Absolutely ridiculous... You can keep your 4 hours

Nurses Relations

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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

If you don't have a union you have to either live with it the way it is or opt out possibly of a job. Most states are at will states and employers can let you go anytime. Since the advent of budget time(cancelling scheduled time related to low census) this is a reality in nursing. Look at your facilities policies related to budget time before you do anything. If they were following policy and you want your job you will just have to suck it up.

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Unions just makes noise, take your money, pushes an agenda, and makes things more difficult.

Voice your complaints or look elsewhere. Nothing in life is guaranteed except for taxes and death.

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Specializes in ICU.

It's always been like this where I work. We are staffed in 4-hour blocks with the exception of 11P-7A. If you get cancelled at 7 (either AM or PM), there's a VERY high probability you're coming in at 11. The good thing is that the staffing office and charge nurses usually call people and offer the opportunity, and someone will generally take it. I've had a 4hr offered to me before, but I decline it because I'm already on my way to work by the time they call me. I've never been mandated to stay home before.

Just comes with the territory.

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

That seems to be the trend. I worked at a hospital that did just that. Sometimes called you for the last 2 hours of the shift. They would cancel you and place you "on call" and the entire day was wasted because you were literally waiting for the phone to ring.

I left

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Specializes in Pedi.

This is precisely how it worked when I was a hospital nurse. You could get canceled at 7AM and be told you were on-call either for 11AM or 3PM. The only way you could guarantee yourself the full day off is if you agreed to fill-in on a day in the future when we knew we were short-staffed... but then you'd still be getting the short end of the stick because you'd end up working 48 hrs in a week for no OT.

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There are very varying opinions on this. For regular benefitted staff nurses, I understand the reluctance to cancel or put on call. Politics involved, hospital right to do as they please, etc. etc. etc..... What it comes down to is the hospital has decided they don't need you RIGHT NOW, so they'll keep you on a string in 4 hour blocks just in case they need you (and I'm speaking about per diem nurses). When you have children and other life priorities you can't put your life priorities on call for 4 hour increments in the day. It's a poor way of handling census fluctuation. If you have X amount of nurses on the floor and you can take Y amount if admissions before capping off, then that's what you do. It's not right to keep someone on standby in 4 hour increments for 12 hours for 2 dollars an hour. Yes if may be policy and the hospital can do as they please, but I do not agree with it at all.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
There are very varying opinions on this. For regular benefitted staff nurses, I understand the reluctance to cancel or put on call. Politics involved, hospital right to do as they please, etc. etc. etc..... What it comes down to is the hospital has decided they don't need you RIGHT NOW, so they'll keep you on a string in 4 hour blocks just in case they need you (and I'm speaking about per diem nurses). When you have children and other life priorities you can't put your life priorities on call for 4 hour increments in the day. It's a poor way of handling census fluctuation. If you have X amount of nurses on the floor and you can take Y amount if admissions before capping off, then that's what you do. It's not right to keep someone on standby in 4 hour increments for 12 hours for 2 dollars an hour. Yes if may be policy and the hospital can do as they please, but I do not agree with it at all.

I hear what you are saying I really do...however it is a very cost effective way of handling staffing fluctuations. It's not right to allow a patient to be boarded in the ED or hours either. The staffing is about the hospital and the patients.

I HATE doing staffing and calling people off. But it is a necessary evil. I get my ear chewed off on a regular basis by unhappy staff...... it takes me hours to figure who was last who is next, how many hours for each nurse. It sucks. The Union hospital I know has no mandatory cancel of nurses but you will work without aides (who do all phlebotomy)and unit secretaries.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
There are very varying opinions on this. For regular benefitted staff nurses, I understand the reluctance to cancel or put on call. Politics involved, hospital right to do as they please, etc. etc. etc..... What it comes down to is the hospital has decided they don't need you RIGHT NOW, so they'll keep you on a string in 4 hour blocks just in case they need you (and I'm speaking about per diem nurses). When you have children and other life priorities you can't put your life priorities on call for 4 hour increments in the day. It's a poor way of handling census fluctuation. If you have X amount of nurses on the floor and you can take Y amount if admissions before capping off, then that's what you do. It's not right to keep someone on standby in 4 hour increments for 12 hours for 2 dollars an hour. Yes if may be policy and the hospital can do as they please, but I do not agree with it at all.

I understand why you don't like it, really I do. But it's a very good way for the hospital to handle census fluctuation. We can't cap admissions if we still have empty beds. Usually, there's someone anxious to have the time off -- so they can sleep in or study or recover from the OT they worked earlier in the week. People with kids will send them to child care anyway and enjoy the time off child free.

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Specializes in LTC, med/surg, hospice.

At my former hospital they did not do on call but they do where I am working now. My only complaint is they don't have a clear policy and it is just on the whim of the charge nurse. Ex. I was placed on call til midnight for a 7p to 7a shift. Next night,a nurse on call til 1am.

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It's not right to keep someone on standby in 4 hour increments for 12 hours for 2 dollars an hour.

Or NO dollars an hour as some of us get. :sour:

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Specializes in Orthopedic, LTC, STR, Med-Surg, Tele.

At least you get paid to be on-call (I hope, anyway)... we just get left hanging.

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But it is a necessary evil.

Not it's not. Screwing over employees is a great way for hospitals to save money. But they could also charge medical staff for food in the cafeteria. Make that coat of paint in the lobby last another year before repainting. Skip buying the chandelier. Pay a few less dividends to the stockholders. Pay a couple hundred thousand less to the CEO and CFO. Get rid of a few people that walk around with a clipboard and aren't required to come in during inclement weather. (If you aren't necessary enough to be there when the weather is bad, your necessity in good weather is questionable to me and your worth during various 4 hour increments should have to be proven just as much as a staff nurse's worth.)

But as long as nurses bend over and take it, well, we'll continue having to bend over and take it. And as long as we're easily replaceable, we'll have to bend over and take it or leave nursing.

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