As of noon today, the staffing office says 13 nurses and nurses aids have called off sick for night shift. There will probably be more by the afternoon cutoff. Though staff also call after the cutoff time. They also come to work and leave a couple hours into the shift, deciding they don't feel well enough after all.
The last group are the worst because they cause a hospital-wide scramble of nurses changing patient assignments right before the main night shift med pass. Sometimes nurses end up switching to other units to cover the sudden absence. There are about five nurses in this hospital that do it often enough for others to notice.
It is the Monday of Thanksgiving week. As it goes every year, the number of sick calls around holidays, school vacations, etc. seems to go up and up. Thirteen staff in our hospital equals every nurse in the Telemetry Unit calling off - 10 floor nurses, 2 break/resource nurses, and the charge nurse. It is not a big enough hospital to have that many staff call off in one shift.
So now, for those of us who trudge in who are also tired of Covid and tired of working short handed, we will probably not get any breaks. There is no way we will have break nurses with 13 calling off. The charge nurses will probably have assignments on the med-surg units. Who knows if this will be the night the hospital goes out of ratio due to not enough nurses to care for the patients, despite a dozen travelers in house.
I think these nurses calling off, who are not really sick, are jerks. I know there are nurses on this website that blame administration for all of this. I can't. What level of professional calls off at this rate? It is ridiculous. They make it even worse for the rest of us. We would have had a decent night if 10 of those staff showed up.
When I came to nursing, I had no idea I would work with so many self-centered individuals who would leave their coworkers hanging because they can't be bothered to come to work, and don't understand the need to balance a schedule.
There is no local agency to call in this rural area. You are lucky to have that resource.
Hard to overstaff when the hospital is still short staffed and busting at the seams with patients who have delayed care due to Covid and are now in for longer stays. Even with 2-3 times the normal amount of travelers on staff.
I don’t understand ‘passive aggressive call off’. What do you mean?
That's why places need to prepare in advance for call off on holidays. Passive aggressive meaning not giving reason for the call off, or calling in at the last minute because of too heavy of a load.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
When I was a DNS, I took more call-ins on Saturday and Sunday than at any other time of the week. I think most of them were due to the “bottle flu” rather than real illness, but unless the nurse or aide offered an excuse I didn’t pursue it. It didn’t really matter anyway, because whatever the reason, I was still going to be short-staffed.
That's why places need to prepare in advance for call off on holidays. Passive aggressive meaning not giving reason for the call off, or calling in at the last minute because of too heavy of a load.
So they schedule more staff to work the holidays but end up with even more call offs? LOL
Where I work you work any holiday that falls with your regular schedule. If you call off you work the next two weekends that you were scheduled to be off.
Acute care was the only job I ever worked that “punished” people for calling out sick. I agree, people should not be calling out just because they want to be off for the holiday, but if someone is legitimately sick, they shouldn’t be punished for it.
I went in to work sick on Christmas because I didn’t think they would believe me when I was 20. Went to urgent care the next day with a sinus infection, b/l ear infection, and b/l pink eye. Fun.
Another Christmas I was gifted the flu. Tested positive. I wasn’t working then, I just had a 4 month old infant at home so I was taking a break from working until she was 2.
Then there was the Friday before Easter weekend working in an ALF that I had gone to NY to see my in-laws. Looks like the cough they had at dinner was influenza A the next day. Went home Friday and and was symptomatic-tested positive myself and my child. We always got our vaccines too but they haven’t always helped. I wasn’t about to infect half the ALF population with my flu, nor was a physically able to work with 104 fever. I got a call that Saturday asking me how I was feeling…um, like I had a fever and the flu??? Granted I had a note from my provider with a diagnosis and mandatory tIme out to prevent infecting everyone but still, more proof that viruses don’t look at a calendar and decide what day is convenient to get sick.
I can honestly say that I’ve been a nurse for about 20 years. I have never once taken a mental health day or called out when I wasn’t actually sick. These things should be handled on a cases by case basis. Plus if someone came into work to avoid “punishment” I would be livid if I got sick a few days later with the same thing. I’d prefer to work short.
I've worked in many parts of the country and this is true except for some West Coast, unionized facilities that I have been at. I know staff that consistently call off once a week or once every two weeks and have done so for years. Even without FMLA, there is little an employer can do to correct this behavior but especially in the time of Covid.
Change their schedule. For instance: This is for 8 hour shifts.
Work 07 to 15
Off 15 to 23
On 23 to 07
Off 07 to 15
On 15 to 23
etc.
The point is to give only the minimum time required off between shifts. They will likely quickly get the message.
They will either shape up or ship out. Don't let the doorknob hit your backside on the way out.
On 11/22/2021 at 10:00 PM, hppygr8ful said:
Where I work you work any holiday that falls with your regular schedule. If you call off you work the next two weekends that you were scheduled to be off.
I think that means that whoever works TG also ends up working Christmas and NY.
Thank you for the confirmation of a difference from other places. I am a midwesterner transplant to Cali. I can't believe work is optional on a shift to shift basis for some.
I think California law indicates there are limited reasons why people can use sick call at the last minute, but it is such a fuzzy area and the union will fight any attempts to dismiss someone... not worth it.
A former ED manager told me a story about an ED nurse who called off ALL THE TIME, and even most of the nurses in the ED wanted her to go. Her name on the schedule meant they would likely end up short staffed. The union fought it fiercely. So despite 50 people wanting her gone, the union backed the one person who couldn't care less if anyone needed her to come to work.
Find some other reason to fire her? Or fire her anyway and let the U scream all they want. If any staff had the cajones to speak up and tell the truth at whatever hearings would have been held if she contested her firing, she likely could have been gotten rid of.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
10 hours ago, Kooky Korky said:
Whoever works TG also ends up working Christmas and NY.
This is true. The way it maps out I would get Christmas/New Years off every 7 years. Some of us with seniority are first to be called off if census is low. I woork 0700- 1500 and most of my family celebrations don't start until after that. My kid is grown so beiing home Christmas morning is not such a big thing.My regular day off is Thursday so I always have TG off.
No maam. They prepare in advance. Instead of 2 nurses, schedule 4, instead of 4 aides, schedule 6.
That would really, really annoy me. I make plans based on the assumption that I'm going to be working my assigned shift. I would not appreciate being scheduled when I'm not needed. If you're scheduling extra people, that means people are not getting to properly make plans with their families. I don't WANT to work holidays, but if I'm scheduled, I'll plan my family's gathering for a different time. Don't make me plan the gathering for an alternate time unnecessarily.
Jedrnurse, BSN, RN
2,776 Posts
Well, this encapsulates the core of our disagreement. We definitely won't find common ground on the issue.
C'est la vie...