Absolutely ridiculous... You can keep your 4 hours

Ruby Vee, BSN · Feb 8, 2014

What kind of hospital schedules you for a full 12 hour day shift, calls at 5am to cancel you from 7a-11a but tells you your on call from 11am on... And then decides that at 3 they will have you come in for the last 4 hours of ur scheduled shift to cover someone else's call out on a different floor? You bet I'll be the first to say no... If they felt they didn't need me for my scheduled 12 hour shift enough to call me off at 5am don't expect me to come in at 3pm for 4 hours

Did you have the option of coming to work at 7A? Was there someone that WANTED that time off? Where I work, we LOVE to be canceled at 7AM, and staying on call the rest of the day is just part of the package.

Tina, RN · Feb 9, 2014

Do you at least get paid something for being on call? Maybe not your full hourly rate, but something at least?? I get that if you are scheduled, you should be available. But to keep you hanging the whole time, with no monetary compensation seems really unfair! If you aren't being paid anything, then they should either bring you in, or set you free for the day. I'm really glad that nothing like this ever happened to me when I worked at the hospital. They either cancelled you completely, or not at all.

It's a shame. In a perfect world, they would allow you to come in as an admission nurse or something. As an "extra pair of hands", you'd be worth your weight in gold to the other nurses!

OP, I hope your employer doesn't discipline you for refusing to come in. From the previous posts, it seems like they could. Good luck!

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Feb 9, 2014

We only cancel in 4 hour blocks in case if call offs, admissions, etc, but we give 2 hour call, so if you are cancelled from 7a-11a then by 9am we know if we need you, then by 1pm if you are needed at 3pm. Just the way it is. And you aren't on call since it is your scheduled day, so you don't qualify for call time. And if you are called to come in and you refuse or don't answer it is a no call no show and you will be disciplined. It comes to budget...not going to pay for a person you don't need.

D.R.A. · Feb 9, 2014

I hate our call policy. If you are called off, you are on call all day. SO you belong to the hospital, but don't get paid...unless you count the $2/hr you get....yeah that's right....$2/hr

PMFB-RN, RN · Feb 9, 2014

I've never worked in a hospital where it didn't work this way (all of which were unionized). It's part of working in a Hospital. If it's not something you're willing to tolerate I'd suggest finding a clinic job or something else that has less variable staffing needs, but I have to say I'm on the Hospital's side on this one.

It may well have gotten so bad for so long in your area that you find this sort of abusive bahavior normal for hospital nurses but not me. My hours, and the hours of every RN in my hospital are guarenteed, as they should be. After all we are providing them a guarentee that they will have a nurse for that shift.

They can, and do offer paid and non paid time off when we are not needed. Some nurses accept it, some don't. The flip side of the coin is that we have agreed to be used as needed within our training and experience. For example an L&D RN isn't going to be floated to SICU as an RN, though she may to work as an aid. I have found myself sitting with implulsive patients, a job usually reserved for CNAs or paid nursing students, or writing care plans, or reviewing policies, or even doing handwashing audits and other QI projects.

I expect my hours to be guarenteed. If every RN felt the same then there would be no choice.

Obviously that cuts into profits so something had to be done, hence the artificaly created glut of nurses we are experiencing right now.

PMFB-RN, RN · Feb 9, 2014

I hate our call policy. If you are called off, you are on call all day. SO you belong to the hospital, but don't get paid...unless you count the $2/hr you get....yeah that's right....$2/hr

It is shocking to me that so many meekly accept things like that. I wouldn't.

JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP · Feb 9, 2014

For me, if I've committed to a scheduled shift then I'm giving my employer that 12 hours of my time. Of course, that has it's limits (floating outside of my experience, coming in for the last 2 hours of a shift, etc). 4 hours seems reasonable to me.

So how does this work? You're expected to commit your time to the hospital and then not get paid for it? It's not like you can really plan to do anything else for those 12 hours not knowing if you'll be called later to come in. And then you have to pay for childcare -- THEY may not appreciate being called off randomly either so you may have a very hard time holding on to a babysitter.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Feb 9, 2014

So how does this work? You're expected to commit your time to the hospital and then not get paid for it? It's not like you can really plan to do anything else for those 12 hours not knowing if you'll be called later to come in. And then you have to pay for childcare -- THEY may not appreciate being called off randomly either so you may have a very hard time holding on to a babysitter.

It's one of the things you do sometimes in the interests of keeping your job. If you don't want to do it, say so. There's almost always someone who is EAGER to take the time off.

wooh, BSN, RN · Feb 9, 2014

For me, if I've committed to a scheduled shift then I'm giving my employer that 12 hours of my time. Of course, that has it's limits (floating outside of my experience, coming in for the last 2 hours of a shift, etc). 4 hours seems reasonable to me.

The problem is I've committed to the employer 12 hours of my time for 12 hours of pay. Not for 4 hours of pay and if I'm lucky an additional $16 to wait with bated breath by my phone. Because I can't do anything that would prevent me from getting to work within an hour. (Especially limiting when you live an hour away! Woot!)

If I wanted to give my employer that kind of flexibility, I'd work prn and have a similar amount of flexibility for myself.

Unfortunately, with nurses being a dime a dozen these days, employers can do whatever they want and we have to bend over and take it.

wooh, BSN, RN · Feb 9, 2014

Do you at least get paid something for being on call? Maybe not your full hourly rate, but something at least??

That's the beauty of the 4 hour call-off. You aren't "on-call" during THAT four hours, so they don't have to pay you. Not even the measly ~$2/hr places will pay for on-call. They just do without for 4 hours, knowing that they can just get you to come in four hours later if all hades breaks loose and they need you then.

I'm waiting for the 2 hour call-off. Then they don't even have to really wait all that much longer than they do if you're on-call but they can get away with not paying. (I'm sure a manager/bean counter will see this and it will immediately be implemented.)

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Feb 9, 2014

That's what I've been gathering on this type of situation. It's just inconsiderate when there really are other staffing alternatives to canceling until the last 4 hours of a scheduled shift, and then requiring to come in. I understand they can do whatever they want however they want, but I still don't think it's right, courteous, or necessary.

It isn't...but it is a fact. I have been working with cancellations since the mid 1990's. The Union facility I worked at had no mandatory cancel yet many nurses won't collective bargain/unionize. I have no answers. In the economic climate nurses are lucky to have a job.

I have worked at many facilities in the Lowell/Boston area as staff and management...they ALL cancel if they are not Union. Some of the ED's are also canceling which I think is NOT safe.

xoemmylouox, ASN, RN · Feb 9, 2014

Another ridiculous policy. Where I have worked if you were low censused you were free and clear. This 4 hour BS is ridiculous. Yes it WAS your day to work, but then they said they didn't need you. They should not expect you to sit by the phone and wait. We all had bills to pay.