I am a new nurse, graduated in March, NCLEX in April and started work end of May. Having been on my own only a few weeks at night. Anyway, I work on a med surg floor. Every night with only one or two exceptions, my phone rings anywhere from 830pm to 1045 pm from staffing asking me if I can cover tonight.
My dilemma is two fold. My guilt is overpowering. ONE: I am not experienced and have a lot of stress as it is. I work only two, three or four days a week because I work 12 hour shifts, 60 hour pay periods. Its enough money for now and I like the fewer hours. I signed up for 60. Am I wrong to say no cause I dont NEED to go in and dont feel qualified to be working so much?? TWO: If I say yes more often, our unit which is apparently VERY short handed and has a reputation of no one WANTING to work there, wont get better will it???
However, I also dont want to work short if someone is needed to work and no one will come in. My NTL's tell me to JUST SAY NO till I am comfortable. I cant even say yes to taking seven patients yet at night. Six stresses me out enough. Am I slow, selfish and stoopid, or really taking care of myself and my other patients??? This is not only a problem for me, others have complained too. Whats a girl to do??
I tell them prior to leaving my last shift for the week or where I know I will have a day off the next day and either tell them "no" or"available" or that "I will call them" if I am available-that saves me from getting unwanted phone calls..................
I am a new nurse, graduated in March, NCLEX in April and started work end of May. Having been on my own only a few weeks at night. Anyway, I work on a med surg floor. Every night with only one or two exceptions, my phone rings anywhere from 830pm to 1045 pm from staffing asking me if I can cover tonight.
My dilemma is two fold. My guilt is overpowering. ONE: I am not experienced and have a lot of stress as it is. I work only two, three or four days a week because I work 12 hour shifts, 60 hour pay periods. Its enough money for now and I like the fewer hours. I signed up for 60. Am I wrong to say no cause I dont NEED to go in and dont feel qualified to be working so much?? TWO: If I say yes more often, our unit which is apparently VERY short handed and has a reputation of no one WANTING to work there, wont get better will it???
However, I also dont want to work short if someone is needed to work and no one will come in. My NTL's tell me to JUST SAY NO till I am comfortable. I cant even say yes to taking seven patients yet at night. Six stresses me out enough. Am I slow, selfish and stoopid, or really taking care of myself and my other patients??? This is not only a problem for me, others have complained too. Whats a girl to do??
Take a tip from experienced nurses. Use an answering machine to screen your call. Then DO NOT return those calls asking you to work extra.
You sound like you might need some help in justifying to yourself that it is OK not to return those calls. So here is your justification
1. For all they know you were out or you were asleep when they called and by the time you got the message the shift was half over. They don't know this is not true and they know you do not own them an explaination of what you do on your off time.
2. Your answering machine could be turned down so you do not hear it and know there are messages,
3. you might only listen to messages at a certain time of day and that time does not coincide with thier needs.
There are various senarios you could make up. By all means do not offer an excuse when you say no. If they have the poor taste to try to make you feel guilty they are WRONG.
You see it is not your responsibility to staff the hospital or floor. This is managements responsibility. If they do not hire enough people if they do not plan adequately in advance for staffing, if they do not ever allow for the fact that people call in it is thier fault.
If they do have the nerve to try and place guilt on you understand they are being bullies. there is no other nicer term for this. You are an RN. New or not you can find work else where.
One more tip. If your facility is anywhere reasonable simply tell your manager you do not want to work extra and please do not call. If they have any sense they will understand this is a waste of time and skip over you when it comes time to make the nightly phone calls. You may still get an occasional one from someone who did not get the word but this should stop it. If it does not. Get the answering machine they're too inexpensive not to have one.
Then just treat those messages like spam in your email in box. Delete it.
I was speaking at a career day at my daughter's high school, telling them about the nursing shortage and how there is no problem getting work. My cell phone vibrated right in the middle of the talk and it was the hospital asking me to come in extra. It was pretty funny and totatlly unplanned.
I work about 16 hours a week and get calls at least 3-4 of the other nights to work extra. My kids know to screen the calls between 9a-1p too. On the rare occasions that I don't have a caller ID phone handy I pick up and say no. I don't give any excuse. I think they would go into shock if I ever said yes. However I have an extremely low absentee rate in all the years I have worked there so they can count on me in that respect.
