when your manager texts or calls because they are very short staffed, and you do not respond to the texts, knowing that your unit and your co-workers who you like very much are going to have a rough time?
I feel guilty about it, but I know that my coming in will not solve the overall administration problem of either poor planning or budget cuts or not hiring enough nurses or not retaining them well enough.
Does anyone else experience this on a regular basis, or is it just my unit?
No guilt at all. It wouldn't hurt management to work a nightshift every now and then with a full assignment .
Exactly! Let them experience working on the floor with 6 patients (2 of which are fresh postops) and 1 nurse tech. I bet much needed changes would be swift!
It's typical in hospitals and frankly it is because they won't hire enough staff or have an adequate float pool. Why because it is cheaper to guilt the gullible into working extra. They have many options hire more, use agency or even travelers but regular staff is still the cheapest even with OT.
Hey if you want the overtime go ahead. We have a lot of young ones that enjoy working overtime, more power to them. I just want to work my regular hours. It is too stressful and physically demanding for me to do overtime! I want a break! My back needs a rest from all the turning, boosting and cleaning thanks to the foley free workplace! Maybe I would consider doing more if I wasn't expected to be a glorified CNA at work!
Why on Earth would a manager be texting their employees on their day of?!? To me that's just unprofessional. Makes me glad I never gave my cell number out though. When they call the machine gets it. If I mistakenly answer my phone it's a polite no. Why anyone feel guilty about having a day off is beyond me.
zero guilt here! i just got a text asking for help for the rest of this week. I thought about it and said i'd work fri and sat but not tomorrow.
instead of being satisfied and/or grateful for the fri/ sat help, their reply was 'why not tomorrow?'
i decided to go with honesty and texted back that i'm not working tomorrow because i want to stay home and play the violin. ***. **** off. it's my day off, who cares WHY i don't want to give up my free time? especially when i just agreed to work two weekend shifts for them!
When i was a younger nurse i use to feel quite quilty if i did not respond to a need of my unit. Now i am much older and wiser. They operate like this because they can . Administration, managers know the needs and it is a disservice to pt care, coworkers, and our practice, that they rely on guilting staff to pull together and ride out the storm. The pt needs will not be met always operating short of staff and it is up to us to not respond to those calls,. Talk to someone outside of nursing about your guilty feelings because believe me this has gone on for a long time and will not change until WE decide this is dangerous, unfair and that professional men do not operate this way. This is a gender biased unprofessional ,manipulative tactic that has worked for decades. Stop feeling guilty and start getting upset for the sake of your pts. We have to change the awful direction that those in power put us in. Pts die when we are short , tired, overworked etc. Most benefits have been cut out good orientations, internships,bonuses, nursing education and adequate staffing etc. There is even the expectation that you should give up your lunches and breaks. Nurses are running the whole shifts, pt education is non existent, consistency of care is an abomination, family support is no longer a priority and we are responsible for this as well. Pts are sicker than ever and there are too many shortcuts, documentation is a joke. Would you like yourself or a loved one to be in the current conditions? Things won't change because the medical system develops a conscious. They will change when nurses dont respond to manipulation and pts complain or go elsewhere etc. Feeling guilty is ok you will get over that. But if a pt is harmed or dies because you are overworked you will never get over it. They will assist by making sure you never practice again and the manager will not come to your defense saying, please excuse her i called her in for an extra shift. You will be ostracized, your peers will treat you like a pariah. And don't forget that pt's loved ones. Remember you did not even have the time to interact, so i doubt very seriously that they will have much empathy and they should not because we know the circumstances and it is time for nurses to grow up...i mean the nursing profession and they are us. Ok to feel anything, but for every action there are consequences. If a pt is harmed i can empathize that's all, but my place is being an advocate for the pt/family.
It concerns me that most of the posts seem ok with the status quo. Do we not think that we can change the treatment therefore our pts care? I guess this is a huge reason pe are leaving the profession. I REFUSE to work in unsafe practices, facrory workers demand more respect and they are not working with life and death. Please don't see this as judgemental because it is not meant to be, but are there any old school nurses out there who understand that we are between a rock and a hard place and no one is coming to save u. We must save our selves or perhaps we are just.to. beaten down to care.
I completely understand where your coming from.....my hospital jus increased the nurse to patio ratio to 1:6 sometimes 8:1 on a tele floor. Now that's including drips, post cabg, post pacemaker, and they come back with sheaths still in. And the only help we have is an aid. Not a nurse tech. So the aid pretty much passes water, turns patients and cleans them. That's it. And upper management doesn't understand why everyone is running out the door. And BTW..... This hospital doesn't offer 401k, direct deposit or raises since they have been open! Hmmm.......let's talk patient satisfaction scores and people are hitting the door running!
Still no discussion about the dynamics needing to change. We need to be reporting any agency who are putting us and pts t risk. People bad mouth unions and of course unions are not perfect, but they do offer some protection for staf g ing issues, pay, benefits. Patients are so much sicker, staf g ing is a lot worse and e are basically saying survive the shift. Do e e not understan the collective power we have and more importantly the responsibility we have to safety of pts and to our own practice. Is nursing a job or a career? Is nursing a profession anymore?.
This is such a sad testimony of how nursing has evolved into something of a nightmare. Perhaps if we became pts in this current environment we would not be so callous about what we do as nurses and why. Maybe nursing is just something to do but some of us came into the profession with honorable intentions, as well as with the expectations that we would be treated in an honorable manner. We are failing our pts, our practice, and the profession allowing the awful status quo to continue.
I have been in this profession almost 30 years and it never looked SO dismal and we are complicit in this problem.
May our hearts be convicted with compassion,passion,strengtht and righteous anger to stand and fight because lives are at stake and so is our profession.
Zero guilt. When I was a new grad, I felt some guilt until I realized the game. All these facilities purposely run short staffed. Thousands of nurses want hours.
Very simple: hire more staff. They don't want to? Not my problem.
No guilt at all...which is kind of awesome/surprising considering that I'm one of those conscientious types that can easily feel guilty
I think my lack of guilt can be explained by a few things...perhaps the most significant being that I work hard when there and only take sick time on the rare occasions when it is absolutely necessary. We also nearly always work our on calls so there is extra time right there.
Furthermore, as others have mentioned, mental health is sooo important!! After a few years of nursing experience I really feel that working tons of extra especially when you are just walking into one crazy shift after another is a quick way to burnout! Unless you desperately need the money, fully enjoy your time off! And especially as my facility doesn't even offer incentive pay for the extra shifts, money doesn't even totally justify picking up.
emagine
45 Posts
Exactly! Let them experience working on the floor with 6 patients (2 of which are fresh postops) and 1 nurse tech. I bet much needed changes would be swift!