I feel guilty in canceling my extra shift...

Nurses General Nursing

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The hospital is super busy and I requested to work extra ONLY on my floor tonight if they needed me. I just contacted the charge nurse on my floor (ortho) and with all the discharges and no surgeries, there will only be 5-6 patients and there are 3 RNs working tonight. So, I contacted the House Supervisor to cancel my extra shift and let's just say she didn't take it too well, but she did cancel it. If I didn't cancel my shift, I would end up working tonight on my floor and two of the RNs scheduled to work tonight would float to the most undesirable, worst place in the whole hospital (its med/onc)- everyone hates floating there due to all the bad staffing, the attitudes of RNs that work there, and the way the charge RNs split the assignment (you either get the front, middle, or back of the unit... the charge RNs do not split the assignment to where the floats get patients they can feel comfortable handling).

I mean, I shouldn't feel guilty right? Its the facility's fault for not having adequate staffing due to the hiring freeze we're experiencing, right? I already worked an extra shift last week and in the middle of my 3-day off the house sup calls me in the middle of my sleep asking me if I can work extra and I am like "umm, uhh" and ended up signing on again for an extra shift because I feel bad if I say "no".

Sorry if my post is too long... Just sharing some feelings.

Specializes in drug seekers and the incurably insane..
Let's put it this way . . . Does management feel one morsel of remorse or guilt when they cancel our shifts due to low census?

Aaahh....you're reading our minds!!!! They only want enough help when it is expedient for them to do so!!! The patients are very rarely factored, but state inspections, JCAHO, etc. are.

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Specializes in drug seekers and the incurably insane..
In fact you are giving them an opportunity to label you as unreliable. If they have to telephone many nurses on the list, next time, and are not able to find a replacement for your cancellation, they'd have to call registry. Expensive. That means you are screwing with their budget, and if I were your boss, I'd fire you. Your boss's goal is to stay within the budget in order to get a bonus and promotion. Sorry, but I'm telling you the truth :)

You need to apply where I work at. You would get ample opportunity to flex your "firing" muscles. Out of curiousity....do you really give a **** about the bonuses and promotions your boss gets?

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Specializes in ER/EHR Trainer.
You need to apply where I work at. You would get ample opportunity to flex your "firing" muscles. Out of curiousity....do you really give a **** about the bonuses and promotions your boss gets?

I have been a boss and I have been a worker.....when you are the chief everything is your responsibility, when you are the indian it's just your practice for the day. It matters to everyone when there is waste, it is very short-sighted to think that every little extra cost doesn't get taken from your pockets, equipment expenditure, even the chairs you sit on....

its true the CEOs are compensated ridiculously for our accomplishments, but constant budget challenges only result in less staff and safety for our units. Every little bit helps....look into what reimbursements actually are based on the US dollar....charity care, medicaid, medicare.....in NJ was .69 on the dollar for medicare, .39 for medicaid and .17 for charity care.....which has been capped to only a certain percentage of reimbursements for all hospitals. Insurance companies are paying less, which equals less money for all.

So, as the worker you should care about waste in whatever form it takes.....those travelers may be your next raise (or lack thereof)

M

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC/Geriatric.
Just think about this: Nurse A is stuck in traffic, called in to say she was running 15mins late. Nurse B also called at the same time. She was 1hr late. Nurse A gets written up (set up for termination. how many strikes before it happens?). Nurse B does not get written up. Nurse A challenges CNO and refuses to sign the form cos it's not accurate. Do not sign it no matter how they intimidate you. They want to have a thing on everybody so they can terminate at will.

You can't judge my abilities by whether or not I'm LVN or RN. There is more to my work/life experiences than those titles. Even as far as bosses go, not all will be fair or unfair. We can go on and on and on. If you are employed At-Will, you could be let go for any reason. Fair on unfair. It's sad how we forget that part when we were applying for the job. It should say on the form. It's very common. Somebody lost her ICU position and another person (son of another boss) got the job in order to get ICU experience for CRNA school. If you have been in nursing for a while, then I'd say let's leave the subject at that cos you should be familiar with these things already.

I won't even comment on the content of you posts, which I find somewhat rediculous. However, as a professional, please use correct the correct spelling and ENGLISH VERSION of a word.

