Does your facility send someone home every shift?

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At my LTC, they have now over-hired on purpose both nurses and CNA's on all shifts. Therefore, even if you were hired for full-time hours you have to take your turn and go home. They never call anyone at their home and ask them if they want to take the day off. No way. They always wait until everyone has arrived to work and then decide whose turn it is to go home. Everyone at work is absolutely furious about this situation. I was wondering if any other LTC's are doing this same thing?

Specializes in LTC.

When our census is low, we send home a CNA home early (usually half way through the shift) if we are full staffed and we don't fill a call-in for a CNA if census is low. When someone needs to go home, they ask for volunteers and there are usually several CNAs who would like to go home early so they draw names. Nurses don't typically get sent home d/t census since even when down beds it isn't really feasible for one nurse to work the entire floor. Having someone go home before the shift even starts every day is ridiculous.

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Specializes in NICU( RN), Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

Do you live in Alaska? The LTC where I work at does this. There are a couple of new hires that are always on the OVERSTAFF sheet. I feel bad for them because they don't have PTO yet and are sent home. They make us stay for 30 mins and then we are free to leave? What really sucks is tag they won't let us use PTO until 6 mo this on the job, by they can out you on overstaff on your first week of working.

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

I had to quit a hospital job due to the numbers of call offs.... I always got a steady schedule as a nurse in LTC. My babysitter was not going to watch my kid anymore as I had to cancel on HER too at short/no notice.

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Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.

We don't do this.

We may have someone on the schedule who we may cancel two hours before the shift due to reduced census.

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At my LTC they have now over-hired on purpose both nurses and CNA's on all shifts. Therefore, even if you were hired for full-time hours you have to take your turn and go home. They never call anyone at their home and ask them if they want to take the day off. No way. They always wait until everyone has arrived to work and then decide whose turn it is to go home. Everyone at work is absolutely furious about this situation. I was wondering if any other LTC's are doing this same thing?[/quote']

I think this is a great idea, but it really stinks for those that work far from home. (I suggest that everyone try to work close to home, its better for the environment and you and your family) I am sick of all the call offs resulting in short staffing. My facility hired lots of LPNs but one keeps calling off causing me lots of overtime. I love it, the facilty is not saving any money with an RN on overtime. One problem not mentioned is that RNs/CNAs/LPNs arent pounding the doors down to work in SNFs.

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I think this is a great idea, but it really stinks for those that work far from home. (I suggest that everyone try to work close to home, its better for the environment and you and your family) .

Really it effects the person going home regardless where they live. Even if you lived 5 minutes away from work you still are not making a dime on that shift and you are loosing money going to work. How is this a good idea? Not to mention it would have to be some perfect world for every nurse, and cna to have a job that is "close to home"

And what about their time as well. Lets see all the things that somebody could have been doing with their time then standing around at work doing nothing. I could have done a load of laundry or two. Could have gotten the weekly shopping done. stayed home and read some books to my children. All kinds of things to do then to sit around at work, and then told go home.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

We have been doing this for some time now. There are several days a week with extra staff on and there is always somebody willing to take if off. The logic behind waiting for everyone for to show up before letting somebody leave is to make sure enough staff show up. Not a problem with the nurses but a definite possibility for no shows with the CNA's. The facility can't make somebody take the shift off, so if nobody agrees to leave they will find something for them do... however I don't know if that has ever happened as somebody always volunteers to leave.

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Specializes in NICU( RN), Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

At my facility it happens ALOT... No one wants to go home. So the overstaff nurse can go into the dinning room and give assistance to residents by feeding them, or giving the residents showers. Not that many nurses at my facility wants to do that :-/.

Me being a new hire (3 months) I've been on overstaff 6 times... Sometimes I'll do the feeding, but for the most part, I just go home. I wish it didn't take 6 months until we could use our PTO. Also, I live about 7 minutes away from work. It does not matter, I hate waking up at 0540 just to go to wrk for 30 minutes...

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Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.

Totally baffled that some facilities are using this process!

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Specializes in Assisted Living nursing, LTC/SNF nursing.

Have to send someone home, that would be heaven where I work. We generally don't have enough CNA staff and there isn't a day that goes by that someone is told to stay over for a mandatory hold over if they can't get a volunteer or four (well, maybe not four but at least two). We nurses are always working as CNA's to help with filling in open slots which is worse on afternoon/evening shifts and the overnight shift. One night shift we had 4 nurses working (one was technically in training) and no CNA's. The staff is getting so burned out with this policy and more quit, then we have more mandatory holding over. We nurses are willing to help but certainly isn't a cost effective way of doing business, IMO anyway.

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Yes the first week it was heaven. We all thought it was just a "temporary situation". We didn't realize that it was going to be permanent. Now we all hate and resent the fact that we all have to show up for work only to be "sent home" because it is" our turn". We were all hired as "full time staff" and now our hours have been cut.

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When we are overstaffed, and you were scheduled to work on that day, they'll take you off and they won't notify you at all. This has been happening to me a lot, and I waste half the day getting ready for work and then I show up and I'm told I'm not needed, that they have enough staff for the day. I live about 20-30 minutes away from my job, I take the bus to get there, so it's a slap in the face being told to go home, take another 20-30 mins getting home and it's almost late in the afternoon. I wish they'd call me first, I have laundry and chores to get done too, I leave that for whenever I have off and do as much as I can before I go in for work. But for whatever reason, we are understaffed a lot in the fall/winter because cnas call out sick because of the holidays or they don't want to come in at all. No one is paying me for showing up, or for my bus fare to and from my job. Now they're giving me even less days + overstaffed days that I'm sent home. I need the steady income to pay my bills, and every shift is overstaffed so it's not like I can ask for a different shift either. I'll wait a little longer, if the situation doesn't change, I'm resigning and moving on to another job. I'm working at a LTC facility and have picked up the required experience that other jobs ask for, so I have no problem leaving.

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