When I went on vacation last month I called staffing and told them not to call me as I did not want my answering machine filled with their calls. I still got 2 calls.
Also if the unit is really short working extra can be doubly hard if they still don't come up with the full compliment of staff.
Life is too short. If you don't need the money "Just Say No"
Specializes in PICU, Nurse Educator, Clinical Research.
You see it is not your responsibility to staff the hospital or floor. This is managements responsibility. If they do not hire enough people if they do not plan adequately in advance for staffing, if they do not ever allow for the fact that people call in it is thier fault.
If they do have the nerve to try and place guilt on you understand they are being bullies. there is no other nicer term for this. You are an RN. New or not you can find work else where.
.
:yeahthat:
I've had to make those calls a few times, and I know for a fact I wasn't thinking, 'I'll call suzy- she's a great nurse, and she'll be a real asset tonight when we're so short on staff'. I was thinking, 'i need a nurse. suzy's name is next on the list, and she's not working right this instant.'
feel no guilt for refusing to come in. if you're not on the schedule, they shouldn't expect you to be there, period.
this whole deal of harrassing people to come in on days off, but having no qualms about calling them off during low census is just more of the 'cogs in a wheel' attitude of hospitals toward nurses.
And nurses coming in to pick up a shift out of guilt, NOT because they want to, just compounds the syndrome of martyrdom.
I know how you feel. I graduated in Dec. 2005 and started work as a graduate nurse in mid Jan. on a telemetry floor. I have been off of orientation since May 1st and work has called every day since June. I have a lot to learn still and also do not want to work extra. I screen my phone calls and have friends and family call my cell phone (work does not have this number). It is not my fault that staffing messes up the schedule.
Sometimes agreeing to come in does not improve the nurse to patient ratio because my staffing office will use my coming in as an opportunity to pull an LPN off of our floor. So now, I ask lots of questions before even considering coming in on my time off and if it sounds like a dire staffing situation, I call up my co-workers on the floor to confirm it. I have no problems with preserving my sanity, enjoying my days off, and saying "no" to coming in to work when I'm off. I must admit that it took me a while to get over the guilt trip of it all but I've realized that my days off are very important. Having a scheduled day off for yourself isn't selfish, it's necessary.
We have "agency" time that nurses can sign up for in our facility. RNs are paid time and a half + $1.00 if they work "agency." Each unit has a list of days and hours in 4 hour increments that they are short staffed. Nurses can sign up for voluntary overtime (agency) by placing their name in the block that they are willing to work.
The above scenario started happening every time they were called in to work agency...to the point that our unit would be left short 1 nurse to staff another unit. If we were "lucky" we would be given an "extra" person...PCA or Ward Clerk...Our nurses stopped signing up for agency, and stopped answering their phones. Finally, our nurse manager posted an "on-call" list. Nurses that sign up "on-call" don't show up on the hospital staffing grid. Instead, those of us who are working are given their name, and we call ONLY if our unit is short. Problem solved.
I know this sounds so "Us" and "Them," but after a year of this, we felt taken advantage of and even abused.
I question the quality of care given after working so much overtime. Many place put a cap on 56 hours in one week. There are studies that many nursing errors happen on the over time shift.
The above scenario started happening every time they were called in to work agency...to the point that our unit would be left short 1 nurse to staff another unit. If we were "lucky" we would be given an "extra" person...PCA or Ward Clerk...Our nurses stopped signing up for agency, and stopped answering their phones. Finally, our nurse manager posted an "on-call" list. Nurses that sign up "on-call" don't show up on the hospital staffing grid. Instead, those of us who are working are given their name, and we call ONLY if our unit is short. Problem solved.
I know this sounds so "Us" and "Them," but after a year of this, we felt taken advantage of and even abused.
Otessa, BSN, RN
1,601 Posts
I tell them prior to leaving my last shift for the week or where I know I will have a day off the next day and either tell them "no" or"available" or that "I will call them" if I am available-that saves me from getting unwanted phone calls..................