Mandated :(

anotherone, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2012

Hi everyone. I'm new here to AN.
So I've been an RN for a year now. I work on a very busy CCU (50 beds) in a medium sized hospital. I happen to be lucky enough to work with a bunch of fabulous nurses. I know it is a rare and great thing to have great co-workers. They are supportive and wonderful. The problem is with management. Or the lack there of.
Our manager left in March and administration has yet to replace her. Recently (in the last 8mos) we've lost a very large number of nurses. Quite a few of the veteran nurses left to take other positions in the hospital (ie admitting nurse, etc), and when we get new people hired in, probably about 1/2 of them leave shortly out of orientation. So we're quite short-handed, and people have been getting frequently (1-2x/month) mandated for the last few months.
Just to add to the chaos, we are implementing EPIC and we have nurses out training DR's, nurses training to be super-users, and we all have to take our turn taking the EPIC training classes.
As a result, we are suddenly VERY short on nurses. I work 3-11's, so when I get mandated, I have to work over night. In the last 8 days I've been mandated 3x. I worked 42 hours last week (I'm 0.6!). And I'm not the only one. Everyone has been working over, but the 5 or 6 of us on 3-11's are being hit the hardest. We are the ones being mandated tto 16 hour, over night shifts, where by the time they are over, we have been awake for 24 hours. No part of this is fair OR safe. We are all beyond frustrated and upset about it. I have terrible anxiety and stress coming in to work every day b/c I never know if I will be able to come home that night or if I'm going to be scrambling to find someone to baby sit the kids in the morning so I can sleep. If it weren't for my wonderful co-workers, I would already be gone.
So, tonight, I called my husband to tell him I got mandated and he completely flipped out on me. Yelling at me, swearing at me, etc. I was in tears when I got off the phone w/him. I don't WANT to work hours like this. I don't LIKE it. And I sure as heck don't need to listen to him complain about how hard it is for HIM when *I* am the one who will be up all night working!! Anyway, I got off the phone in tears, and my charge nurse told me not to stay, that I can't let work interfere w/my home life. She asked someone else to stay (it really was my turn, tho).
I guess I'm just looking for coping advice....how to make my husband understand that I don't have a regular 9-5 job that I can just walk away from and finish up my work tomorrow. How to cope w/a job that is leaving me so stressed (I truly do not want to look for another job, it is a great place to work). How to make my fill in manager understand that what they are doing to us is NOT fair, and that they need to get agency nurses or someone in there. I am stressed to my breaking point right now, and as much as I love this job, I don't know how much more of this I can take.
TIA :)

Was your husband directing his anger/frustration at you or in retrospect, just yelling/swearing at you about it? ( not sure if this is comming across correctly) The husband part , I dunno what to tell you there as I assume he knows you do not want to stay and can not just leave like at most other jobs. My experience is that unless someone is a nurse/pa/dr or in some other profession where you can't just clock out and leave he/she will not understand. I work/ed at a place like this that had huge turnover, no or poor management and being mandated was routine. We were actually expected to work 16 hours everytime you went to work, whether your real shift is 8s or 12s. staff was routinely lectured about "patient abadonment" and "don't like it, leave", "lucky to have a job " etc..... either stay or work short, reallllllly short. ... no one cares if it is fair or not unless it affects those at the top or the facility legally/moentarily. NOTHING changed until some of the mangers had to start being mandated shift after shift because staffing was so bad. Then they really complained to upper management and more people were hired. also some of the veteran nurses complained loudly and aggressively to management and administration, OVER AND OVER again, these were the types who didn't care about burned bridges or bad references. It is a bad cycle because once it starts it is difficut to end. My facility refuses to use agency and rarely hires travelors. we seem to get only new grads. it is stressful enough to be a new grad , only to be mandated every shift and work short on top of it. 16.5 hours. of course they will quit. the experienced nurses know they might be able to get a better job and jump ship. Pretty soon you will be left with all new grads to the 2 year nursing veterans . none of these people will have known a better time and that is the way staffing will remain. in a few years, adminsitration will be patting itself on the back for the money saved. lol

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Jul 12, 2012

maybe your husband is having trouble understanding why you put up with this treatment. Don't know where you are from, but in Texas mandatory overtime is against the law. I think your staff needs to get the chief nursing officer to answer some serious questions before everyone walks.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Jul 12, 2012

Your husband aside (you don't even want me to go THERE)...

these working conditions are unsafe for you and the patients. I'd start with the state labor board. It can't be legal to mandate THAT many hours and make you work overnight to boot!

