Manager wants us back in office...

[rn30]

We have been working remotely since Jan 2021( we call pts at home to do a preop assmt), yes, it took a while for our admin to get work from home in place. Our manager now states she wants us back in the office( without reason). There is no reason for us to be in the office as it will be overcrowded. I asked if we as nurses could be part of the conversation with the upper nursing administration as this decision is finalized and was told "NO". Should we pursue with the nsg director as she has the final say and always tells us her door is open? We don't feel our manager will convey the positive points that work from home has provided. And there have been absolutely NO negative issue/problems in the last 6 months we have worked from home and our productivity has increased! Thoughts?

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

1 hour ago, SmilingBluEyes said:

That sounds so cool. I just have one question. Are you being paid to be at the beach? Just an earnest question, not being snarky at all.

I work for myself, and even before I did that, I was salaried, not hourly. They didn’t care when we worked so long as we got things done (field medical case management). Now that I work for myself, I like to be responsive to my clients without having voice mail get in the way it giving them an excuse to call somebody else. 

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

18 hours ago, SmilingBluEyes said:

You bring up an excellent point. Our doctors are doing remote-only visits w/patients via I-pads. The inconvenience on us is unreal. First, the patients can't hear them half the time. So I have to sit there, hold the I-pad so they can see,  and translate or repeat. 2nd, they are charging them the same as if they were at their chair side. Patients definitely don't appreciate this.

It's been a huge chunk of our time facilitating these "visits" and I have had my lunch interrupted because a doctor wanted to do rounds "right now" on our patients.

It's been anything but easy or convenient for us.

Ours are finally doing visits in person (1 never stopped, never did remote-said he needed the face to face to determine his patients real needs!), but many days I missed lunch. I was clinic manager during the worst of it.  I felt floor staff shouldn't have to deal with the interruption of that. But current clinic where I'm floor staff had floor staff do it. Nightmare

[SmilingBluEyes]

On 7/11/2021 at 9:29 AM, Hoosier_RN said:

Ours are finally doing visits in person (1 never stopped, never did remote-said he needed the face to face to determine his patients real needs!), but many days I missed lunch. I was clinic manager during the worst of it.  I felt floor staff shouldn't have to deal with the interruption of that. But current clinic where I'm floor staff had floor staff do it. Nightmare

Floor staff do it here as our clinical manager is super busy in her office. She works the floor when we are short or the poop hits the fan; she is terrific. But this yoke has been put on us. Not fun.

I did notice this week, our doctors coming back to clinics finally. So maybe the I-pad visits are coming to an end. I sure hope so. It's been anything but convenient or expedient for any of us. Even the doctors complain because internet coverage (on their end or ours) can be spotty and unreliable.

Nothing takes the place of face to face visits.

[T-Bird78]

Sigh.  No pity from me LOL.  As someone who’s worked in a “cushy” medical office job, we NEVER closed. Last year we were doing mostly virtual visits for about 6 weeks but still had to go in for phones and chart prep/review for the next day’s “visits” and make sure pts knew how to use the virtual system.  We went back to 50% normal schedules last May then back to 100% in July. We are busier than ever and short-staffed. I have not clocked out on time in months. I would love a work-from-home position and applaud everyone who is/was able to do that, but those of us stuck in the office desperately need you back!  LOL. 

 

Edited to add:  not only did I work in the office the entire pandemic, I was also pulled from my office to work in a local hospital this January and February due to the overwhelming COVID numbers, and I’ve never worked in a hospital in my entire career. I was put on a floor that had med-surg, postop, telemetry, and COVID pts.  I was pulled from an already overwhelming situation and thrown into an even crazier environment. I work ENT so we see pts who c/o loss of smell and taste, who have survived COVID and still have sx, and who have sx but are negative.