i would really like to know what others think about this..... yesterday, we had two people call in sick for the pm shift. So at 2.15, 15 minutes before our day shift was over, our charge nurse informed us that one of us would "have to" stay. "Us" of course meant only the aides. She seemed to feel no obligation whatsoever to cover for the absent staff members.
Anyway, none of us volunteered- one had no babysitter, two were already in overtime, one had another job, one had plans for the evening, i was not feeling well and also had a lot of homework to do yet. So none of us aides wanted to stay. So the charge nurse walked around pointing at each of us saying "you can't leave". Then she said we have to figure out who is staying, more or less implying that it should be me (since the other aide's excuses seemed to be more valid in her opinion i guess). I said I would not stay. I was too stunned by her field marshal behavior to say anything else, but I was determined not to stay. She said okay, lets flip a coin. Just before it came to that, the aide who had plans reluctantly agreed to stay. I felt like everyone was pointing fingers at me, though.
I am soooo mad. Not once did it cross her mind that maybe she should stay. Is that really so unreasonable? I mean, she's in charge, and if none of us aides can stay, shouldn't she be the one to step in and cover the shift? After all, it's basic nursing care, it's within her scope of practice, right? She acted as though she owns us, like she can FORCE one of us to stay. I am really tempted to file a grievance against her.
I personally do not feel like it is my obligation to cover for staffing shortages- especially since there is no incentive for doing so. We get no bonus, no overtime pay, just our regular wage, yet we are expected to put our life on hold and stay. I don't think so.
What do you think? How are situations like this handled where you work? And do you think I should complain about the nurse and her condescending behavior?
I've been keeping up with this thread and again it brings to mind why so many cna's don't want to work in or stay in ltc. Something has to happen, what I don't have a clue. But I do know that at the start of my class roughly 2 thirds didn't mind the idea of going into ltc. But we're nearly done now and no one wants to do it. And we haven't even gotten to clinicals yet.
Most of us are planning if we have to, to start out there work the time it takes so we can go on and take NA2 and other levels so we can go on to the hospitals. Its really sad because I believe we all care about the people we're going to work with and the aging population in general we just don't want to deal with the system and risk having family members, our educations ect put at risk because of what was mentioned in the first post. A complete overhaul of the ltc system has been needed for eons but there are just to many roadblocks in the way.
Are hospitals perfect, no. Could a similar situation potentially happen at a hospital, of course. But I've been around the ones around here as a patient and talked to enough of the staff to know that it takes a rare event like a blizzard ect and even then its handled pretty fairly and its mostly the ones without kids ect that jump for the over time. I know its long,sorry but I really feel strongly about the need to change ltc.
I'm glad I read this thread last week. We apparently have mandatory OT as well, I found out on Sunday. I did my first evening shift on a new floor that day, coincidently my first shift solo. And it was a trainwreck. But that is a story for another thread.
At about 9:30, the RN announces someone has to stay. And the new kid gets the short straw apparently. So it was me. My second shift solo and my first shift on nights. It was also a wreck, I had no idea what the night routine was and the CNA and nurse were both yelling at me to do opposite things. Finally I came undone and said one of you has to pick, I can't do this!
That night I didn't mind staying but it wasn't handled fairly or I didn't fight for myself enough. Next time I won't be so gullible.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I'm glad I read this thread last week. We apparently have mandatory OT as well, I found out on Sunday. I did my first evening shift on a new floor that day, coincidently my first shift solo. And it was a trainwreck. But that is a story for another thread.
At about 9:30, the RN announces someone has to stay. And the new kid gets the short straw apparently. So it was me. My second shift solo and my first shift on nights. It was also a wreck, I had no idea what the night routine was and the CNA and nurse were both yelling at me to do opposite things. Finally I came undone and said one of you has to pick, I can't do this!
That night I didn't mind staying but it wasn't handled fairly or I didn't fight for myself enough. Next time I won't be so gullible.
That is one of the misfortunes of working another tour, especially when you are forced to stay...unfamiliar with the routine, impatient staff members and being just plain tired. Kuddos to you for advocating for yourself. People should be more appreciative for help and explain what their routine and expectations are.
I'm glad I read this thread last week. We apparently have mandatory OT as well, I found out on Sunday. I did my first evening shift on a new floor that day, coincidently my first shift solo. And it was a trainwreck. But that is a story for another thread.
At about 9:30, the RN announces someone has to stay. And the new kid gets the short straw apparently. So it was me. My second shift solo and my first shift on nights. It was also a wreck, I had no idea what the night routine was and the CNA and nurse were both yelling at me to do opposite things. Finally I came undone and said one of you has to pick, I can't do this!
That night I didn't mind staying but it wasn't handled fairly or I didn't fight for myself enough. Next time I won't be so gullible.
Frankly, that you were mandated happens. But that they left you alone like that when you had so little experience is appalling, and says volumes about their irresponsibility and lack of concern for the patients/residents and employees alike.
I'm am just glad that I work in a state that doesn't allow mandatory overtime. I understand why some places have mandatory overtime but as a student if I work as a CNA somewhere I can't miss classes the next morning because someone else called out and I had to do a double. Now if it was the summertime and I didn't have class or some other pressing commitment then I probably wouldn't mind doing a double if someone asked.
