Feeling guilty and mad at the same time

uk_nurse · Jul 23, 2004

at our hospital we have a policy that u should not work more than 48 hrs a week. Well actually its part of the health and safety at work. If we do extra shifts, i.e bank work we have to let them know. If we do more than 48 hrs in one week thats not bank work, the following week we have to take time owing. Then we get short staffed, but we are made to manage. Its a viscious circle. I dont do more hrs than im contracted for. I do 3 14hr shifts a week and that is plenty. I have a family and as all you lot do to a life outside your work. Dont feel guilty by saying no, at the end of the day if ur off sick cos of stress etc for a peroid of time i'm sure ur work will not pay u ur full wage, and ur mortagage. So at the end of the day look after NUMBER ONE!

helana · Jul 23, 2004

hi there,

actually here in our country we do work a shift duties BUT we r getting a 2 DAYS off per week and we r doing a 160 hr. per MONTH.but in your conition i think u should talk to them or just say NO I CAN'T DO IT bcoz u have family as they do.

Gompers, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2004

At my hospital, when the unit is short the charge nurse has to call pretty much everybody to help cover. It's not harrassment - it's hospital policy. You don't have to pick up the phone, return the call, or say "yes" if you do answer the call. But before the nursing supervisor will float other nurses to your unit, and definitely before they shell out the bucks to hire agency for that short shift - the charge nurse needs to show them a list of all the staff members they've called and what the response was (yes, no, left message, busy signal, etc). Most people have caller ID and just don't pick up if they don't want to work extra. The charge nurses have a hunch who to call first, like their best bets - but after that they have to go through the staff phone book.

I do like Tweety - if I want the overtime money, I much prefer to either schedule it or call the unit on the day I'm willing to work extra.

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2004

I will generally cover a shift if asked by a buddy/co-worker but when I see that work number on my caller ID, I don't answer. The few times I have worked at the nurse manager's request, I got floated or got stuck with difficult assignments. I'm per diem and I understand that I'll be the first one floated. If I'm going to be floated, I prefer to do it when I schedule it. No thanks.

bellehill, RN · Jul 23, 2004

I used to feel so guilty about my co-workers working short, but I wasn't the one making them work short. I always went in when called and worked, then I realized the managers always left on time no matter what staffing looked like. No guilt here now, I say no thank you and hang up the phone. I love my time off too much!

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Jul 24, 2004

I will generally cover a shift if asked by a buddy/co-worker but when I see that work number on my caller ID, I don't answer. The few times I have worked at the nurse manager's request, I got floated or got stuck with difficult assignments. I'm per diem and I understand that I'll be the first one floated. If I'm going to be floated, I prefer to do it when I schedule it. No thanks.

Asking per diems to work extra knowing that they will be floated to cover another unit is just poor managment, IMO. Other units have their own per diems - there is no excuse to make a larger unit's per diem staff the staffing pool for the hospital. It falls into that whole a nurse is a nurse is a nurse line of BULL****. A neonatal nurse is not an adult med surg nurse is not an LDRP nurse. Just like a chiropractor is not a neurosurgeon is not a dermatologist.

gypsyatheart · Jul 24, 2004

There is no reason to let this bother you anymore. You have to understand, this is just part of nursing/working in a hospital! There are always going to be call-off's, vacations, etc. It is the staffer's job to try and cover these holes. Like someone else said, they have to try their own staff 1st. Their thinking is :"hey, we may get lucky!". :chuckle

Anyway, invest in caller id and voicemail, let it pick up when it's the hospital. You have other priorities in your life, no? Stop feeling guilty and stressing....live your life!

Remember my motto: I work to live; I do not live to work! :)

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 17, 2005

Hi, How often do you nurses go in to work a shift when called at home? I do a weekend shift 3 12 hr shifts Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The hospital has called me almost everyday this week wanting me to come in and work for call offs busy etc. Tuesday morning they called at 5 am wanting me to work a 12 hr shift starting at 7am, Wednesday morning they called at 10 am for the 3-11 shift and once again they called this am and I did not even answer the phone. They called again this evening at 545pm to come in for 7p to 11p( i live an hour away) for a one to one in the nursery. My whole beef is I WANTED the weekend option for reasons like going to school, I would be here more often for my family etc. Now I am getting called to work, work, work. Another thing is they have prn nurses that tell managment when they can work etc. I do feel bad but if I had gone into work as they had called I would have 60hrs. I told them on one occassion if they gave me off a day on the weekend I would come in to work but they just laughed and said we cant do that. What's a person-nurse to do?

Ran across this thread doing a search for something. Having been a supervisor let me just say that the supervisors, managers or staffing clerks just start making calls of the nurses who are not scheduled to work on a day that they are trying to fill holes in the schedule. Telling them not to call you anymore won't work. And, it's not harrassment for them to call you. It's more of an inconvenience. I can tell you have a soft heart and you feel guilty having to say "no". You are under no obligation to say "yes". If you don't have an answering machine or voice mail to screen your calls, just tell them "no". Here's some of my favorite responses from nurses I called to see if they would work. Feel free to use any of them if telling a white lie doesn't bother you.

