Going from bad to worse...

[jnette]

well, well, well....our DON just dropped another bombshell.. straight from Corporate... and it was evident that it really pained her to have to share more bad news...

Guess what they're up to NOW?

Effective immediately there will no longer be a "charge nurse". One of the three RNs at our clinic ( includes our DON/Clinical Mgr.) is charge nurse for the day.. we take turns. The charge nurse assumes responsibility for all that goes on that day, takes all the orders, communicates orrders and info to patients and family, does all the paperwork at the end of the day, validation of txs. and meds on paper and in the computer, etc., etc, etc.

SO... charge nurse status has now been eliminated.. I guess for the sole reason that the charge nurse makes a whopping $1.00 extra per hour that day. INSTEAD, the former "charge" will now be reclassified as "Teamleader"... and there's nothing in any contract about a teamleader or a differential in pay... simply because we never HAD a "teamleader" before. Mere semantics, right? Sure. But good enough for them. They found one more way to screw us out of our last dollar.

The teamleader will still be doing the SAME things.. same responsibilities, same added workload, same stress... and all at one dollar LESS per hour now !

I don't think so. Not this nurse.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

UGH! no wonder there are so many complaints about administrators. But your DON sounds like a real gem. Hopefully, she won't let all the nastiness change her.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

A few years ago they did that here. Eliminated the $1.00 an hour diff. for doing charge. They said it was in our job descriptions as RNs. We have pay for skills, so doing charge is a skill they say is built into our hourly rate.

Several years later, in an effort to increase nurse satisfaction, they increased off shift differential by a dollar, and are paying charge nurses .75/hour more now! Woot!

[live4today, RN]

((((((jnette)))))) :kiss

Thinking of you and hoping you stick to your guns and write them a letter about how they are treating the staff where you work.

Somewhere out there are the answers that will cure nursing as it is today. I'm sure it sits right under our noses yet we just aren't seeing the simplicity in rectifying a career gone sour because of management, HMO, the big "PR" that recks havoc on nurses whose patients and their family members like to torment when they don't get what they want..............what else can they do to us, jnette? What on earth shall we as nurses do to stop the insanity....stop the abuse....get them to recognize the reality we as nurses face and stop turning a deaf ear and blind eyes to it all.

[nowplayingEDRN]

Leading by example always gets good results....and tactful but pointed will get you far. State just the facts ma'am...just the facts. With you in spirit...keep us posted, Dahlink.

[KaroSnowQueen, RN]

People have to complain or no one will do anything differently. A few years ago, I worked at a job where most of us were on 12 hr shifts. The DON and Admin. decided that paying us the day shift nurses shift diff for their 4 hrs worked on second shift was costing too much money so they decided to cut it out.

Well, I and one other nurse complained. ONLY us two. We complained long and loud every time we saw them. At one point the DON said to me (she with the big bucks salary and alimony from her lawyer ex and drives a freakin' Benz), "For gosh sakes, it's ONLY twenty bucks a week!" I said to her, Well it may be ONLY twenty bucks to you, but that's my kid's lunch money or my weeks' worth of gas, or one prescription. I NEED my money!!!"

They kept telling us that we were the only two to complain. On payday, the payroll girl told them that EVERY nurse who picked up her check complained to her and was talking about quitting. They were shocked, they thought everyone else didn't care or was too afraid to complain (which they were).

In the end, we did lose our shift diff, but they raised our pay rates to make up the twenty bucks a week.

Make your needs known, and if they don't respond apprropriately, tell them so long!

[sjoe]

"Contact your union rep if you have one."

Get a union organized if you don't have one. No one will do it for you.