HealthSouth Mgmt Changes our Hours/Mgmt Treats Employees Badly

[sdickson32]

At the rehabilitation hospital where I work in Plano, Texas, last summer we got a new Dean of Nursing and management team. Ever since then, the nurses and technicians get treated badly. The latest to happen is that Management has decided to change our working hours without asking the employees, without letting us vote - with absolutely no say in the matter. Our hours were 6:30 to 7:00, now, they are 5:30am to 6:00pm. Management states the other hospital is doing it and it is working well there, so now we are going to do it. Everyone is against it - yet we have no say in the matter.

Ever since the new D.O.N. has arrived, the whole nursing staff is treated with disrespect, and never, never, never does management ask or care about the way the staff feels. It's almost as if they are trying to run off all the "old" employees, and just get new ones who will do everything they ask. With the new D.O.N., there are have been no promotions of any prior staff, however, at least 4 new employees have already gotten promotions - these occurring within weeks of their start date.

Management, now, never, never, never ever lifts a hand to help anyone. it is nothing for a nurse to be assigned 10 patients and a technician to be assigned 13+ patients. And these are not 13 easy patients, we are talking out of the 13, 5 incontinents, 2 obese, 3 Max., Hoyer lifts, a feeding tube, all needing showers, - you get the point.

We are all at odds as to what to do. Does anyone have suggestions or advice? There are a lot of good employees on staff, people who have been there for years, and then newer people - we all work together well, are kind, considerate and want to provide the best for our patients and don't want to leave, however, of course, many have already left, and the rest of us are about to follow. Has anyone every experienced this? I just don't get it. Is there anything we can do to keep our old hours.

Other things this new management does is - have us carry a very heavy patient load, while on paper, make it look acceptable. In other words, in the assignment, a nurse might be assigned rooms 200-210, a supervisor or charge nurse 211-218. We all know at my job that the charge nurse is not going to take care of her patients, that is just for paper's sake and the nurse will end up taking care of rooms 200-218. One time I was assigned10 patients- so, at least I had a tech to help me - wrong, there was not tech, the person's name on the assignment was a person who worked downstairs in home health. He said he would come up and help - and he did - in the afternoon for 15 minutes top. If you make any complaints whatsoever, your world just got a lot worse.

Another thing the company does is with our holidays - say like for Christmas, if we work our regular 3 day week, we have our 8 hour Christmas holiday - we can't take it as pay - we have to take use it either 30 days before or 30 days after Christmas or we lose it. The company does not ask you what days you want to take it - nor do they schedule a day off for you. In fact, no one (as for as management) will remind you of it, and when you ask to have your day off, it depends on if there are enough on staff that day for you to take off. In other words, it is close to impossible to even get to take your 8 hour holiday and many people end up losing it. (Again, if you fuss or complain, you can be sure you are going to get the heaviest and most difficult patient assignment time and time again).

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? I've never, ever, ever witnessed a company that treated its employees so bad. It appears that the CEO totally supports this new D.O.N. It's crazy. I understand management should not be doing our jobs on a daily basis but when you get 8 admissions in 2 hours, you would think they could do something other than sit around and criticize you.

Now, changing our hours? Meanwhile, their hours will stay the same. Please help...someone some suggestions. We are a HealthSouth facility. Oh, and, interestingly enough, our patient satisfaction scores, which used to be good, have now plummeted to an all time low.

(Before this, we went about 5 mos. with no Dean of Nursing, the one before was wonderful, trying to make things good for the staff, always willing to lend an extra hand - in fact, wanted to be familiar with the patients, and was probably able to do anything she asked you to do, and if not, at least what she asked you was physically possible. Not only does management ask us to perform jobs they cannot, they ask us to do three, four, five, six things at one time, check on us in 5 minutes and get on to us if we have not performed those 6 things in those 5 minutes.)

Also, before this D.O.N., we had a charge nurse who was in charge of all operations of the hospital, in other words, that was her position, she was not on the floor - you didn't bother her for things unless they were really important but when you brought something to the charge nurse, it was resolved. With the D.O.N. and his little family of 4 charge nurses (instead of the 1 charge nurse we used to have), when you bring a problem to him or any of the others, you are bounced back from one to the other, you ask the D.O.N., he says to ask the charge nurse, you ask the charge nurse, you are told to ask the D.O.N. All of that could take well over an hour, because you can't ever find either one. And then when the situation you were trying to get some help on comes up as a problem - suddenly, that patient is going out acute - you are to blame.

When I started at this facility, it was ran so professionally, kept clean, everyone was friendly and helpful. Management was strict and ran a "tight ship" but rules and regulations were enforced and followed and we were confident that we were providing good care and adhering to state and federal laws. I was proud to work here. As the ball started dropping, I've waited and waited, knowing this is just a phase and the job that I love, the facility I'm so proud of will return - but you know what - just writing this - I guess I see the writing on the wall and what has to happen. I guess it is just time to move on - as much as I hate to - it will never be the same or anywhere close.

Shannon

[Emergent, RN]

I'm sorry about your troubles. Is your name really Shannon Dickson? If so, it is very unwise to post a detailed diatribe like this. You've given too many identifying details in your post.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Shannon, take your name and location off this post STAT. You are going to lose your job, probably today.

I would suggest you get out there and apply. The market in DFW is pretty good for experienced nurses, but you want to leave, not be fired and GroupOne'd.

[ToughCookieRN]

Shannon- this sounds like what is happening in my acute care facility in VA. We believe they are ridding themselves of existing staff to make way for cheaper newbies, but firing people leaves a facility open to age discrimination complaints so they try to make us miserable enough to leave on our own accord.

Not done- what's Group?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

We are all at odds as to what to do. Does anyone have suggestions or advice?

Find somewhere else to work if you are so unhappy. The Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex is filled with rehab hospitals that offer rehabilitative services similar to Healthsouth and I am sure they'd hire you in an instant. There's Reliant Rehab Hospital, Baylor Rehab, Texas Rehabilitation Hospital, the Dallas Center for Rehab, Continuum Rehab Hospital, and multiple others.

In addition, you would be wise to edit your post to remove your name from it. Allnurses.com is the largest nursing website of its kind, and smart readers who work at the four Healthsouth hospitals in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area can easily put two and two together to come up with you, especially with all the information you have divulged.

[HealthSouth]

Thank you for sharing your concerns, Shannon. If you’d like to discuss this further, please contact [email protected] and our regional human resources director would be happy to talk with you confidentially.

[Sam J.]

Thank you for sharing your concerns, Shannon. If you’d like to discuss this further, please contact [email protected] and our regional human resources director would be happy to talk with you confidentially.

Sounds like a euphemism for 'come in to sign your walking papers, Shannon'...

[Sam J.]

Shannon- this sounds like what is happening in my acute care facility in VA. We believe they are ridding themselves of existing staff to make way for cheaper newbies, but firing people leaves a facility open to age discrimination complaints so they try to make us miserable enough to leave on our own accord.

Not done- what's Group?

And what easier way to get rid of older employees than to have them malign their employer in such detail, that might also be considered as libel? If the poster really used her real name and the contents of the post can be contributed to her, I suspect something unpleasant is coming down the pike.

"Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!" -Maya Angelou

[janeybirdRN]

Oh my. Oh my indeed.

[RNGriffin]

Shannon, this was a terrible move to make by having your name so publicly listed. My gawd!

Hope all is well.