I should probably let this go but...

[agldragonRN]

okay we had this bad snow storm in new jersey and i worked 3-11 when it started on sunday. everybody was calling out and they needed people for the 11-7 shift. they were asking everybody if they could stay and i initially said no but i felt bad and called staffing back and told them to put me on a "back-up". i was prepared to stay anyway as i brought extra scrub and food just in case nobody relieves me on my floor.

my reliever came and i was told i will be on another floor. i said okay as they really needed people. so i worked 11-7 shift and did not get relieved until 9am so i worked 18 hours straight. i had to be back at 3pm that day (monday) so i wanted to go home which i did at 10am and slept for 3 hours and got ready to go to work.

so i came to work for my 3-11 shift. there are two wings on my floor and the other nurse worked 7-3 shift that day and also doing 3-11 shift as staffing was really short. at around 8pm, i was informed by the other nurse that she was leaving and i needed to count the narcs and take over her 25 patients. i said what nobody told me about this. she said they made a deal with her that is why she was doing double and she had to go home because she had school the next day. i told her it was not fair that nobody told me about this and i also did double the day before and worked 18 hours and only slept for 3 hours.

i called the supervisor to confirm and asked her if i needed to take over the other nurse's patients and she said "yeah she needs to go home". i told her nobody from staffing or supervisor told me about this that i also did 18 hours and only slept for 3 hours. she proceeded to tell me that the other nurse needed to go and did not acknowledge the fact that nobody informed me i will be working by myself taking care of 50 patients. she said "talk to staffing tomorrow", which is today and is my day off.

i did take over the other nurse's patients and luckily nothing happened. i am coming to work tomorrow and i am still a little upset that the staffing did not tell me about the deal they made with the other nurse and that supervisor did not even acknowledge that i also worked 18 hours prior and had 3 hrs sleep. should i let this go as nothing happened anyway and the staffing were really short of nurses so they had to make deals with people? this incident is making me a bitter person and not wanting to help when they need nurses to stay over the next time they become short staff.

thanks for reading my vent.

[David13, MSN, RN]

It appears that there was no thought whatsoever given to how the decision to allow the other nurse to leave early would impact you. Even if you had not worked the day prior and had had a full night's sleep, it was unprofessional, in my opinion, for the staffing person to make this "deal" without your knowledge. I would ask to meet with both my supervisor and the person who made this "deal" with the other nurse to inform them, in a professional manner, of how this decision negatively impacted you, just to make sure there is no misunderstanding.

Your noble contribution appears to have been completely unacknowledged. I would let them both know that the manner in which this was handled will make it likely that you will not agree to "help out" again in the future, as there was no consideration given to you for your willingness to do so. Perhaps this will help make those in charge aware that they cannot treat people poorly and expect them to keep coming back for more of the same.

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

Sadly this has become a circular problem. In order to get adequate (or any) staffing, promises are made, souls sold to the devil. I blame the facilities for not having plans for predictable problems. I don't know if I should love or hate whomever invented caller ID. To fill a slot I once called 30 nurses. 27 no answers, 2 answering machines, and 1 disconected. Again, I blame the facilities, not the staff. Facilities will take advantage of staff over and over until they start saying no, and give no appreciation.

[SoCalRN1970]

this is why I left the acute hospital setting 14 years ago, never to look back. sorry, but they don't care about you. Only numbers and patient satisfaction surveys. They do NOT hold employees as #1.

[indigonurse]

It does get to the point when you have to set up boundaries and only work your regular schedule, say NO to working over time, extra shifts and your days off to prevent burn out.

[NotFlo]

Honestly I never would have agreed to the first 18 hour shift UNLESS they made a deal with me to give me the next day 3-11pm shift off. There's no way I would work 18 hrs and come back only a few hours later. I don't even think that's legal in my state (required to have at least 8 hrs rest period) and if you made a mistake after only sleeping 3 hrs they would hang you out to try legally.

