Crisis Pay

Hi, all!

I work at a small, community hospital ER. Right now due to flu season we are INUNDATED with pt's and the hospital is basically maxed out. We are holding tons of pt's in the ER and people are waiting 6 - 10 hours just to be seen. Because of this not as many RNs are picking up overtime.

Now my facility is offering what they term "Crisis Rate", an extra X amount of dollars per shift when they are *very* short staffed. Has your hospital done this? How much extra do you normally get? I just want to get an idea of what people are getting offered so I know if what my hospital is offering is fair/enough or if I should hold out for more.

Thank you!

[verene, MSN]

We had critical needs pay at the hospital I worked at. For CNAs it was an extra $10/hour over our normal rate and could stack with other pay codes (standby/callback, overtime, differentials, etc.). For one shift the stacking of pay including critical needs brought my pay rate from my base of $16/hour up to $42/hour.

Not sure what the exact rate was for RNs but my impression was that the RNs never felt it was enough for the extra work.

[guest769224]

Our crisis pay is 1.5x pay rate + $100 on top of that for each extra shift picked up.

[Sour Lemon]

One hospital I worked at would offer $200 extra (per shift) plus movie tickets ...on top of the overtime rate, of course. I never thought it was worth it.

[DextersDisciple, BSN, RN]

I need to be at your hospital, we do not have crisis pay or any kind of incentive for OT even on weekends. We are also required to work 4 weekends in a six week schedule period. What state are you located? If you don't mind mg

asking ?

[DextersDisciple, BSN, RN]

Sour Lemon said:

One hospital I worked at would offer $200 extra (per shift) plus movie tickets ...on top of the overtime rate, of course. I never thought it was worth it.

I forgot to quote you in the above post Sour Lemon

[Sour Lemon]

DextersDisciple said:

I forgot to quote you in the above post Sour Lemon

The $200 + movie tickets + overtime pay was in Texas.

In California, I have been offered $100 (plus regular double-time pay) to stay four hours late, but only a few times.

[kaydensmom]

When we implement crisis pay it is $10 extra per hour, but it's not very common. For example in 2015 there was a 3 month period when it was offered, but it was never offered in 2016. I feel it should have been offered the past few months due to us drowning with flu season, they beg you to stay after or to pick up shifts each day, but they haven't thrown any incentives out.

[Jules A, MSN]

So exactly how much are they offering? Weird to ask us how much we make without sharing how much you are getting.

When I worked as a LPN and RN it was $20 an hour extra. Loved it!!!!!

[Jules A, MSN]

kaydensmom said:

I feel it should have been offered the past few months due to us drowning with flu season, they beg you to stay after or to pick up shifts each day, but they haven't thrown any incentives out.

I used to wait it out because if people take it for free they won't need to offer a premium. I've said to my NM "you have already killed me this week with acuity, I'd need the $20 an hour bonus to even consider signing up for more". It works sometimes.

[llg, PhD, RN]

My hospital has used crisis pay rarely -- but it has done it. In those instances, I think this was the deal -- Your normally scheduled hours were at your rate -- but any "extra" hours you signed up for were at $4.00 per hour more (or $8.00 per hour on one or two occasions). That $4 or $8 per hour was added to your regular rate and/or overtime rate if you were into overtime.

They've also done movie tickets for lesser crunches.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN, CNS]

Currently in the level one trauma center, central IL for RNs:

$100 for 4 hours

$150 for 8 hours

$200 for 12 hours

In addition to time and a half pay