Mandated time over you status! What can I Do?

Nurses General Nursing

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I work in CCU in a small community hospital and like everyone else we are short handed. Rumor has it that management is either going to schedule us over our status or mandate 12 hr shifts. I hired in as a p-8 ( Eight days per two weeks) and I work a p-1 in ER. This is what I hired in to do and I do not and connot work more than that. Itf they do the 12 hr shifts it interfers with my husbands job so I can not do this either. I have four children at home and they need me too.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can fight this?

Yes ICU.. I do agree....

So.. How come you might be leaving your current position if they treat you like a goddess? just curious....

been thinking of going into ICU, Becky,

would you recommend it?

Thank you all for the lively thread and thoughts to ponder....

:) :) :)

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oh no...i didn't make myself clear. i'm one of those ppl that gets bored pretty easily...i want to do cardiothoracic ICU, instead of cardiac ICU. CTICU is more techinical and more thought provoking. i'm not quitting b/c of the way i am treated!!! besides...i'd probably just do an interhospital transfer...although, i would like to work closer to where i live!!

definitely go into ICU. i absolutely love it. :) :) :)

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total agreement!! I've been single for the last fifteen years and had the same thing happen. I want to go to my mom's house to celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving with all my nieces and nephews. They are the 'kids' for my family.

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oh yes!! i KNEW there were more single, childless nurses out there with the same "let's go and screw our coworkers children out of spending their holidays with mommy or daddy" (i'm saying this sarcastically...for those of you w/o a sense of humor)mentality. we've got little children, even though they aren't "real", and family to spend holidays with too!!!

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First let me say thank you to you ICUBecky for the wonderful complement!

Second let me say....wow....you are so right.....what will make us happy, why are nurses quitting their jobs? Why are nurses leaving a facility as wonderful as yours? What is going on? Lets look at it!

When I graduated 6 or so years ago, you couldn't find a job. Hospitals laughed at you when you applied. I had to take an eight dollar an hour job as the 3-11 supervison in an alzheimers assisted living facility. LOVED the job! The facility was subject to a corperate take over and the new owners fired the entire staff. (I cried for weeks...loved that place). Any hoo...I lucked out and landed a job as an office nurse with the doc who was medical director of that facility....his nurse was retiring and he and I had a good working relationship and he offered me a job.

Meanwhile, I was hearing that enrollment in nursing programs was dropping severly, I knew this was my chance to jump and get a better paying job....I left the doc (with a heavy heart) and landed in a ltc facility making top dollar for lpn's in the area. I was happy, my co-workers were a good bunch, we all got along it was a fun place to work with the standard amount of typical bull from management, nothing severe.

Four years later the place goes to hell and I have to quit cause I cant take anymore. I watched staff that had been there for decades walk out and go agency. BUT WHY? I was one of the last to go, it started off slowly,,,within a year and a half the whole heart of the building went agency. My reasons for leaving, were lack of staff, and lack of any kind of support from administration, not a thanks, not a keep your chin up we are trying, just plain old do it or get out. I chose to get out being tired of the severe neglect, lack of competency, and fear for my license.

The problem is this,,,,agency. Too much agency help is not a good thing. A different Charge nurse every other night reeks havoc on any builiding, specially when ya get one with crap for brains or complete lack of concern for the well being of people. Two out of four of your Lpn's being Agency....no good...specially with agency charge. Agency CNA's ...god bless them,,,couldn't handle their job, no way. Couldn't possibly see myself caring for stangers every night and never getting to know them and how they need cared for well.

Now, what upsets me, is the fact that these are peoples lives that are being thrown to the wind. Someone needs to do something. But what?

Perhaps it should be a facilities responsibility when making contracts with agencys to state this: "We need this number of nurses/cna's...we want to contract the same nurse for this specified amount of time (months weeks). We will orient her/him as we would our regular employee. She/he will give their hours available to work and we will incorperate her/him to our schedule. If he/she is a flake,,,we will send them back to you for replacement." This allows the facility to prevent a different nurse/cna from waltzing in the door every other day and provides some continuity of care. It is a good plan I have seen used, I am under a six week contract with a facility now. I know these patients like the back of my hand, unfortunatly better than some of the regulars. I would join the staff if they could pay me the same, and I could make my schedule. Unfortunatly they cant.

Now, tell me what you all think of this. Do you think if facilities offered greater pay than agency, and left scheduling up to the employees, that would alleviate the need for agency? The sad truth is that I don't believe that it would. I have a fear...and tell me what you think of my fear. My fear is that the majority of Nurses that are agency, are agency because it is the easy way out....they can skate by, not give their best, not get involved, and not care. (ducking from tomatoes being thrown at me)(suspecting that the tomatoes are being thrown from the not so average agency nurses...I know you are out there! I am one!)

I think the state needs to make it harder to become a nurse, some of the people I see nursing out there are...well lets just say I wouldn't let them within ten feet of me. I think nurses need to be taught how to better be patient advocates. Big issue for me,,but I am getting off subject....

In short.....(hee hee...this post is far from short...sorry...tend to ramble) What is the answer? Where are all the nurses going? Why?

My final thoughts: I think Agency's were a brilliant idea, but have turned into a money making monster, a monster I gave in to in time of crisis.

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Sundowner:

Suggestion: TRy putting this thread in the Agency Nursing topic and see what response you would get...

Quite honestly, I think Agency Nursing is more difficult... I feel. to be an agency nurse, you must work harder, smarter, and be eons more flexible then regular staff....

