asking for someone else to come in, I will stay in the building until my relief arrives but I do not feel safe to care for these patients".
That way it cant be considered abandonment but we are putting the burden of the shift on the management.
And then what does your Union recommend you do when management tells you there isn't anyone else available and *tag* you're it??
Not being snarky, but I've never been unionized (not that I didn't try in the past) and management usually knows how to get around most things.
We had admin try that with some CNAs where I used to work. Several of them reported admin to corporate (they have a corporate integrity line). One was placed on admin leave while they investigated (and I believe, asked to resign, though I left around that time) and the other was asked to retire. If there's a corporate office, or whomever is higher up than your charge, that's what I'd be tempted to do. However...the reports these CNAs made were anonymous - their identities were protected so no retribution was possible by admin. YMMV. Hopefully you have somebody higher up who's willing to stand behind their staff.
Being from the UK I Have read this with amazement. Within our National Health System (NHS) we have a 37.5 hour week, overtime is not and never will be mandatory, in fact under EU law we have a maximum 48 hour permissible working week which is averaged over 17 weeks. I used to be an ICU night shift leader of a 37 bedded unit, if we were short for the next night I would ask staff if they WANTED any extra nights. If they declined I would always thank them for considering the offer. Then I would get onto our computer system to book agency staff, if there was none available then the next days workload was adjusted accordingly to maintain patient safety which was 1 to 1 for ventilated patients and 1 to 2 for those stable and breathing spontaneously. We did have a 2 to 1 ratio for patients on VA ECMO and emergent VV ECMO patients. Staff if they rang in sick late usually we knew of those staff would work overtime and who would come in at short notice, have done that myself and gone on duty. We as shift leaders always planned 24 hours in advance. Staff are also protected by EU law from being contacted at home unless there was a major incident of some form unless they VOLUNTEERED to be contacted.
If a manager tried this in the UK, the nurse would be well within their rights to report the individual for bullying and harassment and potentially to our national registration (Nursing and Midwifery Council) body for professional misconduct. There has been two cases in the past year of managers being stripped of their registration to practice for such bullying. Their employer, if a 'grievance' which was raised would be bound to investigate and if proven the manager could be at the most serious be disciplined or dismissed for gross misconduct.
Also, in the UK we are mandated by the NMC on pain of disciplinary action if we do not speak out about unsafe practice or staffing by informing management. The UK government has brought in a 'duty of candour' for staff. Nurses in the UK are also reminded of their responsibilities to maintain safe practice and being tired or exhausted is not safe practice. Mine and colleague's way of dealing with management was to highlight staffing deficiencies through our incident reporting system which left an electronic trail for later use, but at times suspected that management at mid levels would try to stop the incident so we would send hard copies to the chief nurse and chief executive which meant if anything went wrong they would have to take responsibility for the deficiencies in front of a Coroner or Criminal Law court and then for the chief nurse if found guilty the NMC. The UK also has the law of Corporate Manslaughter for which at the moment two nurses and a doctor are in court for informing a resus team wrongly over a patients resus status. This also covers the chief exec downwards We also have legislation which covers Health and Safety at Work as well.
In the UK the nursing registration body is national unlike the USA where states have their own with variable rules.
I do know that this is often the case, but at least you will have solid documentation should any adverse event arise.
I am also not wondering if you facility does not have an (800) number posted so that you could report this complaint anonymously. I thought that this was mandatory.
It only pulls the team together for a short duration of time; some team members aren't on board and won't help, the others simply get burnt out. Mandation as a means to fill shifts is a recipe for disaster and losing more employees!
I completely agree. I could/would never work in a situation where I was expected to work any old time they wanted me to and out of the realm of what I was hired to do.
I sympathize. You could file harrassment charges against her if this abuse continues. Keep your nose to the grind stone if you like the place that you work. Document her mis-behavior, and keep on trucking. If you don't care about that place, find another job. You were looking for a job when you got that one.
If your on duty and they don't cover the noc shift, you can not leave...you have to work. If you leave without a replacement, that is abandonment....FIND A NEW JOB
Your charge is a deceitful, heinous bully who should be reported to her higher-ups. Please stand up for yourself and for the other nurses she is abusing-- I doubt you're the only one! If you abandon your patients, then yes she can file charges against her. But she's still an a$$4013.
Specializes in Rural, Midwifery, CCU, Ortho, Telemedicin.
"The noc nurse is on leave. Her absence was foreknown. This is a failure to plan on management's part -- not an emergency on the OP's part."
thank you for having read, and digested and understood the original message. It bothers me that so many never bother to actually know what they are replying to. Makes me wonder if they bother to find out that their patient who now is in a meningital coma originally came in with a healthy pregnancy that underwent a C-section.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
RIRed said:
Your charge is a deceitful, heinous bully who should be reported to her higher-ups. Please stand up for yourself and for the other nurses she is abusing-- I doubt you're the only one! If you abandon your patients, then yes she can file charges against her. But she's still an a$$4013.
The higher ups no doubt know all about the charge's attempts to get those shifts covered without hiring. But go ahead -- report her. I hope you have enough money saved up to go without a job for awhile.
Jensmom7, BSN, RN
1,907 Posts
And then what does your Union recommend you do when management tells you there isn't anyone else available and *tag* you're it??
Not being snarky, but I've never been unionized (not that I didn't try in the past) and management usually knows how to get around most things.