Feeling Unvalued

Nurses General Nursing

Updated:   Published

Charge Nurse Cancelled

I'm a Charge nurse on a medsurg floor. Our staffing committee voted yesterday that the charge nurse can be cancelled if census is low. We have so many contract nurses and full time staff are losing hours. Charge nurses have never been cancelled before, but now that has changed. I feel unvalued. 

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
2 hours ago, Loveishope1970 said:

We have so many contract nurses and full time staff are losing hours.

Thank the bean counters for this one. Most travel contracts have language in them that the nurse gets paid whether working or low censused. Follow the money.

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Isn't the pay going down for contract nurses? I've heard that the pay is decreasing. 

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
10 hours ago, Loveishope1970 said:

Isn't the pay going down for contract nurses? I've heard that the pay is decreasing. 

Not yet and hopefully not soon.

PS: I am sorry you feel this way. It stinks!

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I'm so sorry that's happening to you! Do you have other employment options in your area? Tell them you're not going to stay if this is the policy! Can you become a travel nurse yourself?

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Don't forget to make sure your legislators know that your hospital routinely makes decisions that encourage RN turn-over while hospital systems are spontaneously complaining about the cost of temporary/contract nursing staff.  ?

??‍♀️

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

Your absence will be felt by the nurses working on the floors and the patients when nurses don't have the support of the charge nurse when needed. The people that sit in offices will congratulate themselves on saving money. It's a stupid move and it's what is going to happen everywhere now that travel nurses have been hired with "no cancellation" clauses in their contracts so regular staff will be cancelled in the name of saving money. Hopefully someone sees the stupidity soon but that's unlikely. 

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

Sadly this doesn't surprise me. If they are using travel nurses most of those contracts have language that the travel nurses contracted hours are guaranteed paid even if they don't work so of course they will never get cancelled.  Since they are getting paid no matter what they are going to work so the regular staff end up being cancelled. 

Do they have any kind of policy that guarantee's the same nurse isn't the one cancelled all the time or do they give you an option to work as floor nurse instead of charge if they cancel charge? 

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
On 2/23/2022 at 5:16 AM, Rose_Queen said:

Thank the bean counters for this one. Most travel contracts have language in them that the nurse gets paid whether working or low censused. Follow the money.

I was going to say this.  Most contract nurses can't be canceled because they still get paid.  If they cancel regular staff it's cheaper.  

Where I work, the one that is designated to be charge is not canceled.  It's been a couple of years since this has been an issue because we're so short staffed.  But in Florida our "season" is Winter so a lot of times in the Summer our census would drop and people would line up to be canceled after our busy Winter season. 

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In out staffing policy it stated that the charge nurse could not be cancelled but the DON changed that and now we can be cancelled. Our census is low and full time are losing hours but they are extending the contract nurses. I don't understand. 

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