Low Census....again!

Nurses General Nursing

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The hospital I work in has a certain lineup they follow when the floors have low census. First, anyone OT is called off, then anyone who requests low census, then they start from the bottom of the food chain for each floor. Whoever has been there the least amount of time is REQUIRED to take low census or on-call (nurse's choice). Usually a little LC is a :welcome: break from hard nights.....but recently not so much.

I've been on my floor almost a year but unfortunately all the other newbies that have come after me have been transferred to another unit they opened just a few months ago, so they are on separate staffing. That leaves me in an awkward position. I'm FT and I've been called off everyday this week....which is going to hit hard when payday comes around. Isn't there some kind of law that I'm unaware of that protects FT nurses hours, that I can only be called off a certain number of times in a payperiod?? Maybe thats just wishful thinking

Anyone else have any problems with this crap

Jess, RN :nurse:

Specializes in ER/Trauma.
We cancel OT,then ET. We keep a log of dates people were cancelled. We call that list first starting with the person cancelled the longest ago all the way up the list. If no one wants to be cancelled, then we mandatory cancel, again, we have a list of dates when people were mand. cancelled and we work our way up that list also. If there are a bunch of new people, it starts with them, but is never the same low people over and over again. We also cancel in 4 hour blocks so that no one is forced to take 8 hours of vacation or no pay.
Yep. Pretty much the same over here...

cheers,

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Specializes in OB, NP, Nurse Educator.

Everyone should get a "turn" when the census is low. Today the lowest person with seniority, next week the person above that, so on and so forth.

We also took turns being "pulled" (floated). You shouldn't be "punished" for having the least senority.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

We all take turns. they keep track of who has lost how many hours; the one having lost the least is the first called off. I like this; it's fair. You have to be flexible, however, to stay ahead. When they are busy, you should be willing to go in. I have found doing this, it all evens out in the end.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC.

Hey, thanks a lot guys! I'm not worried about the LC because of finances....I just like to get to work since my husband is in school. But theres a couple of newer people that I got hired at my hospital (on different units) that have come to me and are actually thinking of returning whatever bonuses they received at hire just so they can get a job at a different hospital.

Little did I know that LC would be a problem when I was hired, or I would have asked about it in my interview. But I'll know from now on for that to be a question whenever I interview for positions.

Again, thank you for your thoughts. I'm going to sit down and write a letter tonight and call up the other new people who are having the same thoughts. Would it be worth my time to share the letter with other nurses in the hospital and have them sign it, kind of as a petition?

Jess :nurse:

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I don't think the call-offs would bother me so much if they weren't sooooo stingy! When we're overflowing with patients, and working well over our ratios because not enough staff, we're supposed to suck it up and all work together. But by golly! No way we can work with a bit higher ratio when we've got more nurses than patients! If you aren't going to pay me more to take the extra patients, then at least let me have a few "easy" days with a smaller load!

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Hey, when i worked at the hospital, it was unionized and there was a clause that stated u couldnt be LC'd more than 6 or 8 shifts a year (i dont remember which). so if i were u and u had a union i would make sure it gets written in next contract!!

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I don't think the call-offs would bother me so much if they weren't sooooo stingy! When we're overflowing with patients, and working well over our ratios because not enough staff, we're supposed to suck it up and all work together. But by golly! No way we can work with a bit higher ratio when we've got more nurses than patients! If you aren't going to pay me more to take the extra patients, then at least let me have a few "easy" days with a smaller load!

You are SO right!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

If you are asked to stay home, do you have the option of floating to a unit where they need help"?? When I worked in ICU (early 90's), that is what I did. In the ER, never ever was called off!

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Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.

What is this call-off low census thing you speak of?? hehe

Where I work, its a guaranteed thing that you'll be called in on your on-call days. I think in the past year I've had ONE on-call day that I didn't have to go in.

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

We rotate who gets called off based on who got called off last. It's never based on seniority. Management realizes that newbies have to pay the bills too.... We never used to get called off, then had a really slow period since Christmas. I could always find a senior nurse with lots of PTO time to let me work "for her", allowing me to get "called off" and yet still work. I also asked my manager if I could float to PICU (where I work PRN) for 3 weeks while the census was low. We finally rebounded, going from 13 babies to 26 in a week. We'll hopefully remain busy for a while. We used to joke that we'd stop donating to March of Dimes unless we picked back up.......jk

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Specializes in nursery, L and D.

Our call offs go like this. Whoever wants it, gets it. If no one wants it then PRN folks have to take it. If no PRN folks scheduled, then part-time gets it. If no part time scheduled, and someone is cross-trained, the cross-trained person goes somewhere else. If all are full time, no one is crossed trained, and no one wants to take call off, then we all get to work. They can't force a full time employee to take call off. Good deal, huh? That being said, someone, (usually me, hehe) wants it. I have had a lot of health problems for the past 1.5 years, and many nights of call offs have really helped me not have to call in.

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