Does your facility send someone home every shift?

morte, LPN, LVN · May 2, 2013

check with you labor dept, they may be required to pay a partial shift for "showing up". This is certainly a despicable practice.

JBMmom, MSN, NP · May 2, 2013

I can't imagine having enough staff that someone can leave! I'm sure that's annoying, but I think I'd show up expecting to work, and be thrilled if I ended up with the day off instead. I'm not trying to minimize the inconvenience, like if you've taken your child to childcare or have other arrangements. (Then again I'm not looking for any extra hours at all, nor do I depend on getting paid for a certain number a week) I agree with the suggestion, though, that it may violate labor practices, but as long as someone in the end is "volunteering" to go home, they may not be required to pay anything.

BrandonLPN, LPN · May 2, 2013

Blackcat, I'm waiting for the thread were you tell us your facility was finally shut down by the state or something. :)

Blackcat99 · May 2, 2013

Yes Brandon. I am sure that it is just a matter of time before the state does in fact shut it down.

ktwlpn, LPN · May 3, 2013

There was talk of that a few years ago at my facility just prior to a budget crisis.They never did start sending cna's home, we have never had a full staff (we always have a few out on FMLA) Nurses can be down staffed-we can put our name on the list,if no full timers request the day off then they call off the PRN staff butmany of my co-workers seem to have issues with attendance and many have intermittent FMLA to cover themselves because we have to have a physician's note to be paid for the sick time.

mvm2 · May 3, 2013

wow that would pretty much stink to know that you might go home after driving all that way to work for nothing. You girls are loosing money by coming to work, what in the world are they thinking by doing this? Have they had a lot of trouble in the past with short staffed shifts that made them take such a drastic step? I have to say I could never agree to work for a place that would make me come into work, and then make me leave without compansation.

LTCNS, LPN · May 3, 2013

I would be the first to volunteer to go home, but then again I have never been one who loves to work even though the DH and I need all the hours we can both get at our jobs. With that said, I have to drive 45 mins. one way to my job, so I would at least want to be compensated for my time and gas. Heck, even $25 extra in my check would help.

Blackcat99, I'm so sorry you landed in such a crappy LTC. I've worked in some pretty bad ones so I know how you feel. After more than 17 years I have finally found a place that actually appreciates its staff. I've been there two months and have yet to let it sink in that it's actually a good place to work. I think I'm in shock :wideyed:

Blackcat99 · May 3, 2013

Congratulations LTCNS. I am so glad to hear that you found a place that actually appreciates its staff. That's amazing!!!

nnancy627 · May 4, 2013

What a 'brilliant' plan! Overstaffing every shift can prevent quite a few problems, some of which you might never even think of: One, you won't be understaffed, ever. Two, since you are never understaffed, you'll never have to rely on desperate calls to agencies(always taboo in LTC due to the cost), OR paying anyone overtime. Three, if you have a sudden influx of new admits, you won't have to beg staff to come early, stay late, etc. to process them. FOUR: It guarantees that the DON, ADON, SSD, etc. will 'never' have to come in to work. Number five? Your facility can do away with any 'staffing coordinator' position, because staffing will be overstaffed, initially, but any supervisor can then send people home after the needs of the shift have been determined- saving not only another salary= but also keeping your ability to manage your PPD ratios on a fluid basis! Finally: What a great way to absolutely prevent those 'late stayer' nurses from racking up overtime, since the oncoming shift will be overstaffed with nurses that are not only on straight time, but since they are sent home at random, they will never have enough hours on the clock to come NEAR o being on overtime status. Amazing, even I have never heard of such a new foul way to abuse employeess. But it's only going to get worse, that's a fact. Still, I have to say to whoever thought this up? KUDOS. Yet another way to screw the wowking people....Too bad that this idea has been publicly posted in the most popular nursing blog site in America- just wait and see how this nasty idea takes hold like a wild fire...

If there are any DONs in the house, care to comment on my insight???

ktwlpn, LPN · May 4, 2013

What is your solution? Our unit managers don't work the floor-it that the solution? They are responsible for scheduling,payroll,evaluations,amongst a host of other things AND making sure the rest of us do our jobs on their units (and some of us either don't care of don't have a lick of common sense) If my unit manager has to pull a shift or two on the floor who is going to make sure my hours are entered into the system correctly so I can get my pay check?Who is going to handle the ineviatble call offs and make the effort to get someone in to relieve me? On average at least 1 nurse calls out on my shift ,we must have a physician's excuse to use our sick time and several have intermittent FMLA and everyone else seems to have no problem bringing in that note. I usually go almost a year without a sick day (until the norovirus strikes) but not everyone is as lucky.Many of my co-workers are getting up there and we all have families with issues.

The last time I worked in our small local community hospital the nurse manager would come down the hall at 10 am and start sending people home if the ER was quiet.They tried to make us "on call" but then found out they would have to pay a stipend to make us obligated to come back if the crap hit the fan. If you were out of vacation time then you just didn't get paid. I think that nurse manager was one of the first dept heads to be laid off when the restructuring began.

nursedeb1 · May 5, 2013

Hi

I am a DON at a LTC facility. Overstaffing and then cancelling full time staff is not a smart practice. We all have to stay within PPD but employees are the asset of success and there are many options that can be taken when census is low.