has anyone been mandated to stay over their shift

[rn-jane]

Saturday was first a night from you know where. I came on at three pm and they said census was low, we had 14 for the 2 nurses(I was included). No charge nurse, and no secretary. I was working with a new nurse 30 days off of orientation and we got 8 admissions. I came to work sick with a migraine and was being charge and secretary trying to hold things together. The new nurse did her best but she broke down crying several times which I honestly could not blame her, telling her to buck up and just do the best you can did not seem right but what else could we do? As 10pm rolled along, the nursing supervisor called me and said she had absolutely no staffing for midnight other than another nurse and I had no option but to stay. Realize I had a migraine and had puked twice and was just counting the minutes I could go home. So i got mandated to stay til 7am with being sick, talk about safe nursing.

[NurseCard, ADN]

With every post like this, I realize more and more and more what a messed up profession nursing is, that is in desperate need of a total reform.

But... anyway :)... to answer your question, yes, I have been mandated to stay over a time or two. Not at my current med-surge job, which is a GOOD one compared to some that I read about on here. But at my last job at a state psychiatric hospital, all the RN's on all of the shifts had to take turns every month staying over when there wasn't enough staff on the next shift.

It wasn't too bad. It wasn't a particularly difficult place to work though.

[BEDPAN76]

OMG! 8 admissions??? Bless your heart. It shouldn't ever get worse than this. Are you recovered yet? :cheers:

[Sue0829]

Yes,I have been mandated to stay over my shifts several times due to the short of the staffs.Sometimes it is not difficult for me to do that but if I did not feel well like you or just not in a good spirit situation,I will refuse it-it is not a safe nursing and I have to be responsible for my patients and myself.

[Dolce, RN]

Ooooh, this post just makes me see red. :angryfire There is absolutely no excuse for this. Hospitals that are this short staffed need to have some alternative or incentive to support their staffing problems. They could pay double for overtime, employ agency or travel nurses, float nurses from other units, or go on divert. It is completely unacceptable that they continued to send you admissions even though you were not staffed properly. If I worked there I would be sending them a message with my feet. If all their nurses quit they might figure out that they have a problem!

[aprilr]

I sympathize with you. At my current job I have been mandated many many times. Our census goes up and down rapidly so staffing is difficult. There are also times when we just do not have enough employee to accomidate the needs. There have been months where we get mandated at least once a week, sometimes more. It is really hard and it causes a lot of turnover with staff. It is not always safe but we do not always have a choice! I hope you are feeling better!!

[Riseupandnurse]

This is a terrible situation!! It makes me very angry that this can happen to a nurse. WHY do hospitals have to have "just enough" or "not enough" staff??? I am certain that administrators are not sent home with a reduction in salary with low census. There should be an extra RN or two on every evening and night for just this sort of situation. Very inhumane conditions; why would nurses put up with this??????

[Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN]

The only time RN's and CNA's were asked to stay extra at my facility was when we had a major snow storm. The night shift was asked to stay an extra 2 hours till relief came, which is not that bad considering some of them stay till 9am finishing their charting

[PICNICRN, BSN, RN]

And why didn't your management team come in and staff the unit????

To answer your question... when I worked in Chicago, I stayed at the hospital for over 48 hrs due to a blizzard. No one could come in, the roads were all closed and public transit was shut down- total mess. Those who were there stayed! We took turns sleeping for 4 hours at a time in random places throughout the hospital...it was pretty awful. When we did get out, we were paid double time for the shift and given a meal pass or something and a "day off" for later in the year. At least we were thanked and appreciated. This was inconvenient enough......I would be livid if I was there because management was unable to staff my unit and unwilling to come in and help!

I'm so sorry this happened to you........ take a vacation!!!:)

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Im happy to stay until I drop if my boss in in there helping, but if mandated just because someone didn't bother to cover a hole I am out of there.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Ok, so my first big question is this: where were the mandated nurses from day shift?? How is it that you walked into having 7 patients, AND being charge nurse, AND being unit clerk AND having only one new nurse for 14 patients, with EIGHT admissions coming your way?

If you were mandated to stay to cover the short shift that followed yours....WHERE WERE THE NURSES FROM THE PREVIOUS SHIFT??

I don't work in a mandated facility, but never thought I'd mind one because it would mean that every shift WOULD have enough staff (that's how it is at a nearby hospital that does mandation, anyway: if a nurse is staying over, it's to make sure the next shift is sufficiently staffed. Why did this NOT happen for YOU??

Unbelievable.

[RainDreamer, BSN, RN]

Definitely not. And no one should put up with that kind of treatment.

Although I haven't been mandated to stay over because we don't have a short-staffing problem in the first place ...... our hospital actually cares about their nurses, or at least they treat us like they do.

That stuff only happens if people let it happen. Please don't stay at a place that treats you like such garbage.