i feel guilty, help!

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

Hello, this is a common topic posted about but I want more posts aimed at me to make me feel better, or worse if appropriate. So my floor is really short staffed. Some times I come in early, stay late, or come in on days off. Other times I say no, even to staying late when I am already there. I don't always have something to do. I just don't feel like working more hours. Some shifts are so bad the thought of 4 -8more hours is undoable. Then, i feel really guilty for not helping out more by staying when i am there, or comming in 4 hours early or on days off and knowing that the other nurses are now working short and i could have helped by staying.Since i work short often, i know how terrible it can be. Does anyone else feel this way? Should I stay/come in if I don't have anything to do?I feel like I do my part by comming in on my scheduled shifts and working a couple of OT shifts/ extra time a few times a week. (48-56hours). Why do I feel guilty about it? I think it is because I know i could have made a bad situation better but chose to leave instead.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

Do everything to keep "yourself" whole. You can kill yourself trying to please everyone else. It's only getting worse as more nurses are quilted into working beyond their means. The only way it will change is if nurses take a stand and refuse to be treated like that.

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

You are responsible for the shift you are scheduled to work. Period. The rest is up to the staffing folks. That's why they get to be away from the mayhem and don't have blisters and corns on their feet. When you crap out from being exhausted, or God forbid, get so foggy you give some guy a birth control pill, they won't be seeing how you feel....and they won't feel guilty about pushing you to work.

:)

[thehipcrip]

I never worked as a nurse, but this is what I told people in my line of work:

I need you for the long haul, not just the short term. If you take on too much now, you'll burn yourself out. For your own good, and for the good of what we're trying to do, pace yourself so you will be able to do this work, do it well and without resentment for a long time.

[Hospice Nurse LPN, BSN, RN]

I'll help out occasionally, but I've got to take care of me first. No is a shorter word than yes.....sometimes easier said than done.

[merlee]

For the next 4 weeks, only work your scheduled shifts. Not one extra hour, unless there is a true catastrophe, like a tornado or hurricaine.

Everyone has to do this! If the staffing is so chronically short something has to be done. But it is not YOUR place to provide all of the needed coverage.

[nola1202]

don't sweat it. everyone has their inner sense of when enough is enough, keep listening to yourself. From experience, I have found those of us working short muddle through somehow and while it isn't fun, the shift does end and we get to go home. It's ok to leave at the end of your shift...anyway, the more overtired I am, the more likely I am to make an error...rest is a way to help yourself and your patients.

[diva rn, BSN, RN]

The more you continue to work like this..the more you (and the rest of the staff) will be taken advantage of...working constantly short-not your problem...that's an administrative problem and as long as you all play into it~it will not get any better..in fact it may get worse! Work your scheduled shifts and do not come in on your day off...and do not feel guilty...

[OCNRN63, RN]

When you're off, you have plans, even if all you plan to do is contemplate your navel.

You cannot be the savior of a unit that is so poorly staffed. Work what you are scheduled and do no more. Maybe if more nurses did this, staffing would improve.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

I never worked as a nurse, but this is what I told people in my line of work:

I need you for the long haul, not just the short term. If you take on too much now, you'll burn yourself out. For your own good, and for the good of what we're trying to do, pace yourself so you will be able to do this work, do it well and without resentment for a long time.

I am guessing you were some type of manager/supervisor when you said this? My manager/administration seems to operate under, " come in and be a team player by working 16 hours of OT a week. if you get burned out there are cheaper new grads out there, your lucky to have a job, etc, it is just 36-40 hours a week, why can't you work more other people do it. etc"

[pinkiepie_RN]

We work 12's on my unit and the secretary just looked at me today, after I'd worked yesterday and today and said, "Can't you work just 8 hours tomorrow?" I looked at her and said "Your shifts are 8 hours. Can't you just work 8 hours *every* day if you need to?" I was kidding around with her, but an extra shift is just that, extra. There is a reason why we're hired to work 36 hour weeks and not 60 hours. 36 hours a week is PLENTY for me. Sometimes I'll pick up a shift but if you ask me the day before my first day off in a cluster, I usually have something to do! We work everything 3rd w/e on my unit now, so my weekdays off are becoming important.

Don't feel guilty. Don't let them guilt you when you're at work and they need someone to work tonight or tomorrow. Don't let them call you on every day off and say "We could really use you." It is up to staffing and nursing services. We have 4 open positions on my unit right now and I know why we have a staffing issue. Low morale.

Just my $0.02!

[leslie :-D]

please TRY not to feel guilty.

if needed, they'd throw you under the bus in a heartbeat.

leslie