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?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Dealing with calls from work is easy -- just say "no." Or don't answer the call. It seems to be your guilt feelings you're having difficulty dealing with. It's OK to say "no," really. The older you get, the easier it is.