I never want overtime period

rollingstone · Oct 6, 2004

Just tell them. Then disable the phone when you need to sleep.

Blackcat99 · Oct 6, 2004

:) Thanks all for your great comments and suggestions. I'm going to turn the ringer off and just leave it off all the time. I had hoped that Mom would eventually stop waking me up but she just doesn't understand.

CHATSDALE · Oct 6, 2004

they use to tell the kids that this was 'an extremely important call' so they would come in and wake me up...when they were at home they had to have the ringer on because all their calls were 'extremely important' [read: what they were going to wear to school next day]

now i give the lan # and let the answering machine pick up...i sleep in differant room and can't hear the phone from there....i never check messages when out of town because kids have cell phone and any one else can wait until i get back...though i have been told that it was 'rude' for me not to call them back and tell them i couldn't work there are office nurses who are quite capable of give a med pass if need be...i don't have any problem saying no ... if i am home i will call back and telll them i will not be able to work so that they can concentrate on getting someone else

Jo Dirt · Oct 6, 2004

I have worked 3pm-11pm and they will call sometimes at 5am with a staffing emergency. That makes me so mad. :angryfire

mattsmom81 · Oct 7, 2004

I turn the ringer off on my phone and use an answering machine with the message that if you are calling befor 5:45 PM that I will not be answereing the phone. Leave a message and I will get back to you when Iget up and not before then. Most people I work with know this and will just leave a message. If the don't hear from me by 6 pm then they know I aint coming in. works well for me.

Yup this is how I handle it too. And when I'm up and family members are home, I announce to them to look at caller ID before picking up. An accidental pickup gets a 'she's not available, can I take a message'.

Sad we must resort to this to have any private life isn't it.

Blackcat99 · Oct 7, 2004

:angryfire Yes it is awful that we can't have any privacy in our own homes. I think it's ridiculous that people have to be afraid to answer their own phones. I sure wish they would quit hassling everyone for overtime. If they are short of staff they need to call in "agency nurses." But no they don't want to pay that extra money so they try to guilt us into coming in. :angryfire

dazzle256 · Oct 7, 2004

I work full time nights in a LTC facility. I want to be left alone so I can sleep. My sleep gets disturbed almost everyday because my Mom has alzheimer's disease and always wakes me up for any phone call. It seems that almost everyday there is a "staffing emergency" on evening shift. They have about 15 nurses who are part time/ perdiem in addition to the full-time staff. What's the best way to tell them to "Leave me the hell alone." :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

Some really good adivse was given. I especially like the cell phone idea. You might also want to start calling the day and evening shift people at ohhhh about 1:30 am :)

Farkinott, RN · Oct 7, 2004

With me it's the landline that goes first..........no message left. Then the mobile............"private line". Unless I want to go into work early I just ignore the whole lot!

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Oct 7, 2004

I posted a list in my staff's lounge of "holes" that existed in the next schedule (when I put the schedule out) and asked the nurses to sign up for time if they could pick up. Seems to be working because several of them have signed up for extra hours. Maybe you could suggest this to your staffing people. We still end up making calls for spots where no one signed up, and to cover call-offs, but it reduces them. And at least staff know ahead of time that they're working extra, so they can arrange child care etc. I also start on Monday working to cover holes in the next week's schedule. Waiting until the last minute gets you alot of "no's" and puts everyone in a panic.

I have also found this to be effective. To decrease the number of slots where no one signs up, our unit offers "incentive pay" - an additional $6 per hour for the "short" shifts. We rarely have any holes on the final schedule. We also offer OT pay for coming in on short notice to cover sick calls, etc. Our unit stays pretty well staffed that way - just goes to show that if you're not too cheap to do what needs to be done - staffing does not need to be a constant issue. Therefore, I have ZERO sympathy for units that ARE too cheap to do what needs to be done. Serves them right for sacrificing patient safety (and nurse job satisfaction) in order to pinch pennies.

mattsmom81 · Oct 7, 2004

I have also found this to be effective. To decrease the number of slots where no one signs up, our unit offers "incentive pay" - an additional $6 per hour for the "short" shifts. We rarely have any holes on the final schedule. We also offer OT pay for coming in on short notice to cover sick calls, etc. Our unit stays pretty well staffed that way - just goes to show that if you're not too cheap to do what needs to be done - staffing does not need to be a constant issue. Therefore, I have ZERO sympathy for units that ARE too cheap to do what needs to be done. Serves them right for sacrificing patient safety (and nurse job satisfaction) in order to pinch pennies.

Why don't more hospitals follow this great example instead of expending so much energy calling everyday and throwing guilt trips? If I can possibly help out and I know my coworkers are in a spot, I will try and fill in for their sake (not the facility). My last facility used 'premium pay' for years to fill holes and that worked well too...money talks. Then a new CFO stopped it...and now they have to use travelers/agency again to fill huge staffing holes.

fergus51 · Oct 7, 2004

This is a universal problem. I finished my hospital orientation at my new job on a Monday night. That week, they called me Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to see if I wanted to work OT (I was already scheduled for Friday and Saturday so they didn't have to ask!). I was shocked. Good thing I have no trouble saying yes when I want to and no when I don't:).

SmilingBluEyes · Oct 7, 2004

Being PRN, I can't take "incentive pay" for additional shifts, but I can allow them to place me "on call" and then call me in for double time. As long as I can say, "ka-ching" I am happy. But I will NOT work myself to death, in so doing, either.