The Agency I work for (primarilly) has rigorous testing before they will send you out.. They also encourage the charge to fill out little "report cards on the agency nurse".... I try to do (primarily) telemetry... I have also done corrections, med/surg, some LTC, and the gambit of med/surg combos.....

It will not make my point to discuss the complexitites of walking into a new unit and carry a full load.. but you know that is what is expected of us... I do fine with that.... We all have our own "style".. I have learned to be "low key" and carry a big stick...

It is La La Land mentality to think that we could possibly get management to pay what agency pays us AND give us our choice of hours..... would that be enough for me? ABSOLUTELY... my primary reason for leaving a regular staff job is inflexibility... and OH what a surprise it was for me to start earning THAT kind of money!

I am now hooked on agency nursing... not only do I LOVE the freedom of scheduling (yes, we do get called off and that is the price to pay), but I love not having my schedule "messed with"....

My last regular staff job.. and mind you I was PRN... they changed my day shift into a night shift (7p-7a) without consulting me... silly me.. I did not read the schedule the day before I was to come in and they switched me and then told me I was to come in.. in NO uncertain terms I was fully expected to do this... Ofcourse I honored their schedule but geeezzz.... I have a life and I had plans the next day.... I told my manager in no uncertain terms... I would not "help" them like that again... I am no longer there because they could not promise me it would not happen again...

I am shocked by managements "attitude" and clearly, where I have worked, it will not be changing overnight... I strongly believe.. just as in the Woman's Movement... it is a matter of evolution and not revolution that will create a change... In the mean time...

Agency is a necessary remedy to meet the shortage of staff...... This has been what I have seen... It is not perfect... but I have seen many facilities put regular agency on their own schedules and this is great... I have done this too....

Without a doubt... if a nurse is not good enough for the assignment.. then he/she should be reported to her agency and not reassigned.. pretty simple... and I do not know why you have not seen this done..... Yes I run across this from time to time but nothing (honetly) that is really blatant....

Sundowner... you are obviously a wonderful caring nurse... I applaud your hard work and dedication.... and.... Thank you for letting me vent....

I too... would like to become regular staff somewhere again... I long for the closeness and sapport I have read about in the articles on this BB... but it ain't gonna happen until I am insured of being treated with respect, fairness, and sanity of scheduling of hours.... oh and just between you and I... the money is kinda nice... but it is not the main reason I do this.. but it is nice compensation.....

In peace, respect, and love of nursing,

B

:) :) :)

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I want to thank each and everyone of you for all of your suggestions. I am sorry this thread got so heated over these issues. We really do need to stick together being that nurses are a different breed from the rest of the world :p

My unit has a meeting on Nov 7th and we are inviting higher management to join us:eek:

There was a long email from our bosses that said everyone was getting a raise and with our merit raise it could total 7% (don't get excited). The are also offering $1500 retention if you sign to stay with them for two years.:rolleyes:

I emailed them back and informed them that yes the raises would be ok but they had bigger problems if they mandated OT, 12 hr shifts, or scheduled us over our status. I would walk and a lot of others would be behind me. Not to mention the nurse I work with neglecting to turn post op pts for her entire shift which was reported and nothing was ever done and a few other problems .

I guess I emailed the right person because it is all under investigation per orders from the head man!!!!:eek:

I guess I got someone to listen finally.

If it does not work and things do not change I am going to work for registery for the same hospital but a different boss. I make my own schedule and only work when I want to.

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Way to go Terrie. I am so glad you got them to perk their ears and listen! I can't wait to hear how your meeting goes! Keep us informed!

I am going to post a thread over in the agency nurse section...see what the agency folk have to say.....I suspect that the majoity of nurses that visit these boards are of intelligent types! I really want to pick the brain of the agency nurse that dosent give a crap, and I don't think I will find any here......I am off to pose interesting questions in the agency section!

too-da-loo!

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Sundowner,

The meeting is Nov 7th but my boss found out that it is being investigated today. I think she is mad enough to fire me. She gave me a lot of attitude this morning.

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Terrie stand your ground! The only way we can change things is to stand up for what's right, and stand together.

Okay everybody, especially CareerRN, maybe the phrase, "the price we pay for our calling", was inaccurate. I should have thought of a better way to put it. I stand by the spirit of it, however, as I feel that to many of us, nurses are who we are, not just what we do.

And yes, nursing is a job. If it was damaging my family, I would change in a second. I guess I've been lucky enough to be able to work in facilities that treat us fairly.

I do not feel the need to be punished, to suffer, or to be beat down. Yes, I am female, and agree that one of the biggest problems our profession faces is that historically, it has been populated by women who have been brought up to have that hand-maiden mentality. I am not one of the handmaidens, by the way.

I think the way to get management and administration to value what we do is to stick together. What form that will take remains to be seen.

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Terrie,

To hell with the bosses tude! How can you be fired for doing your job and being concerend for the care of patients! I would rather deal with the boss's tude than deal with knowing I did nothing and looked the other way.

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Sundowner,

I did not care much for her attitude either and I could not live with myself if I did not speak up for my patients in the case of neglect.

I am certainly not going to neglect my family because the management can't staff their unit/hospitial. I may have to work OT when no one shows up to cover me because you cannot walk out and leave your patients, but I am not going to be forced to work 12hrs shifts and they are not going to schedule me over my status. I have attitude to and I am not going to fall in line and obey their wishes like they want me to.

I think they call it insubordination and that is how they fire you, that is also why I am glad it is being investigated by administration.

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