ANGRY! Forced to work??

[Phenomenon]

So I called in for a shift, and dummy me, made the mistake of saying that it was not due to an illness but my children. there was an outbreak of something at school I need to pick them up.

I was called a while later to say sorry but you HAVE to come in. No options. You have X number of hours to make arrangements for your kids and then you need to be here as we are 5 nurses short. Uh excuse me?? OK, so I am going to go in but I am kind of ticked. Can they do that? What about the other 4 nurses who are not coming in? Why is that that I have to? Was it that my excuse was not valid enough? Why is it my problem that they cannot staff the unit. Sorry, just a vent as I am not sure this is legal? Where I live we have no mandatory OT or call ins in our contract.............................arggggggggg:madface:

[Bellemccoy3541068]

When its my day off, I NEVER answer the home phone! Boss at work has my home phone number but not my cell, tee hee . If I need to be gotten ahold of for a family emergency, they know which phone to call. In all the odd ball jobs that I have ever had, this method has always worked.

[slinkeecat]

This has happened to me... Then I discovered that magic of caller id, voicemail and my wonderful talkative teenage girls who tie up mommy's phone for hours on end!!

[beckabeckahi]

I am new to nursing, but in my previous profession, I was constantly begged to come in, felt like I had to go etc. I agree with previous posters, don't pick up the phone. Say no and feel ok about it. They may be pissed for a minute, but will move on to the next in line to call. If you don't take care of yourself and protect your rights, no one else will!!!

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

That's ridiculous. What if you were a single mom and didn't have childcare? Are you supposed to leave them with the man next door?

Ask them if they care. I remedied that situation early on, by quitting and going into home health. Their lack of management did not

constitute my emergency! :angryfire

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

Dont ever admit you have caller id. Actually, i thought it was against labor law to contact an employee after they had called off for the shift. Something about harrassment? Dont know.

If they insist you HAVE to find someone to watch your sick kids, why not suggest to them that THEY come sit with your sick kids, and clean up the mess after someone loses their cookies. Tell them you will come in if THEY want to come babysit your sick kiddos.

Actually our hospital does in fact offer sick kid care through our pediatric department. We can take our sick kids in, leave them in pediatrics to be cared for by the nursing staff. Minimal charge, they get meals or what they need, tylenol if needed for temps. We can go check on the kid, eat lunch with them and we are only a few steps away if they need us. It has decreased the callins due to sick kids. Im not saying you dont have every right to stay home with a sick child. I had my own issues when my kids were little with that. Just offering a suggestion for your facility to examine that could help.