It's because. Not cos. :rolleyes:

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Specializes in M/S, ICU, ICP.

i am beginning to think that we as nurses just have a propensity to guilt if we say no. the best thing that you can do as a nurse or a person is know when and how to set limitations. don't give it a second thought and from now o specify that you will take call or sign up for a day o-n-l-y if you are need in your area and not becuase they have pulled your units staff leaving you short.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care, Cardiac, EMS.
I won't even comment on the content of you posts, which I find somewhat rediculous. However, as a professional, please use correct the correct spelling and ENGLISH VERSION of a word.

It's because. Not cos. :rolleyes:

Now that's funny. :lol2:

(Just a note - If you are going to flame someone on spelling and grammar rather than content - do make sure your comment is free of typos and grammatical errors.)

As far as the 'ridiculousness' of the content - I have been a manager (not in nursing), I have been in a medical supervisory position in EMS, and I am currently a "line employee." As other posters have stated, cost overruns affect the entire organization, staffing shortages harm the entire organization, and at least in my place of work, when you agree to work an extra shift, you have made a commitment just as if you had been scheduled to work. This includes the possibility of floating, the responsibility of calling off within the specified time, and penalties for no-call, no-show. It's actually quite simple, really - if you do not want to deal with these realities, do not agree to work extra shifts. And when I say 'no' - I've ceased to feel guilty about it; but I do not say 'no' after I've said 'yes'.

On the converse side, we have a float rotation list and working an extra shift (whether you 'float' that shift or not) drops you to the bottom of the rotation; if you don't like floating, pick up extra when you can.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele/Onc.

One of our Asistant Nurse Managers told this story once. We had Weekenders and our weekends were usually staffed very well. However, Thursdays were not. The ANM asked one of the weekenders to trade one of her weekend nights that was well staffed with a Thursday that wasn't and she agreed. (Not permanently, just 2-3 times.) Another manager from another floor brought this up at a meeting. Something about weekenders not meeting their expectations because they weren't working their two shifts a weekend.

Apparently this manager was being very passive aggressive. She was upset that our unit wouldn't be able to float one of our staff to her unit (as usual) because of the trade. Our manager put her foot down. She said her responsibility was to make sure our unit was amply staffed for every shift and it wasn't her responsiblity to have staff available for other units.

Our manager won that one.

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i won't even comment on the content of you posts, which i find somewhat rediculous. however, as a professional, please use correct the correct spelling and english version of a word.

it's because. not cos. :rolleyes:

oops!:o

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC/Geriatric.
OOPS!:o

:D Yes, that is pretty bad. However, I never use slang terms or spellings as that poster did, which is what drove me crazy!

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Specializes in Give me a new assignment each time:).
OOPS!:o

:sofahider

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

who would have paid the overtime? your home unit? or the unit the other nurses were floated to? unit policies for extra shifts and floating vary. if you were within your unit's policies, you shouldn't feel guilty. if you weren't, you should.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

I wish I HAD an extra shift to cancel at the mo!

Here is what I do: be VERY firm with work re what you will and will not do. If you really DO NOT want to work a shift on a certain day/time whatever, do NOT tell them 'Call me if you need me only if it gets busy', cos when they DO call you at the last minute, you get resentful, want to cancel, and all those feelings build up inside of you. You're basically setting yourself up to feel that way.

Don't do extra shifts for your work, then moan about it. I have done this in the past, worked many, many long hours, not been paid (can't explain that all on here, too long a story), and after a while, I FLAT OUT refused to stay back for any reason whatsoever. I did my rostered hours and that was it.

I even had one fat, horrid NM say to me I had to stay back one night - and not get paid - cos the computers had gone down during the shift, and when they came back on later, we were expected to finish our nursing entries without extra pay! I said flat out: "No. I have done my shift, I am going home."

Sweetiepie, management don't GIVE A TOSS if you feel guilty or not. They will however put the guilt trip on you, by making snide comments, or saying things like 'Well it would be GOOD if you could come in, we would really appreciate it.' I used to help with rosters, and it's all part of they psychology how you talk to people to make them feel guilty to come in.

Unless you REALLY like your NMs, I would not bother with them. But do set firm boundaries, otherwise they will be calling you all the time. After all, it's your job, and you want to be happy in it don't you?

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