Have I lost my Mind?

Well I'm going to say it, if no one else will! YOU HAVE LOST IT..:)! Sorry ....but I had to do it!!! YOU KNOW what you're doing isn't safe!! This isn't fair to your patients, and it's not fair to your body!!!

STOP NOW before something happens, and you're kicking yourself somewhere down the line! If they can't get someone to cover the shift, then YOU need to let the folks at the hospital, and the agency know, that this is NOT to happen ever again!

I wondering how in the heck is the admin, and the agency allowing this to happen??? PLEASE STOP!

Originally posted by travilinglady

I honestly think I have lost my ever loving mind. Here is the deal. I am a traveler. I work an IHS hospital. In OB no less. In the last 6 weeks, I have pulled 4 - 24 hour shifts. I can't seem to say no. A call in on friday, call every one who is on list, and - suprise- no one will work, thus I have no relief and get stuck here for 24 hours.

I was asked to be on call tonight. I said OK. guess what? I'm still at the hospital. What is up with this? have I lost all common sense?

I am really trying to figure out why I do this to my self. I can and quite often do say no. So why can't I say no to this?

thanks for listening

I don't know. Would you like to talk about it some more?

This sounds very unsafe to me. What is the protochol/policy for adminsitration when someone calls in and there is no one to relieve a nurse?

You might demonstrate what can happen by calling your administrator and say you are sick. It is really their problem to fix.

Calling sick is not so far fetched you are headed in that direction if you continue to accept their method of staffing.

Are there no laws that say you cannot work 24 hours?

I would document unsafe conditions like this. I am sure there are channels for you to report this within IHS.

You say you are a traveler. Why has your company allowed this? Certainly you have made them aware? My guess is you may have a breach of contract or trust with them. They certainly are not supporting you.

Personally I would be on the phone with administrators saying I made a mistake and I cannot work 24 hours. I cannot be on call after working 12 hours. If that did not work I would suddenly be very ill. I would be on the phone with my travel agency.

The hospital administration is responsible to provide adequate staffing. If they do not it is not your problem. Stop taking on responsibility for a problem you did not create.

My guess is the DON and nurse managers are enjoying a long relaxed weekend. If I recall correctly to be a DON or nurse manager you must be an RN. i.e. they can work the floor, my dear. They were nurses before they got that added title of manager, supervisor, HN, DON, etc.

I am afraid only you can answer why you are agreeing to do this for them at your own peril.

STOP NOW!

if you continue you will suffer,fatigue will catch up. i had the same problem-i could never say NO. i learned after i got really sick, fevers the works. and unfortunently admin. looks over the extra hours-because no one else would do it. also others start to think " well, i can call in, that girl is working and she'll take my shift-she never says no" you have gone dmad- but there is still hope. you have got to "grow some ball":D and say NO,NO,NO.

best of luck on that-hope you can do it

I was fortunate to work for and with good careing people. I always try to meet folks half way. (half way not thier half too)

I had worked over time, exta hours extra shifts. (nothing as extreem as you are doing)

Then I had to acknowlege a problem. Over a one year period of doing this it started to happen that everytime I did any extra time I ended up sick and consequently I had to call in.

I came to realize that I was not doing anybody a favor by working extra. A hard realization to swallow that I could not handle it, that I could not effectively "help out " in this way any longer.

Then my lovely manager repremanded me in front of everyone in management for my absences over the past year. Threatened me that if corporate told him to get ride people with excess absense that he would not risk his job for someone else no matter how good they otherwise were.

I told him not to threaten me. I would not hesitate to walk. I told him I have never had a problem finding work and this was not the last job on earth.

I pointed out a fact known to all that if he would look at the record he would clearly see that everytime I had been ill it was immediately after working extra to pull him out of a jam and keep him from having to put on scrubs.

NO on the contrary, YOU FOUND YOUR MIND...

now use it.

and stop this madness before it kills you or harms someone in your care.

best wishes.

JCAHO regulations only allow a total of 16 hrs at a time. Just hope that your hospital does not get audited, because this is something that they often look at.

Originally posted by kids-r-fun

A question that is off topic...are the Indian Health Services hospitals JCAHO accredited?

I know the VA is and it is federal.

Don't know about IHS.

I do not think I could do that. I know I would be tired and most definately not safe. I bet your pulling in the bucks though?

renerian:eek:

Originally posted by kids-r-fun

A question that is off topic...are the Indian Health Services hospitals JCAHO accredited?

Yes they are, so it makes me wonder what is going on at this facility the OP is at!

this is certainly unsafe and i, too, thought it was not allowed to work 24 hrs.

i found it very hard to do a double working 11/7 and 7/3 back to back. by mid day during the 7/3 shift i would almost be in tears from being tired and drained. needless to say, i have not done this in many years.

I dont know but you are definitely at risk for losing your license should something go wrong. There are studies that prove that working too many hours in a row inteferes with a persons responses, mental capacity, and functioning. Thats why occupations that can pose a risk to public safety, such as airline pilots and truck drivers have a law that prevents them from working too many hours straight. Nurses should be included in that and there is legislation to do that but for now, if the employer asks you to do it AND YOU ACCEPT, the risk (and blame) is all yours. You have a legal obligation to make a judgement as a "reasonable and prudent nurse" and refuse an unsafe assignment. On the witness stand, after you've missed something and a pt is harmed because you were overtired, theyll ask you why you accepted such an unsafe assignment as to work 24 hrs straight in the first place --- You'll be made the bad guy for doing something that put your pts at risk and an explanation of "there was no one else to work and I cant say no" is not going to save you or your license. If you ACCEPT working those kinds of hours, youre the one who is going to get left holding the bag. Learn to say NO.