States that have this in place always have exceptions for emergencies.
I'm glad I read this thread last week. We apparently have mandatory OT as well, I found out on Sunday. I did my first evening shift on a new floor that day, coincidently my first shift solo. And it was a trainwreck. But that is a story for another thread.
At about 9:30, the RN announces someone has to stay. And the new kid gets the short straw apparently. So it was me. My second shift solo and my first shift on nights. It was also a wreck, I had no idea what the night routine was and the CNA and nurse were both yelling at me to do opposite things. Finally I came undone and said one of you has to pick, I can't do this!
That night I didn't mind staying but it wasn't handled fairly or I didn't fight for myself enough. Next time I won't be so gullible.
I read posts like this and I wonder how some facilities manage to keep CNA's at all. You have a stronger stomach than I. I probably would have lost my temper.
Don't yell at me. I don't get paid enough to be yelled at.
I just back from clinicals and their actually at the only ltc I'd like to work at. They were severly understaffed when we got there but had already called in cnas from an agency. Thats a much better way to deal with it in my op.
At my hospital the patient care associates (CNA's) are occasionally asked if they would like to stay over beyond their shift until someone else shows up. If no one wants to stay over their shift then the oncoming CNA's pick-up the excess workload.
If possible a CNA from another unit will be "pulled" to work the short staffed unit or a "float" CNA is assigned to work the unit.
CNA's at the hospital where I work have never been required to work overtime because of staffing issues. However in a disaster situation I'm sure things would be different.
Thankfully this has never happened to me but I can understand your frustration. Just last week there was a night shift CNA that called and said she'd be a few minutes late so I said I'd stay until she got there so this way there was an aide on the floor. My shift ends at 1030 and she didn't show up until 1130. I'm sorry but an hour is more than a few minutes. I said I'd stay so I digress.
And with the kids, things happen and my kids will always come first. Just yesterday I was supposed to work and my sitter cancelled on me at the absolute last minute, like as I was dropping the kids off. I called my DON and explained what happened and she said she really needed me because we had 9 admissions(!). The situation was out of my hands, there was NO way I could've found another sitter on such short notice. When I told her that she got mad and said since it was 30 mins before my shift it was a no call no show and slammed the phone down. I was expecting the NC/NS but the level of nastiness was uncalled for.
I refused to do double shifts as a favor for my facility. I've done two and got screwed both times so I stopped that a long time ago. When you treat your employees like crap don't expect diamonds in return, expect the high turnover that's present in LTC.
Thankfully this has never happened to me but I can understand your frustration. Just last week there was a night shift CNA that called and said she'd be a few minutes late so I said I'd stay until she got there so this way there was an aide on the floor. My shift ends at 1030 and she didn't show up until 1130. I'm sorry but an hour is more than a few minutes. I said I'd stay so I digress.
And with the kids, things happen and my kids will always come first. Just yesterday I was supposed to work and my sitter cancelled on me at the absolute last minute, like as I was dropping the kids off. I called my DON and explained what happened and she said she really needed me because we had 9 admissions(!). The situation was out of my hands, there was NO way I could've found another sitter on such short notice. When I told her that she got mad and said since it was 30 mins before my shift it was a no call no show and slammed the phone down. I was expecting the NC/NS but the level of nastiness was uncalled for.
I refused to do double shifts as a favor for my facility. I've done two and got screwed both times so I stopped that a long time ago. When you treat your employees like crap don't expect diamonds in return, expect the high turnover that's present in LTC.
To be fair to your DON I don't think her reaction was that unreasonable. How do you expect her to feel? It is not unusual for a healthcare facility to already be shortstaffed and overworked and she is responsible for absolutely everything that occurs on her watch. Perhaps the fair thing to do would be to arrange to drop your kids off an hour or two earlier so that neither you or your DON is finding out at the last moment that you can't come in to work because of this kind of a situation.
I have to agree with AudreyJ on this one. Dropping the kids off an hour or two early may seem like a great idea to an employer but in my op the expense of both the missed time with the kids and the cost of the sitter just doesn't make it all balance out. But take into account, I live in an area with an extreme demand for cnas. For every job you leave, there are at least 5 other places wanting to interview you.
sonomala
416 Posts
I've been keeping up with this thread and again it brings to mind why so many cna's don't want to work in or stay in ltc. Something has to happen, what I don't have a clue. But I do know that at the start of my class roughly 2 thirds didn't mind the idea of going into ltc. But we're nearly done now and no one wants to do it. And we haven't even gotten to clinicals yet.
Most of us are planning if we have to, to start out there work the time it takes so we can go on and take NA2 and other levels so we can go on to the hospitals. Its really sad because I believe we all care about the people we're going to work with and the aging population in general we just don't want to deal with the system and risk having family members, our educations ect put at risk because of what was mentioned in the first post. A complete overhaul of the ltc system has been needed for eons but there are just to many roadblocks in the way.
Are hospitals perfect, no. Could a similar situation potentially happen at a hospital, of course. But I've been around the ones around here as a patient and talked to enough of the staff to know that it takes a rare event like a blizzard ect and even then its handled pretty fairly and its mostly the ones without kids ect that jump for the over time. I know its long,sorry but I really feel strongly about the need to change ltc.