$600 an hr to fill a shift?

[Emergent, RN]

Catchy title, and true, except that was a PA who negotiated that wage to fill an empty ER provider shift. The docs and mid-levels who staff my ER work for a company that contracts with the hospital. They refuse to hire enough providers, then constantly hit up the docs, PACs and ARNPs for more shifts.

One of the docs I work with told me that he and his wife discuss what it'll cost the company for him to come in for a particular shift. These guys regularly negotiate for generous bonuses for coming in to fill a vacant spot.

Meanwhile, back in the world of nursing, the most we get is double time. If we are union, we just have a set scale. If the slot can't be filled, the company actually wins out.

They aren't mandated to pay the nurses bonuses for working short staffed and carrying a heavier patient load. They get to squeeze more work out of their nurses and blame it on a sick call or a nursing shortage.

These companies have a financial incentive to create nursing staff shortages the same way heavy industry saves money by dumping industrial wastes into our water and air. Meanwhile, our ever busy regulatory agencies, and the government, turns a blind eye.

[MsBruiser]

I don't know what to make of this post. I have 8 years experience and make more than that as a nurse working an overtime shift.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

@MSBruiser the PA is asking for $600 per hour, not per shift.

[simbawicz]

I believe you may have missed that it is $600 per HOUR.

[MsBruiser]

Oh. Wow. CV surgeons doing heart transplants do not make that where I work. Take that one with a grain of salt.

[NOADLS]

That place must have been desperate and the PA must have known.

600 x 8 = 4,800

600 x 12 = 7,200

Hint: PA's are probably a lot more scarce than nurses.

[oldandintheway]

Different industry, different lifetime but if we were forced to work short handed the ones that did show up split the missing persons wages. That eliminated the incentive for the employer to purposely short staff. I wish we could institute that practice to nursing. Another sore point with me is management not understanding the difference between staffing and scheduling but that is a whole different thread.

[Emergent, RN]

Different industry, different lifetime but if we were forced to work short handed the ones that did show up split the missing persons wages. That eliminated the incentive for the employer to purposely short staff. I wish we could institute that practice to nursing. Another sore point with me is management not understanding the difference between staffing and scheduling but that is a whole different thread.

Your point is my point. We have no way to disincentivize our employers from short staffing us. The PA I spoke with said that they try to make their employer pay dearly for not hiring another provider. The doctor echoed that sentiment.

I believe that our unions need to step up to the plate, and get creative. The union contract needs to include the provision you mention, and hit the employer in the pocketbook when units are understaffed. Not only should we split the missing employees hourly wage, but we should get an additional bonus, hazard pay if you will. We are forced to work harder because of the poor decisions of management. It adds to burn out, causes people to call in sick, puts patients at greater risk.

Instead, they just do a toothless 'assignment despite objection' form, people sign it, nothing changes.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Providers MAKE money for the man, nursing is viewed as COSTING money for the man.

Corporate health care.. at it's finest.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

If everyone keeps completing the 'assignment despite objection' forms, the union can track them and keep bringing the problem up the chain of command until changes are made. These type of forms often seem toothless but I do know of nurses who banded together and used the forms every time they worked overtime or short staffed and it resulted in management hiring more nursing staff.

[Emergent, RN]

If everyone keeps completing the 'assignment despite objection' forms, the union can track them and keep bringing the problem up the chain of command until changes are made. These type of forms often seem toothless but I do know of nurses who banded together and used the forms every time they worked overtime or short staffed and it resulted in management hiring more nursing staff.

That may be the case but, I think the unions could be more effective if they hardwired a simple cause:effect clause into contracts. There is a staffing matrix, management must be incentivized to adhere to it, otherwise there is an immediate, contractually mandated consequence to compensate nurses. Cut and dried...

[oldandintheway]

Providers MAKE money for the man, nursing is viewed as COSTING money for the man.

Corporate health care.. at it's finest.

True dat