Mandated time over you status! What can I Do?

P_RN, ADN, RN · Oct 21, 2001

What is the worst that could happen? You lose your job.

I don't think Indiana is a union state is it? Neither is SC. :rolleyes:

I don't understand what a p-8 is. Is that part-time? Do you get bennies?

I went along with 12 hours on our floor as my "patriotic duty" during the Gulf War.....to my regret. I never did function well on those long hours. Plus I had an hour commute each way.

At the time our floor was paying DOUBLE time for ANYONE to come work. We had folks crawling out of the woodwork. One weekend and you could buy a washer-dryer or take a cruise!

I didn't sign up for that then either. :rolleyes:

The way I see it is by mandating they get the equvalent of another employee-even at OT price-but WITHOUT having to provide ANY benefits for that other employee.

Chas. where are you to answer this?????

P

BadBird, BSN, RN · Oct 21, 2001

I have a great solution, go agency!!! It is the best thing I did.

I pick my hours, where I will work, have holidays off weekends off if I want them and doubled my salary. If your husband has benefits then you don't need to worry about full time as a staff nurse. Some agencies also offer benefits and health insurance. With the nursing shortage I work full time at the hospital I want to and the unit I select, I am not floated to other floors either.

Good luck

MRed94 · Oct 21, 2001

I agree about the agency post, I work 3 shifts a week most of the time, and make as much as if I worked 6. It is a great way to go if you don't rely on the insurance or other bennies.

Marla

Terrie · Oct 21, 2001

P-RN, They are not willing to pay over time if we go to 12 hr shifts . A P-8 is considered part time but is benifited. With my P-1 in ER it makes me full time.

Terrie · Oct 21, 2001

Thank you for al the responses. I would like to add this to my original post. Why is it that they can schedule us over our status? I hired in as a P-8 and went to a P-9 how can they make me work a P-10? Nurses are not slaves. When are we going to have a choice? :confused:

Cubby · Oct 22, 2001

Originally posted by Terrie
I work in CCU in a small community hospital and like everyone else we are short handed. Rumor has it that management is either going to schedule us over our status or mandate 12 hr shifts. I hired in as a p-8 ( Eight days per two weeks) and I work a p-1 in ER. This is what I hired in to do and I do not and connot work more than that. Itf they do the 12 hr shifts it interfers with my husbands job so I can not do this either. I have four children at home and they need me too.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can fight this?

If you do have to quit your job because of facility imposed new hours, Don't worry, there are plenty more. And I'm sure you will find one that suits you and your familys need better. Do what is right for your family, it's the ONLY thing that matters.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Oct 22, 2001

Sheila I should have said that!!

You said it all!

Do what is right for your family, it's the ONLY thing that matters.

nurse57 · Oct 22, 2001

I am told by a co-worker that there is a sign up at work saying that no one can request any holiday time off. I assume because of low staffing. Its not like I am going anywhere, but it annoys me that they can get by with that. I worked all major holidays last year. No union, I live in Texas, the right to work state! I will find out what it actually says when I go back to work.

Sundowner · Oct 22, 2001

I never stayed at a facility that refused to respect my life outside. I was for a time, a single mother, my husband and I had seperated for a year or so. I needed Christmas off, I needed thanksgiving off. If I had to work them, my children suffered, I don't allow my children to suffer!

I won't work at a facility that considers me their property. I have found a few facilities that respect families and a life outside of the work place.

The ultimate answer is agency. I will never again work Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, I will enjoy THanksgiving dinner. I make my own hours. It is almost like being your own boss.

rdhdnrs · Oct 22, 2001

Let me just play devil's advocate here for a minute. I am a single mother, working 3 12s a week 35 miles from home. I also work some PRN, maybe once a month, at a community hospital in my hometown.

My children are very precious to me, and I love spending time with them. However, when I became a nurse, I knew it is a 24-hour profession. People get sick and have babies on holidays, too. That we have to work a holiday or some extra time once in a while is the price we pay for our calling. I don't like working Christmas or mandatory overtime any more than anyone else, but sometimes, it's me or nobody.

Just one opinion.

Lisa

CareerRN · Oct 22, 2001

Originally posted by rdhdnrs
Let me just play devil's advocate here for a minute. I am a single mother, working 3 12s a week 35 miles from home. I also work some PRN, maybe once a month, at a community hospital in my hometown.
My children are very precious to me, and I love spending time with them. However, when I became a nurse, I knew it is a 24-hour profession. People get sick and have babies on holidays, too. That we have to work a holiday or some extra time once in a while is the price we pay for our calling. I don't like working Christmas or mandatory overtime any more than anyone else, but sometimes, it's me or nobody.
Just one opinion.
Lisa

Oh My God!!!

It is people who have attitudes like yours that have helped to make, or should I say trapped, the nursing profession in the mid evil ages.

This calling you refer and many others refer to is an excuse and a means which is used against us every day. Every time a nurse has a complaint about working conditions or pay, then there is someone on the other end who either directly refers to it or implies this calling thing.

It has been used for years to make us feel guilty and keep us in our places.

I joined the profession to help others who were suffering. I did not join to share in their suffering. I did not join a religious order in which poverty and servitude was required. If I would have wanted that kind of life I would have became a nun or a monk.

Your very attitude and the same shared by other hard liners is the reason why thousands of nurses have left or are planning to leave the profession. You and those like you are the main reason for the nursing shortage. When others stand up to complain or try to make changes to improve conditions, people who hold the same views as you do nothing except to try and make others feel guilty through a sense of shame.

Do you enjoy the fact that about half of the present nurses will not encourage others to join? Do you enjoy the fact that most nurses at the bedside are overworked, undervalued, and underpaid for the responsibilities they carry on their shoulders? Do you enjoy the fact that many nurses at the bedside have to deal with such poor working conditions? Do you enjoy using this shame tactic? You must because you have used it here.

I hope you enjoy the way the profession is because it is your fault and those who have the same arguments and views. You probably do not even work at the bedside in a hospital. More than likely you are one of the nurses who teach, manage, or something or something else to stay away from where the real problems are. There are a lot of them who will do anything to stay away but try to shame everyone else. They are so far out of the loop that they do not have a clue what it is really like.

I really hope you like what you have done to the profession as a whole. People who share your attitude are the professions biggest problem.