"My sister's here and we've been drinking for the last couple of hours. I can't get in a car to drive!"

"I was just getting ready to go out the door with the dog to the emergency vet. He's been vomiting and looks half dead."

"I was just leaving to go to my parent's house to help them out with something. I can't put that off."

Here's the best one for parents: "I don't have anyone to babysit the kids. I can't leave."

My mother used to tell them: "I can't leave my mother here alone. She's 90 years old and is confused."

"I have no way to get there. The car's in the shop." If they offer to find someone to bring you in you answer, "how am I supposed to get home?"

"I have a meeting/class that I have to go to this evening."

You can always tag this on to whatever you say: "But, I can call back later and let you know if I can come in." Whenever I heard that I knew I'd never hear back from them. :chuckle

fergus51 · Sep 17, 2005

I really don't know why nurses let themselves get all upset about this. Just say no or don't answer the phone. I turn it off when I go to sleep if I remember, so I don't get worken up at 5am. I do work extra shifts fairly often, but only if I want to.

allnurses Guide · Sep 17, 2005

Don't feel guilty. Get caller ID. Get an answering machine. Don't give them your cell phone number.

I don't get mad at the poor ward clerk who calls - it is just her job and they have to check every employee.

One of the problems we have here in our small community is that we don't have enough staff, with the 5:1 ratio, to handle alot of sick calls. And we are also having problems with OB call.

I love the ratio - it is just hard to staff for it.

steph

needs help · Sep 18, 2005

Hi, How often do you nurses go in to work a shift when called at home? I do a weekend shift 3 12 hr shifts Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The hospital has called me almost everyday this week wanting me to come in and work for call offs busy etc. Tuesday morning they called at 5 am wanting me to work a 12 hr shift starting at 7am, Wednesday morning they called at 10 am for the 3-11 shift and once again they called this am and I did not even answer the phone. They called again this evening at 545pm to come in for 7p to 11p( i live an hour away) for a one to one in the nursery. My whole beef is I WANTED the weekend option for reasons like going to school, I would be here more often for my family etc. Now I am getting called to work, work, work. Another thing is they have prn nurses that tell managment when they can work etc. I do feel bad but if I had gone into work as they had called I would have 60hrs. I told them on one occassion if they gave me off a day on the weekend I would come in to work but they just laughed and said we cant do that. What's a person-nurse to do?

With your schedule you could be writing about me. I too worked 3 12hr shifts (Fri., Sat., and Sun.) Since I only worked weekends I was always being called also (for 7a-3p / 7a-7p / 3-11p / 11p-7a / 7p-7a) what ever shift(s) they needed filled. Usually it was a daily call. I was even called to come in while on FMLA for cervical disc fusion. (I don't know why but they called three times in the last month I was on leave) So I most definately feel for you, I know it is frustrating to have all those very early & late calls. However, I agree with Destinystar. They are only doing their job. They need to try and staff the unit. I DO NOT agree with the units that let the PRN staff choose their schedules first then schedule their FT & PT staff around the PRN's. Being PRN is to help fill-in where needed. They ususlly get paid more and when allowed to choose their hours they get the best of both worlds. If your unit has plenty of PRN's they should get the PRN's to do the job they were hired for & at the very least call & wake them up 1st to ask about working.

As for those "just doing their jobs" I'm sorry since I was one of them. Being the 7p-7a Weekend charge nurse if there were call-in's I was the one to start calling everyone to get a replacement. The way I did it was IF the nurses on the other shifts asked me not to call them for the OT I didn't call them. That was only right. If those nurses decided they wanted to work some OT they would give me a list of days & times they could work then I would call on those days only. It seemed to work for me, no more angry nurses when I was only doing my job.

If the calling is not left up to your unit to do then you can try to speak to whoever does do the calling. However, if it's not left to your unit you may not get far. In that case I recomend either an answering machine (that's what I used), caller ID (but that would wake you and your family) or a service from the phone co. for screening calls, here it's called "privacy direct" (I think). What it does, when you put a number in to be blocked, is this: when someone from that number calls it tells the caller that you do not accept calls from that number, it then asks them to say their name and the service will try to reach you, then the service lets you know that they are calling and you choose if you want to answer. I believe you can just have the service not let you know of the call at night and go back to notifying you in the am.

Really sorry about the length of this but I hope it gave you, and anyone else in this situation, some useful information Rhonda

jeepgirl, LPN, NP · Sep 18, 2005

They should be calling PRN staff first. One of my biggest gripes is PRN staff who gets premium shifts... or telling the manager when "they can work." I am lucky... this doesn't happen much where I am now. But on the flip, we don't have very much PRN staff to begin with! We cover our own a lot... don't feel guilty when they call you on short notice and say though no. Just say that you have plans for the day that you cannot cancel. If you can do it, great... but if not, then no harm in asking.