The pros don't outweigh the cons here. You have a good team to work with... that is in a state of flux anyway, because those conditions are unbearable.

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN · Jul 12, 2012

Your husband is a jerk and a moron.

LaneyB · Jul 12, 2012

Not to butt into your marriage, but I think you really need to have a talk with your husband. I know that awful feeling of being mandated, and the last thing you need on top of that is to be berated by your spouse. Hopefully you can help him to become more supportive. Sorry you are having a rough time.

As far as talking to your fill-in manager, do you guys have staff meetings? When I worked on the floor that is where we brought up staffing issues (and we all threatened to quit if they weren't fixed-a bit childish but seemed effective).

xoemmylouox, ASN, RN · Jul 12, 2012

My husband does not always understand either, however I am sure he was more frustrated at the situation than at you. Sometimes we get heated and don't say things the right way. Perhaps ask to speak with the CNO of your hospital. Good luck to you. I know that it is hard to leave a job you like overall, especially if you feel like it will leave your coworkers in an even worse spot, but I ALWAYS say it never hurts to look around.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Jul 12, 2012

I can totally see why he is frustrated....you are gone a lot more than bargained for and esp if you are scrambling for childcare. And if you are stressed, your whole household is stressed. I would start refusing, and state that you don't have childcare. Are they rotating how people are mandated? Do they rotate day people to nights to cover when shifts are short(if they are rotating positions, in my unit you can be rotated up to 25% of your schedule if needed). They should be trying to cover these shifts when they are making out the schedule. You all need to get together and go to upper management. And you all need to refuse and then the charge nurse has to state "These are unsafe working conditions" because then they HAVE to log this and call the managers in. You all have to be on the same page to make changes, and if that doesn't work, I'd be looking for another job within the hospital.

anotherone, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2012

Nothing worked for us until the precious managers had to start working because we were short lpns/rns by about 50%. Guess what it is a "illegal to mandate" state WITH TONS OF loopholes and managment knows it. calls to managers/supervisors were ignored. Refusing was met with, " patient abadonment ". no one actually ever left, people yelled and screamed but would stay anyway, there was no one to take your patients since even with one being mandated we were short. From my expereince it won't change until the top people, who haven't touched an IV in 15 years have to stay, or staff complains LOUDLY AND AGGRESSIVELY to top administrators and possible media alerts ( might lead to some firings)

Morganalefey · Jul 13, 2012

Hi Everyone

Thanks for the advice.

My husbands anger was mis-directed at me. He was frustrated with the situation, not at me. And he apologized profusely that night and several times yesterday.

I talked to him, read you guys' post, and spoke with several friends about the situation. I am going to talk to our fill in manager on MON (I am off until then) and tell her that I can not continue to be mandated weekly/multiple times a week. I am giving it a month (EPIC will roll out 8/5, so hopefully we will get our super users back) and if it continues I will begin to look for another job.

I have a friend who works Hospice and she is on call every weekend from FRI 8pm to Monday 8am. She gets paid $12/hr for the entire time, whether she gets called in or not. She is looking to drop this schedule to every other weekend, and would like someone to pick up the remaining weekends for her. Has anyone ever done anything like that? I'm not sure if it would be worth the money or not.

TIA again! It's great to have other nurses to vent to :)

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jul 14, 2012

Email your BON explaining the situation, and the frequency of your extra hours. There comes a point when you are physically unsafe to work, and you must be relieved. Staffing is the responsibility of the hospital administration!! Get the board's opinion of this all in writing, or email so you know what your options are. It may be helpful to discuss what they said at a staff meeting- you will not be charged with abandonment if you give notice to the hospital that you CANNOT stay. Don't let them blackmail you with the loss of license crap.

MommyandRN · Jul 15, 2012

Good luck. I worked 3-11 and was mandated to 11-7 frequently a long time ago. It is hard. And I didn't have kids then. You should definitely look for another job. You are being mistreated. You say it is a "great place to work".... doesn't sound like it. Sounds like a really bad place to work if you are being mandated to stay that often. I think mandatory overtime is awful. But if it is being used, it should only be in an emergency situations. If they are doing it that often there is a bigger problem. Leave now!