An answer to them calling everyday!

Published

Hello fellow nurses,

I love the people I work with and my floor that I work on now. I work three 12's a week. Lately I have been scheduling them three in a row. A handful of us do the same thing on this floor. I have been off for 6 days due to my schedule. THey have called me at least 3 if not 4 days to come into work. It's not just this week. If I'm off 3 they will call 2. I work what is considered full time as well as most of the nurses. I'm looking for an answer for this, because I'm not the only one getting aggervated by this. I mean, my days off is my days off. I have things planned and I also work night shift. 7p-7a. Would you think that working 4 hours on top of the three 12's or every other week work an 8 help with this? Some floors do this. Or my solution, just hire some more people! Anything will help. so I can put it in the "suggestion box". Any suggestions are better than nothing. Alittle vent here, but what do they expect us to do on our days off sit and wait by the phone to not be doing anything. I have told them I'm making soup and getting ready to go to the store. Cooking relaxes me, and stocking up my freezer for meals during my work days are alot more important that making more money that I don't have time to spend anyways! I feel better! Send me the suggestions! :banghead:

I have the hospital's number saved on my cellphone under the name "do not answer". If they leave a message, I listen to it and see what they want and then I might call them back. I rarely agree to work extra. I will sometimes go in to work if they offer a deal such as coming in extra during the week in exchange for a weekend day off. I try not to let their phone calls ruin my day off. We are all entitled to enjoy our days off. So don't let them make you feel guilty.

Amen!

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.

JUST SAY NO!!!!!!!!!

As long as they can get people to come in on their days off, there's no need to hire more staff... and don't feel guilty about it!

ebear

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Specializes in Psych, M/S, Ortho, Float..

What has worked for me is that I had a note put by my name that I will not work overtime. I've gotten one call in a year and it was because of a huge snowstorm that had the city grind to a stop and I live nearby. I took the shift but staffing understood that it was really an emergency. They even apologized for calling me!! They will ask me to stay late, but I won't do that either. I'm already on full-time and I need the rest more than I need the money.

Good luck. It is hard to say no, but it gets easier with practice!!

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Caller ID with answering machine and turn off the ringer. All three together work wonders. You'll never change the system so you have to change your response to the system.

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yep caller id. My hospital for med surg started a bonus in the busy season. You work so many shifts extra a quarter and you get a $ bonus. Up to a 1000.00 for working 8 extra in 3 months for 84 hour people.

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I don't think you understand. I do say NO everytime. I was trying to get a solution to help with this system. That is all. Thank you for some things that help you in your hospital.

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I don't know that there is an answer unless you can specifically say do not call me. It may be policy that they have to at least call. Let it go to voice mail.

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I don't think you understand. I do say NO everytime. I was trying to get a solution to help with this system.

Well, it sounds like the problem is beyond your hospital just needing to hire more staff. If they're always understaffed, yes, they need to hire more people. But them calling only 2 hours before a shift? Unless it is the most dire of emergencies (acts of God, bridges/roads collapsing, etc.), that should never happen. Especially if you're being asked to come in for a 12 hour shift (maybe a little less horrible if it is only for a short shift).

One option of scheduling that I've seen: a neighboring department in my company (not health care) has pager duty that they trade around for weekend coverage. Mind you, these are salaried 9-to-5 folks, so serving their weekend of answering the departmental pager is just something they are additionally required to do (each person equally sharing the inconvenience, once every 5-6 weeks). For your case, this could translate to each person having an occasional (possible/probable) shift that would come around every-so-often. In return, *if* they end up getting paged and have to work, they get comp time to take off later. From the sound of your hospital, it wouldn't be an 'if needed' though...

So how about suggesting they offer better incentives? Like, every nurse who works an unscheduled shift each month gets a raffle ticket; at the end of the month, a ticket is drawn and the hospital raffles away a new car.

If they're calling people in to work on short notice, they could offer incentives, too. If they call with 8 hours notice, and you agree to come in, in addition to your pay, you would get a $100 gift card (to a merchant of your choice). If they call with 4 hours notice and you agree to come work, you would get two $100 gift cards. If they call with 2 hours notice, and you agree to come work, they give you four $100 gift cards.

(The point not being 'to bribe nurses into working more shifts' but rather 'to provide incentive for the hospital to be more realistic about their staffing needs.' Move the numbers and zeros around until either/both are sufficiently happy.)

If they're regularly calling employees about short-staffing with only 2 hours notice, it sounds to me like they're doing a poor job with estimating their needs. Poor management leads to overworked staff which leads to high turn-over rate which leads to a poorer quality of care. It would ease things up if they had float people to work split shifts, maybe even just live at the hospital, preferably folks with no outside interests or commitments so they're always around... :bugeyes: It may be a job you love, but they still have to let their employees have an opportunity to lead a balanced life.

BTW, I *love* the suggestion to have your work number listed as "Do Not Answer" -- that extra bit of reminder when you look at the caller ID sounds brilliant!

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Specializes in Med Surg, LTC, Home Health.

If they really need you then they will offer an incentive. In a hospital, a nurse can only have so many patients. After that they cant fill anymore beds. Well that amounts to a lot of money lost so they will usually be willing to throw a few extra dollars your way if you are willing to come in.

But be glad they are calling everyday. That is job security!

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I don't think you understand. I do say NO everytime. I was trying to get a solution to help with this system. That is all. Thank you for some things that help you in your hospital.

I don't think that many people understand that the hospital MUST contact everyone to ask them to work everytime it is short.

As a manager, I spent many hours making lots of phone calls knowing that I would get answering machines or a no from the people that actually answered the phone. When the unit is shortstaffed the manager/supervisor must make every attempt to get staff and the first attempts must be to get the regular staff to come in on their days off first because it is cheaper than calling in agency.

I also had staff complain that "it isn't fair that so-and-so refused to come in today and work" yet when I turned the tables on them and asked them if they thought it was fair to the other staff when I called and the person complaining had refused to come in on her day off - that was different.

There must be documentation that every attempt was made to get staff so you will continue to get the calls. Don't answer them if they make you so irritated.

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I have no problem picking up the phone if I am not sleeping and telling someone "no". and if you don't want to work overtime, or extra shifts, then why not just tell them that so they can stop wasting time (yours and theirs)? if everyone did this, I suppose that the hospital would come to the conclusion faster that they need to fix the problem, rather than beating the phones down, calling every person under the sun.

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Specializes in neuro, ICU/CCU, tropical medicine.

This is what agency nurses are for.

It is not your responsibility to staff a short-staffed unit - it's not your problem, so don't let them make it your problem. That's why managers get paid the big bucks.

Caller ID, and saying 'no' consistently and without guilt.

Enjoy your days off.

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