I'm sick of, sick of it, SICK OF IT!

[night owl]

I was called in last evening to do OT @ 5:00. "Could you come in, the girls could really use you. They only have two nurses and they're really struggling." "Well ok, I'll get there as soon as I can." I get in and help them out, no problem. Now I have to work my night shift and we're short one nurse. "I have no one to send you, so you'll have to do without." So now we struggle. At 0430 it starts. "Could one of you stay and help out with just one med pass?" "Sorry, but NO!" Other nurse can't stay and I'm pooped! Super calls again at 0645. "I really could use one of you for one med pass." "Didn't you just ask us two hours ago? We're struggling here with all these meds and you're worried about day shift and their med pass? (Or are you really worried about CYA and the unit for staffing?) We already told you we

can't stay. I came in and helped evenings with their meds. We need help NOW, and got none and now you want me to stay and help day shift with their meds. You've got to be joking! I have to come back tonight!" {{click!}} I go home go to bed and my daughter wakes me up and says, "Mom, it's your work calling" as she stands over my bed holding the "ringing" portable phone with caller ID. The message said, "Hi, it's......Same senerio as last evening.....please call me when you get in." Yeah right! :rotfl:

I'm sick and tired of helping other shifts and when we need the help, it just doesn't happen. :stone It's just not fair. Did I mention I have another life? It's called "sleeping" :zzzzz because I'm too tired to do anything else???

That is all. Thanks for letting me rant.

[RNPATL, DNP, RN]

sometimes you HAVE to say no because if you keep saying yes and coming in the powers that be won't fix the staffing problem. If the deptment head has to come in and work extra enough times, they'll fix the problem by hiring more staff.

The one that gets caught in the middle is the nurse manager .... sometimes, this person is the middleman and may not be able to hire the staff because the higher up's won't let them. I agree that if management, meaning the people above the nurse manager, were called away from their commitments and families enough times, then perhaps the staffing situation would change. JMHO

[MelissaRN]

I will come in and help out my shift only. Nurses from days and evenings NEVER help night shift out when asked. When I first started working, I was an easy yes, they knew they could make me feel guilty and I would cave. And if I did have to say no, I would still feel guilty. Not anymore. It works both ways, and anytime I would ask them to return the favor, all I got was a shrug and a "Just do your best" (I ALWAYS do my best!!! :angryfire ). It gets really old really fast. Good for you for sticking to your guns.

Sometimes just getting someone from dayshift to come in early and have someone from evenings stays late is helpful. Also where I worked if we were short handed the charge nurse would take a couple of the easier patients to at least decrease the work load. Dayshift is notorious (at least where I was) for just trying to mandate night shift to stay over (who needs sleep right?).

[Blackcat99]

I worked at a place where they didn't want to call a nurse registry for help period. However, when The floor nurses refused to work overtime and management was forced to come in and work the floor things changed. All of a sudden, it was perfectly acceptable to call the nurses registry for help. I worked overtime only once and that is when they offered me an extra $100 if I worked 4 hours overtime. :chuckle