Dealing with calls from work

[Katniss88]

I'm a new nurse and I like my job, but I really enjoy my days off too. I work 3 days in a row and most of the time have four days off. On a occasion I'll have 3 days off. I work on a unit where it's mostly pain management and it can pretty challenging dealing with very demanding patients and some not so nice patients. When I get home from work I'm very tired. It annoys me to get calls almost every other week when I'm off to ask if I can come in to work. I don't mind helping out sometimes, mostly to help my co-workers who will be struggling with the patient load. When I do decide to come in it seems as if I get the worst end of the deal, "I'm thinking I came in on my day off to help out". The last time I came in I had 7 patients, our patient load is usually 5-6. I felt like I was drowning and had a hard time keeping up with everything. I was scared I would forget something. I have a hard time saying no. When I do say no or don't answer the phone I feel guilty. On the other hand, it's not my fault that they have staffing issues. When people do come it when asked they aren't able to get overtime because they get low census on one of the days and are left with just three days and no overtime. I have this horrible feeling that if continue to say no that my manager will find so way to get back at me for not wanting to come in. What does everyone else do in this situation?

[KJ87, BSN, RN]

Of course I felt guilty about that for a week or two, but that has passed.

[MunoRN, RN]

It's certainly not an unheard of money saving technique to just have staff work extra to fill out an inadequately staffed unit, unless you really want the extra money, you're only enabling bad management behavior by working extra.

I never work extra, yet I called on every single day off. A few weeks ago they didn't call on my day off and I freaked out because I assumed I must be scheduled to work.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Don't answer the phone from work on your days off.

I LOVE the "we won't pay you overtime as we will send you home on a low census day". So be prepared if your unit has low census days that you will be sent home. That being said, if you don't have any low census days, THEN you get overtime for the shift????

You are correct OP, staffing is not your issue, and if asked I would be "out of town" or have "previous plans" even if that plan was to lay on my deck with a book.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

only accept the extra shift on the last day of your pay period....

[Nola009]

Oh my goodness, if you feel guilty, just don't answer! How can you feel guilty if you don't answer? I have one slick-talking coworker who is always trying to guilt trip me into picking up her shifts. Did it once, when I could and when I can't I say 'Sorry, I have important plans'. Or, 'sorry, I can't this time. Maybe next time'. "Important" is subjective, and I will tell you that I really believe my R&R is important. So is spending time with dog/friends/husband on my days off.

[melosa08]

What I've learned once I started as a nurse is to appreciate my days off! I honestly don't have the energy to work extra shifts. I really need the me time. Plus, I always end up getting the patients the experienced nurses don't want and that's not going to change even if I volunteer to come in.

[FutureResearchRN]

I never answer when work calls. Over the last few weeks I've gotten calls almost every day. If I decide to be nice and work, I'll call back. You can't work so much that you burn yourself out.

[Katniss88]

I don't keep my phone on me 24/7 because I'm not expecting any calls. If you call someone twice and they don't answer and you are forced to leave a message, I would think it would be smart to move on and call someone else. I like to help out sometimes, but I don't want to be your "bail out" person every time. Returning their calls just to tell them "no, I don't want to come in" is more professional, but I do not want to be given a guilt trip and have to listen to all the excuses of why they need another nurse because I know I will be more likely to give in at that point. Then I will be regretting it once I get there to work because I do every time.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

I would think its common knowledge among staffing nurses that if a nurse doesn't answer the phone, she doesn't want to work.

I also don't believe it's "more professional" to answer a work call. Professionalism has nothing to do with it. It just gives the caller a chance to attempt to guilt you into coming in.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

Why? Why in Gods name are you taking these calls? Look, unless you have already decided you want to work:

DO NOT ANSWER CALLS FROM WORK!!!!!!!!

If you use a land line screen your calls with an answering machine. If they call you on a cell phone get the free app "Mr. Number". It allows you to block or unblock numbers effortlessly. If you don't want to work simply block work's number. The app will answer for a half second and then hang up on them. There is no opportunity for them to leave a message. Same with text messages.

See, very simple problem to solve.

[OCNRN63, RN]

I will answer the phone and tell them "yes or no." I prefer to be professional about it, rather than just refuse to answer. When I am off or out sick, someone has to cover for me; I try to do my share of extra shifts, too. I have found that job security lies with those who are willing to work extra, or cheerfully get pulled to other units. Nurses who refuse to work extra shifts at my hospital will be assigned extra shifts by management, and added to their schedule, whether they like it or not. It is just part of the job to me.

​What you're doing is enabling your employer to avoid having to hire adequate staff. Why do they need to, when they an just bully and abuse the staff they have?

[Wrench Party]

Yeah, it's called, turn your phone off or don't answer it. I can see who calls on my smartphone. Luckily, my facility

has a float pool that can cover our team if we have to call out. Also, my coworkers are pretty reasonable about their callouts, so

this doesn't come up that often. We also self schedule and my manager is decent about honoring that, so I feel like we have

less callouts for un-granted vacation, mental health days, etc.