FT salaried nurses: How many hours do you work/week?

annaedRN, RN · May 14, 2009

I too am FT salaried. I find that it equals out in the end. Like today, I only had 4 patients... 2 wound care (one was a discharge), suprapubic catheter, wound VAC. I finished at noon and spent the afternoon outside gardening and relaxing. Tomorrow I have 5 patients as well as a 2 hour class...so probably a 9 hour day. I usually work 7-8 hours...sometimes 9+ but that is usually only when there is SOC, ROC. I find that USUALLY I work 40 hours or less so it does work out in my favor. Are you guys on computer or paper...we are computer and I think that makes a difference. I find that if I chart as much as possible in pt's home or down the street in the car between patients it helps to speed things along and I finish faster. While I enjoy having the freedom/independence/flexibility in charting, especially at home...I find that the more I can do BEFORE I get home, the faster my day wraps up. I guess there's more distractions at home than in my car :) So anyway...for me, the salary thing is working pretty well... probably better than if I were hourly.

missy73 · May 14, 2009

I'm in mgt at a nursing home, and average 200 hours a month, but get paid for 173 (or close to that). I knew getting into it that I'd work more than I'm paid, but sometimes it's just plain crazy!

paradiseboundRN · May 14, 2009

We are on computer too. I try to do as much in the pts house as I can without them feeling as though I'm ignoring them. I am pretty disciplined about coming home and finishing it up every day but with constant d/c's, transfers, resumes it can take a couple of hours. It is a very busy agency. I talked to my manager about going contingent today. They get paid hourly. I told her I would carry a case load and commit to 4 days per week. She said she doesn't want to lose me but wants me to give it a couple more weeks to see if FT works it. Thanks for the replys

lcc1080 · May 31, 2009

I noticed a similar thing at the agency I've started at. I'm hourly, not per diem, and I routinely see RN's working straight through 8-9 hr day, no breaks - of course the agency sometimes assigns the RN 8-9 revists per 8 hr day. According to one RN, the agency does not want them to go over the 8hrs (even though they're actually working 9-10 hr, w/o a break). I can see why some of the larger city VNA's areunionized. I'd like to bring it up to my supv, asking if this is what's expected (ILLEGAL??) but waiting since I've only been there a few mos.

paradiseboundRN · Jun 2, 2009

I have tried discussing the problem with my manager, and her manager and HR. Everyone keeps telling me that I'll get faster and give it time, blah...blah...blah. I have been in home care for over 5 years and its not going to get any faster. Today, I talked with my manager about changing my status to 0.8 (32 hours/per week) so that I can at least breathe!

DKS3132 · Jun 15, 2009

I too work in homecare and found I needed to cut my hours to 32 hours per week so I could "catchup" with the paperwork.

I am salaried and have a productivity expectation of 6 visits per day.

I wish I could say that on some days this balances out however, if I am under productivity it effects my yearly raises.

Also, I recently had to work the weekend. Not only do I not get paid extra for this, but because they did not have enough visits for me on Sunday they are forcing me to use my Personal time to pay for the "time off"!

This just doesnt feel legal but I dont know...I am ready to call in a Union!

GmaC13 · Jun 20, 2009

Wow when I get on here an read these stories I realize how good I have it. I am paid hourly. We currently are not required to see a set number of pts. I do work a lot of over time but am paid handsomely for it. We usually see 3-5 pt a day but we have to do everything in the office from answering phones, getting insurance authorizations, faxing , meetings, supplies etc. I often can not get my paper work done. We are on computer but they do not work well. Just this week my computer quit on me in the middle of a SOC of a very complex wound ostomy pt. That was Tuesday and I just finished his admit today. I hate always being behind but we can come in after hours or on the weekend on the clock to catch up occasionally.

berube · Jun 20, 2009

we are "suppose" to only see 6 patients/day, on most days that is not the actual thing that happens, 7, 8, 9 that prn visit, oh the soc that the office missed, etc etc.....on the rare occasion that i do only have 6 visits, i am done in 8 hrs and say "wow this is great" then realize that is what a day should be like,,,but i just keep plugging along in HH, could be worse.