Published May 14, 2006
Jo Dirt
3,270 Posts
I just need to get this out.
AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire
I work all week doing home health and as a favor to this nursing home I work every other weekend 7am-3pm.
Well, I was tired after running nonstop all week and thought I would at least get 7 or 8 hours sleep. I was sleeping peacefully and having a pleasant dream when the phone started ringing in my dream...then I realized the phone was ringing in real life. The answering machine came on and this dopey guy said, "hello, this is Bob from (blank) nursing center...I have the building to myself and need you to come in early to help." Then I have one of those annoying answering machines that beeps until you come and take the message...so forget about getting back to sleep.
The clock said 4:30am! Maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal but it threw my whole day off and I was exhausted all day.
This is the same guy who called a family's house and left a message on their answering machine that their mother died.
I know if you need help you need help (there are supposed to be two night nurses and one was a no call no show) but has anyone else who worked a day shift ever get called at some ungodly hour to come in early and it just made them want to kill the people who called?
It woke the whole house up.
I wish I had unplugged the phone last night.
Jennerizer, ASN, RN
728 Posts
I'd change answering machines & turn off the ringer next time you are in need of decent sleep. Did you end up going in early?
My hospital calls if they need help on a day that I'm not scheduled, but I am under no obligation to go in. I work the night shift, so if they call, it is usually when I am sleeping in the morning or afternoon. My answering machine is in another room & I keep the ringer off. Sleep is important to me.
babiesX2
63 Posts
I work prn for a hospital, and they call me around 4 or 4:30 AM plenty. Yes, it wakes up everyone in the house. It is especially infuriating when I let them know my dh will be out of town for his work (he is the stay at home parent while I work). I call the hospital nsg supervisor and give them the days that I am definitely not available, but they call me anyway. :trout:
Daytonite, BSN, RN
1 Article; 14,604 Posts
What - a - jerk!
Where ever I worked as a supervisor or charge and worked a night shift, I never called a day shift employee at 4:30 in the morning! As bad as things might be at the job, nothing is so bad that things can't be put off or prioritized until the next shift comes in. Ever!
Crocuta, RN
172 Posts
My wife is a very fragile sleeper. If she's woken up in the night, she usually can't get back to sleep and then she's tired all day. We don't keep a regular phone in the bedroom and I gave my facility my cell phone number. I set it to silent at night and the charger is in my bathroom. I can glance at it to see if I have voice mail if I get up in the night, and first thing in the morning when I get up to get ready for work. That's right about the time the call comes in if I'm being cut for the day due to low census. If I do have voice mail in the night, I can listen to it quietly and decide if I'm able to go in early or work a day off. It's worked really well for us.
luvmy2angels
755 Posts
[/url] I was working flex while still in school and the night shift RN would call my house at 3:00 in the morning and ask me if I could work. YES I said 3 am!! I repeatedly reminded her that i was going to school during the week and wouldn't be able to work but she insisted on calling at weeeeee hours in the morn no matter how many times I told her NOT to. It got to the point that we eventually got our phone number changed and I didn't give it them!!!
I feel your anger!!
Heck no, I didn't go in early. Neither did the other day shift nurse he called.
I would never call a day shift nurse during the night shift. Nor would I call a night shift employee before about 4 or 5 in the afternoon.
traumaRUs, MSN, APRN
88 Articles; 21,268 Posts
I worked nights for many years and my absolutely most favorite call was the one that came at 11 am after I had worked my 12.5 hour shift (usually w/o a break) from my manager and she would start out all chirpy: "you weren't sleeping were you?" Finally after several of these calls I finally reached the boiling point and told her "No, I'm the bionic nurse, I work all night and then stay up all day too. How would you like to be called at 2 am???" She never called me again!
ShayRN
1,046 Posts
I am the luckiest person here, I guess, lol. I am such a heavy sleeper that I sleep throught dh getting ready for work, alarms and phones? NOPE, never. Funny, when my kids were babies, I could hear them whimper in their sleep, but still look confused when someone says What did ya think of that thunder storm last night?
clee1
832 Posts
Me too!
If dd fusses in her sleep, I am up oob as if catepulted.... but I could sleep through a bomb blast or gunshot anytime. Thunder??..... fuggetaboutit. :)
beautifulb
237 Posts
I keep the ringer off in my room.
I can't believe that he called you at 4:30 am!
HappyNurse2005, RN
1,640 Posts
Whats the fuss? What about day shift staffing that call night shift nurses during the day? THey could be sleeping, but that doesn't stop anyone, does it?
I am a dayshift nurse.
If I was called at 430 am, so be it. when would you like him to call? NOw, if he knew he needed someone at 8pm, but chose not to call you until 430am, thats one thing. but if he didn't know/didn't have a chance to call til 430, then thats how it is. he has to try to find staff, right?
turn the ringer off if you don't want to be called.