How do you get a sub?

In high school I worked part time at an ice cream shop. At 16 I called in with a fever and was told to call so and so, their phone numbers, and if they would cover then I could ‘call out’ from the manager. My father called him back, said I was sick and now was having my car keys withheld, so he can call his own darn staff to cover the shift. He also asked if he would like him to report to the board of health that he was telling someone sick to come in to work with food if there wasn’t a replacement. That was the last time he tried to give me a list of people to call.

It’s management’s responsibility To figure out staffing, regardless of the profession. People get sick.

I have no idea that you have to find your own sub. In my district, the supervisor takes care of it. We just text her early in the morning that we cannot work and she takes care of the rest. Downside? Plenty of nurses call in, especially on Friday, and my supervisor is always short staffed..it stressed her out actually.. But that's why nurses love to work in my district.. They told me that if the supervisor retires, they will quit the job..

I also have to find my own subs. I do have another nurse that covers 2 grades (I cover 6 grades) that may be able to come over to do meds I can't delegate - mainly a couple of students with T1D that both can't given their own insulin at this time. I can't delegate that to a non-nurse (one involves a pen, but another involves drawing insulin out of vial with syringe).

I've covered for the other nurse when they are out and urgent matter that can't be handled by designated staff come up; they did the same for me recently when a student issue had me traveling with a student to the ER.

Not perfect at all, but better than some of us. I do have a friend with a flexible schedule that may be able to sub for me with enough advanced planning. But that's it. I'm in serious talks about having back-up agency coverage as well, but that is a large price-tag (but totally necessary).

On 2/25/2020 at 2:43 PM, Jenniferocious said:

I'm just curious what everyone else does if they are sick and cannot come into work. We have an online system we can call into, but if a sub doesn't pick up then I have no one to cover for me. I end up texting /emailing each sub on our list asking for help. We have very limited subs, and 9/10 they are unavailable. I have had to plan "in advance" to be sick before just to line someone up.

Anyway, just curious how you all handle it. I hate to have to worry about who is taking care of the health office when I'm sick, but coming in ill is not fun either!!

So hard to get reliable subs! I must call subs from our list if I need one. If I cannot obtain one, I have to ask a nurse from another school in our district to come and care for my students. Worst comes to worst, the secretary is trained to give meds but not my cath!

My school will reach out to a staffing agency that will send a sub when needed. Certain staff are also trained to take over the health office for a short period of time if I am out for a few hours.

On 2/26/2020 at 5:11 PM, juviasama said:

I have no idea that you have to find your own sub. In my district, the supervisor takes care of it. We just text her early in the morning that we cannot work and she takes care of the rest. Downside? Plenty of nurses call in, especially on Friday, and my supervisor is always short staffed..it stressed her out actually.. But that's why nurses love to work in my district.. They told me that if the supervisor retires, they will quit the job..

That poor supervisor! That must be stressful!!

If I know I am going to be out, then I find my own sub ( I only have 2 subs), if it is an emergency then if I cant get a sub, my secretaries will cover for me and call me/the parent if needed.

What is your district paying? That may be influencing the availability.

On 2/26/2020 at 9:14 AM, MrNurse(x2) said:

Employers in general love that employees have this attitude, but in the long run it causes more illness. Nurses and teachers seem to be the worst offenders of this ownership, we need to take care of ourselves so we can be available for others.

This. 1000%. I left a job that I otherwise loved after four years because in those 4 years I never called in sick even once, because I had a type 1 diabetic and my school essentially told me I have to come in to manage him. I earned 8 days of PTO each of those years but was never allowed to use them b/c we had no coverage. Ridiculous.

On 2/27/2020 at 8:07 AM, JenTheSchoolRN said:

I'm in serious talks about having back-up agency coverage as well, but that is a large price-tag (but totally necessary).

We hired two floats in our district and even with them, we still have coverage issues. I am not even clinical this year but I was asked to sub last Thursday because both our floats were covering and a third nurse had Flu A (that is the one I covered for). We looked into an agency and they want $65/hour for a RN with a 4 hour minimum. My district won't pay that. And our sub pay is abysmal- $120a DAY. It stinks!

10 minutes ago, MHDNURSE said:

We hired two floats in our district and even with them, we still have coverage issues. I am not even clinical this year but I was asked to sub last Thursday because both our floats were covering and a third nurse had Flu A (that is the one I covered for). We looked into an agency and they want $65/hour for a RN with a 4 hour minimum. My district won't pay that. And our sub pay is abysmal- $120a DAY. It stinks!

65.00 an hour! I'm in the wrong job! LOL We pay $25.91/hour for subs which I think is decent but it's only higher because we agreed to give back 2 of our holidays to increase the hourly wage making it somewhat more enticing for a sub to want to cover for us. Needless to say, it's not working. ?