My floor has had extremely low census for over a month now. To the point where most of us RNs are only getting 1-2 shifts a week if lucky and the CNAs are in the same boat. We are floated out occasionally (which has been awful) but usually are just flexed. We are using up PTO fast. The nurses who have worked there for many years say this is the worst it has ever been.
By us we're still short staffed no matter how many new grads are hired. I'd love to have a low census. lol. Instead we have to worry about being mandated because they are short even on dayshift!
Same here, that's why I have a fulltime job and a PRN job...right now, the PRN is making my check. And Pennywise...you're just freaking me out. I read "IT" when it came out and have been scared spitless of clowns and balloons ever since. :-)
Its my all time fav book. I look at the moon differently after having read it.
Our peds floors are in a bind like this right now. If they don't want to be cancelled, they can float to us and we give one of our people a vacation day. They also call other floors to see if they need help (we can only be forced to float within maternal child), especially the PICU girls since they take traumas up to 18 years old in the PICU.
Our unit census has been low lately but hospital policy has it that you'll float first before you get called off. (I work in a Magnet, union hospital if it matters??) Hospital census has been low-ish to middling lately but with everyone taking off for summer holidays, it seems as if most units are short-staffed by a few nurses.
My unit is always understaffed so we're never called off. We also never float because there's never a time when we are overstaffed but other units are understaffed. The past week our charge has, however, been asking if anyone wants to go home. There's always someone who wants to leave early so it works out. Usually it's someone who picked up a ton of overtime and is tired.
Union hospital (thank goodness!!), so no missed days and not much floating due to overflowing unit. Actually understaffed a few times lately has made us fill the unsafe staffing form. We do that whenever we have more than 2 patients per RN (ICU) or if the acuity is so high that a patient requires 1:1 and we can't do it as everyone has 2 patients. Sometimes our charge lobbies for an hour of OT for all nurses if the day is so busy that no one can take a break. I love unions for this kind of protection.
I'm in Florida, and the entire hospital has been 40-60 patients over predicted census over the past 2 months. I have been consistently getting calls from staffing twice daily (once for am and once for pm). In my 2 years at this facility, I have only floated once. Because we are the busiest floor in the hospital, we tend to be on the receiving end of floating. I did not realize so many places we're calling off staff nurses.
brandy1017, ASN, RN
2,910 Posts
By us we're still short staffed no matter how many new grads are hired. I'd love to have a low census. lol. Instead we have to worry about being mandated because they are short even on dayshift!