Low census--what do you do?

SnowShoeRN · Sep 10, 2016

The last hospital I worked was union so technically the only ones who ever *needed* to be called off were the per diems. It was a struggle when I worked per diem, but once I got a position as a staff nurse we never had anyone who didn't want the night off. Essentially our charge would just call around, canceling the per diems first, then starting with seniority, to whoever was working and find someone who wanted off. It was rare that we wouldn't get someone to take it. We could opt to have it paid (come out of our earned time) or to have it unpaid. Sometimes if we had too many people we'd float to units with a higher census. And occasionally we'd get the situation where we'd have 6 or 7 of us on and each of us had 1 or 2 patients (on a tele floor), but most of the time things would end up working out.

9 times out of 10 I loved being offered the night off. It was always kinda like a snowday to me and my friends who worked regular jobs would get jealous. :) I could see though how it would be upsetting to people who were mandated to have an unpaid shift off though.

Cat365 · Sep 10, 2016

My hospital runs pretty much like Snowshoe described. Except I think they keep a list of downstaffed people so that they can rotate them. In fact there is a list where you can request to be downstaffed for a certain shift.

Ive never heard anyone complain about being downstaffed most people regard it as a bonus day off, but since they try to rotate it it doesn't happen to the same person very often. If you qualify for PTO you can choose to use it if you want.

Ive worked at this hospital since April and I have only been downstaffed once. The only thing that I find that sucks about it is if census rises you could get called back in.

smf0903 · Sep 10, 2016

My hospital runs pretty much like Snowshoe described. Except I think they keep a list of downstaffed people so that they can rotate them. In fact there is a list where you can request to be downstaffed for a certain shift.
Ive never heard anyone complain about being downstaffed most people regard it as a bonus day off, but since they try to rotate it it doesn't happen to the same person very often. If you qualify for PTO you can choose to use it if you want.
Ive worked at this hospital since April and I have only been downstaffed once. The only thing that I find that sucks about it is if census rises you could get called back in.

Our hospital is like this as well.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Sep 10, 2016

When I worked bedside my unit literally never had low census. I worked on a 14 bed unit with a waiting list of scheduled admits. So it wasn't an issue for me. My hospital offers a lot of paid time off, so people fight over who can get down staffed to get paid time off.

loriangel14, RN · Sep 10, 2016

If the census is low on my floor they will redeploy staff to other areas.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Sep 10, 2016

Our policy was

First you float- either as an RN (other peds floors) or as a helper or safety sitter (the scary world of adults)

Next, volunteers could be off paid or unpaid (their choice)

Then, mandatory by turns - pad or unpaid, again your choice.

You could also voluntarily float or safety sit in place of another person who WANTED to stay home but wasn't next in line for it.

verene, MSN · Sep 10, 2016

My hospital runs pretty much like Snowshoe described. Except I think they keep a list of downstaffed people so that they can rotate them. In fact there is a list where you can request to be downstaffed for a certain shift.
Ive never heard anyone complain about being downstaffed most people regard it as a bonus day off, but since they try to rotate it it doesn't happen to the same person very often. If you qualify for PTO you can choose to use it if you want.
Ive worked at this hospital since April and I have only been downstaffed once. The only thing that I find that sucks about it is if census rises you could get called back in.

This is pretty similar to where I've worked. No one got low census very frequently, or spent all their time floating. Plus it wasn't unusual for people to volunteer for low census if our census was dropping for a chance at having a shift off. We kept benefit accruals with low census, and with patient flow through our unit it wasn't unusual for a week of low census to be followed by a week with opportunities for overtime.

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Sep 11, 2016

I know nothing of this so called low census.

My hospital is almost always OVER census! It is the norm for us to go 1 to 2 pts over our census. We usually have 10 - 15 people admitted who are stuck in ER waiting for a bed.

HeySis, BSN, RN · Sep 11, 2016

We get called off sometimes. It rotates through, for those that don't want to get cut we keep a log with cut hours that starts new each quarter. the person with the least cut hours gets cut first, unless someone is really wanting the cut. We try not to cut two full shifts in the same pay period, even if you have the least cut hours. (sometimes you are cut for parts of a shift, I'm in the PACU and sometimes surgeries get canceled or finish up early). Our cut hours get recorded and go toward our benefits, so it doesn't hurt your full time status, but it can hurt your check.

If I have a lot of cut hours I'll see if someone want to get rid of their on call, and I'll pick it up. If you've been trained in another area you can see if they have any shifts you can fill, but not always easy if the cut is last minute. You can use PTO towards cut hours, but I don't like to, I'm new and don't have a lot and I want to save them for a real vacation.

We have busier and slower times of the year... one you've been there a while it's pretty easy to start "saving up" holiday and PTO to use for slower times.

BSN16 · Sep 11, 2016

my unit is a closed unit so we send people home

Conqueror+, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2016

We get cancelled on a rotating basis. I spend the first hour home tweaking the budget to account for the lost wages and then I enjoy the night off.