How long is your shift?

CocoaGirl · Sep 14, 2011

We work 13-15 hour shifts Mon, Wed & Fri. The days are very long, non-stop & there is no such thing as a 30 minute lunch break. (Even though the company knows we can't take longer than 10 mins) we still get 30 mins deducted. I could not do this job if I didn't have the next day off to recouperate.

MJB2010 · Sep 14, 2011

I suspect we work for the same company. They keep deducting two 30 minute breaks from my check and I am lucky if I get one. I am so frustrated. I am also thinking of picking up a prn job elsewhere just in case. My body can't take it anymore I am ageing way faster than normal.

CocoaGirl · Sep 15, 2011

Sounds like we work for the same company. I know what you mean about having two 30 min breaks deducted when you don't even get to take one break. These hours are killer, I couldn't do two days in a row.

wordsmith · Sep 17, 2011

Anywhere from 8-12 hours depending on the schedule.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Sep 18, 2011

10 hour shifts

MrAllenU · Oct 9, 2011

We work 13-15 hour shifts Mon, Wed & Fri. The days are very long, non-stop & there is no such thing as a 30 minute lunch break. (Even though the company knows we can't take longer than 10 mins) we still get 30 mins deducted. I could not do this job if I didn't have the next day off to recouperate.

This really frustrated me when I started out working as CNA. How can you be expected to take care of someone when you haven't had time to nourish and relax your body?

Marshall1 · Oct 12, 2011

Those of you working 12,14,16...does your clinic run 2 patient shifts or 3?

MJB2010 · Oct 12, 2011

3 shifts of patients in my clinic. First patient on at 6am, last patient off somewhere near 730pm. The last patientt off time changes frequently depending upon new admits and transient patients. It is a long day.

MJB2010 · Nov 7, 2011

I have finally reached my breaking point. I need to vent! I just cannot do this anymore. I am working 15 - 16 hours a day and I am tired, cranky, and exhausted. I am losing my patience with the patients and our understaffing is just too much for me to take anymore! I am so close to completely losing it! Even when I have a day off, I have to do laundry, groceries, and try to rest. I don't want to leave my house. The exhaustion is piling up and getting worse day after day. We just keep getting more patients with no more staff. I cannot keep up with working 16 hours, going home and having less than 4 hours to sleep, and having to come right back. My complaining to my manager is doing nothing. She doesnt seem to care at all. I really hope she has to fill in for me after I quit. I want her to walk a mile in my shoes.

I updated my resume and spent all day filling out apps for all kinds of new positions. Wish me luck that I find something that is a better fit! And soon! Not sure how much longer I can take this. :uhoh3: I am dreading tomorrow.

Marshall1 · Nov 7, 2011

Good luck - I sincerely hope you find something soon. As you may have read some posts from me, I was offered a dialysis position but quickly realized I'd have to live "their way everyday" and that would mean way too much devotion to the company......the hard part was the money being really good but if my days ended up like yours have - what's the point? Life is too short. Maybe, when good nurses like you leave, the company will eventually get tired of hiring, training and focus on the reasons retention is so low and diaylsis has a bad rap for working in as a nurse.

Guttercat, ASN, RN · Nov 7, 2011

I have finally reached my breaking point. I need to vent! I just cannot do this anymore. I am working 15 - 16 hours a day and I am tired, cranky, and exhausted. I am losing my patience with the patients and our understaffing is just too much for me to take anymore! I am so close to completely losing it! Even when I have a day off, I have to do laundry, groceries, and try to rest. I don't want to leave my house. The exhaustion is piling up and getting worse day after day. We just keep getting more patients with no more staff. I cannot keep up with working 16 hours, going home and having less than 4 hours to sleep, and having to come right back. My complaining to my manager is doing nothing. She doesnt seem to care at all. I really hope she has to fill in for me after I quit. I want her to walk a mile in my shoes.
I updated my resume and spent all day filling out apps for all kinds of new positions. Wish me luck that I find something that is a better fit! And soon! Not sure how much longer I can take this. I am dreading tomorrow.

Sorry it's turned out that way. I hear of more and more stories like yours within the dialysis realm. Dialysis has changed along with the conditions under which the actual care is delivered. Keep in mind it's not always the employer's/manager's/company's "fault." There is immense and growing pressure in dialysis as a "business" to keep it solvent...keeping people in paychecks and making a profit for the CEO's and shareholders. The medicare reimbursement has changed dramatically, as well as a whole heap of growing standards by which we get reimbursed and takes big dollars in itself, just to meet those standards. The sheer cost of keeping the beast fed, is huge. We are asked to do more, with less.

For-profit dialysis centers, these "Fortune 500 companies" that have taken over and cornered the market, I can assure you they are scrambling right now trying to maintain and recover profits that are dwindling and will continue to dwindle. It's part of the reason they fight so hard amongst themselves to get into markets and push competitors out. They spend unknown, ridiculous sums of money to lawyers and lobbyists to gain control of as many market areas as possible. The smaller for-profit companies' strategy is a little different, but equally crappy... capture a market, then sell and bail.

It's corporate greed and it's a business model that's old news in the darker aspects of a capitalistic system.

Also realize that some companies offer their managers nifty bonuses for keeping unit costs (staffing is the biggest cost) down. Some managers will jump in and assist the staff by picking up the slack themselves. Others, may instead crack the whip and let the employees earn them their bonuses.

Sounds like it's time to move on from your place of employment. Congrats on having the courage to leave. Tough decision. Those of us in dialysis for any length of time, are there because we like dialysis.

But it's a new world.