I used to know a nurse who worked 3-11, she used to agree to work a "double" AS LONG AS she got to leave at 5 am. This would effectively screw over the other nurse working with her as she'd be counting and gone right when the busiest time of the shift was about to start and leave the other nurse stuck with all the accuchecks and 6 am meds. Still, they allowed her to make this deal over and over...

[Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN]

I used to know a nurse who worked 3-11, she used to agree to work a "double" AS LONG AS she got to leave at 5 am. This would effectively screw over the other nurse working with her as she'd be counting and gone right when the busiest time of the shift was about to start and leave the other nurse stuck with all the accuchecks and 6 am meds. Still, they allowed her to make this deal over and over...

Well if shes working 3-11.. 5am might be her limit too.

If 11-7 is short an LPN. I will stay until 3am. 12 hours is my max. I did a double shift once and I am regretting it to this day.

[BettyBoop01]

You need to speak up and make a stink so that next time they will think twice about trying to screw you. Make it known that you will be refusing this next time, and then you HAVE TO SAY NO when they ask you. You need to refuse an unsafe situation, and watch and see how they WILL get someone else to do it. You do for you, staffing is not looking out for you. Don't be their doormat or it will only get worse, they will keep dumping on you.

[LJ85, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN]

I've been in the same position. If the staffing people or "higher ups" know they can manipulate you, as they did, they will. I would have said right off the bat that I wanted the following day off and giving you another nurses assignment is bs. We all know that it is impossible to watch over 50 something patients and your cnas and the charting. If anything went wrong YOU are solely responsible. I used to pick up overnights sometimes at the LTC facility I worked at (also in NJ), and they routinely gave you the entire floor, at least 30 pts. I stopped working overnights for that reason. I didn't want to be responsible if something occurred, as many things do on the graveyard shift. Just trying to pass meds to that many pts is hard enough. I started doing private duty and I have to say I don't miss nursing homes one bit.

[Mulan]

Definitely say what you have to say. Then let it go.

Never mind negotiating in the future, just say NO to whatever it is they want.

[agldragonRN]

update:

so i went to work today and spoke to the staffing person who made the "deal" with the other nurse. i told her i was not happy the way she treated me on monday especially i helped out the day prior and worked 18 hours straight. she then said that she did not have to let me know i was going to be by myself after 8pm because i "came to work to work" and that we had state of emergency. she then proceeded to tell me that she did not make the deal with the other nurse and that the other nurse was the one who said she was leaving at 8pm.

i was getting upset already so i clarified what she said and she said "yeah". i told her ok i will talk to the administrator right now and tell him what she had told me. she told me i could talk to her boss which is the adon. i told her no that i will go straight to the administrator. i went to the administrator's office and i was told he is on vacation so i went up to my unit's floor. the adon called me on my floor and asked me what was the issue. i explained to her the whole story and she said the staffing lady probably should have not made that deal that she appreciated i helped out but it was a state of emergency and most nurses did what i did.

i just said "okay" and the conversation was over.

i then spoke to my unit manager and told her how the 3-11 building supervisor treated me as well on the phone. my unit manager said that yeah the supervisor told her i was mad and nasty on the phone. i told my unit manager i was not nasty but yeah i was upset because the supervisor kept dismissing my explanation that i worked 18 hours as well and it was not fair that nobody told me and that the supervisor kept commanding me to go and count with the other nurse. the supervisor told her i was upset and mad the whole shift. i said no i only started getting upset at 8pm when i first heard i was taking over the whole floor. i told my unit manager that nobody would be happy if they did that to somebody and she agreed with me.

anyway, i will let this go and just be my lesson learned. i tried to help out and i ended up getting screwed over. you are right mulan, never mind negotiating in the future, i will just simply say no.

thanks everyone for the replies and happy holidays!!

[caliotter3]

I seriously doubt that your situation was taken into consideration when this decision was made. I think it was just an oversight, although some people are capable of being so callous.

[Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN]

"Don't do anybody any favors anymore"