mandated?

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Does your facility mandate nurse's to cover for call in's?? What ever happened to agency nurses in LTC?

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

I'm not LTC, but we have a mandatory "call shift" each month. When we were really short, it was two shifts. So this helps cover any call in's but those on call staff are being used to count in the basic staffing numbers during these summer months with vacations. So be wary of agreeing to start this because it might not ever go away. A tough lesson learned.

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too expensive. Around here, there is no such mandate. you deal with the cards you are delt.

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Specializes in PACU, CARDIAC ICU, TRAUMA, SICU, LTC.

Agency nurses cost a facility big bucks. Some LTCs still use them, but a majority of them don't, for various reasons, the biggest one being $$$$$. The facility where I work obligates nurses to take 2 calls/month, with no call pay!! If you get called to cover a shift, you will see a few extra $, and I mean a few. Don't like it; too bad, so sad.....

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This is the cross-over between good nursing care and "deal with it" management. Business is all about the bottom line.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.
This is the cross-over between good nursing care and "deal with it" management. Business is all about the bottom line.

I know it! I'm all for helping out, and I need to work at a fiscally sound facility, but burning me out in the process does no one any good. That's why agency was so wonderful to "rest" the staff.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

I worked in a LTC facility about 1 year ago that did 8 hour mandations. I worked there for about a year and was mandated twice. That was on the low end though. I worked nights and we did not have it too many times for our shift...our day nurses usually showed up. Second shift had many nurses mandated because third shift nurses called off a loooottt. (I only called off once in the year I was there...). Almost each nurse on second shift was mandated once or twice a month. The other problem was with third shift CNAs calling off...so second shift CNAs were mandated once or twice a month each as well. I am staring at a new LTC facility, and they only have 4 hour mandations. After the 4 hours one of the nurse managers will come in, or even a different higher up; the DON said she has come in... :eek:. They said someone usually gets mandated about once every 3 or 4 months.

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We're rural and agency just isn't - there. We don't mandate so much as if someone calls out at the last minute you stay. Who's gonna walk on their patients? This weekend's schedule had a bunch of holes and the DON said directly, "Any ideas what we can do about them?" HINT HINT So I answered, "Which shift is shortest?" and picked it up. I also took today off instead of get paid. I'm too old for a lot of overtime, plus I'm too busy.

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Does your facility mandate nurse's to cover for call in's?? What ever happened to agency nurses in LTC?

What is funny is it is generally cheaper in the long run to use registry than it is to use staff working overtime.

You have to figure in all the taxes an employer pays for an employee, generally .25 cents on the dollar plus the employee gathers more sick time/PTO which costs the employer even more. Not to mention the increased turnover rate plus increased illness and mistakes.

Check your employee handbook and see if it states that you have to stay. Most employers state that you do not have to if it causes unreasonable hardship.

Secondly check your BON's position statement on Patient Abandonment. Employers tend to use the "Patient Abandonment" excuse to force Nurses to stay overtime. They say, "well if you leave then I will report you!"

Many States, including my home state of Arizona, have issued official position statements saying that Nurses being forced to work overtime or cover shifts is an employee vs employer issue, not a patient abandonment issue.

Know your rights. Remember it is your fault if you allow yourself to be persecuted for a lack of knowledge.

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Specializes in multispecialty ICU, SICU including CV.

I work in a federal facility and we have mandatory OT -- this isn't just a for-profit phenomenon. It doesn't happen often because we have 10 or 12 inpatient units to float around. I've been at my facility for 5+ years and it's happened to me twice. It is always because of call-ins at the last minute - otherwise the staffing office does a pretty decent job of covering the house. It's kind of a dinosaur of a policy and I'm actually surprised our union hasn't gotten rid of it yet. Likely if nurses were being mandated all the time the union would probably take action.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

My former building was union. It was in the contract that staff could be mandated to stay to cover a call out. We kept records of who stayed and when so the same person didn't get stuck all the time.

When I worked in the hospital, which also had a union, we would get mandated to stay for a call out. We just dealt with it.

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