Missed a call for an on-call shift

[BabyLady]

It's been awhile since I have posted.

I have always prided myself in being professional and I make myself available to work as much as possible.

I work the night shift and I am one of those people that can go to bed that night after sleeping all day.

I was on call tonight...and they made a really big deal before I left the previous night to fully expect to work tonight at 6:00 because they were on high census.

I slept all day, washed my uniforms, got up, took a shower, fully expecting to work.

It came 6:00 ....no phone call...so I called them, and they decided to "work with the staff that they had" which meant that a couple of nurses probably got higher assignments than normal.

I was disappointed because I needed the money.

So at 10:30...I went to bed.

At 11:00...they called.

Guess what? I have a Blackberry and I got up around 3:00 a.m. and checked my phone for e-mails and discovered that I had 3 missed calls...I ALWAYS hear my phone ring.

So I tried to call from my house phone and discovered that my ringtones were not working.

I called work immediately, offered to come in right then, they ended up calling someone else in for me....and I know darn good and well that several of my coworkers probably got woke up in the middle of the night trying to get someone to cover for me.

I cannot tell you how embarrassed I was....what makes it worse is that this is the SECOND time I have missed a call from work because my Blackberry ringtones suddenly stopped working and required the phone to be rebooted in order to get them to work.

The only reason my work doesn't have my house phone number is that the clericals that work the day shift think NOTHING of calling night shift people at 11:00 am., 1:00 pm...whatever...for non-emergent reasons..even if you are already scheduled that night...calls that can easily wait another 3 to 4 hours.

It's hard enough to sleep during the day...so when I get woke up, I'm up. I can't get back to sleep and have to work that night severely sleep deprived which isn't safe.

I called and offered to come in on the day shift if they needed help...charge nurse wasn't exactly nice about it.

Now I can't get back to sleep because there is nothing that I hate worse than looking like an idiot at work and now I'm worried about getting in trouble on Monday with my manager...which I fully expect to happen because they see this no different than a no-call, no show.

Those of you that have experience on the night shift much longer than me....how does your hospital handle these? Is some sympathy given? Or do they not care that sometimes technology fails.

I would love to go to my cell phone company tomorrow and get a different phone, but I am 8 months from a contract ending and it would cost me over $200 to make the change.

Any advice and encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

[Super_RN, BSN, RN]

And the assumption that there is so much work going without workers, that nurses have the pick of any job their heart desires. No nurse is ever, ever out of work, even in a recession.

And my hospital is laying off.

[caliotter3]

And my hospital is laying off.

I got laid off from a nursing job. Imagine the look on interviewer's faces when I told them my employer was downsizing and I was one of the lucky ones. They were perplexed that I was looking for anything and everything instead of nursing jobs. This was almost 20 years ago. Seems nothing has changed, except now everyone else has the same explanation and nobody looks down on them for being a victim of the economy.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

OP: one more possible solution. You say that the ringtone problem can only be fixed by rebooting your Blackberry. There is a freeware application called QuickPull that will reboot your Blackberry for you--you can run it any time or schedule it to automatically reboot your device every day. You can find it on the Crackberry website, which you can Google since I'm not sure posting its URL is allowed. Set it to run every night (I do), then that should help reduce the ringtone problem--at the least, any problem won't last more than a day.

I hope everything at work went all right, and that you are doing/have done something to address the problem. With all respect, I will be blunt: your employer may see your attitude about this problem and the excuses in the exact same way as many of the posters here do. And we're not the ones you have to convince that you're serious about fixing this problem--they are, because they're the one who holds your job in their hands.

Look at the long-range picture: you need this job. You've said that yourself. Show them you're serious about fixing the problem...even if you have to settle for a solution you don't like 100%. And if you're not willing to do something to fix the problem, then you have to accept there may be negative consequences.

Again, best of luck.

[laynaER]

What? you can't find a job? how so? nurses are in demand! there's a shortage of nurses! how can you not find a job!!!!

lol

[Super_RN, BSN, RN]

I got laid off from a nursing job. Imagine the look on interviewer's faces when I told them my employer was downsizing and I was one of the lucky ones. They were perplexed that I was looking for anything and everything instead of nursing jobs. This was almost 20 years ago. Seems nothing has changed, except now everyone else has the same explanation and nobody looks down on them for being a victim of the economy.

I have already secured another job, but I have 7 years experience. I feel really bad for the newer RN's who can't find a job d/t lack of experience. Crazy times.

[Lala27poodles]

OKAY ONCE AGAIN.

I'm SO SORRY that me telling people they should SET BACK money for an important job that they enjoy has offended so many people. ????

You're right. You should spend that money on whatever you want, and no one ever give you financial advice! EVER! Even when you obviously need it lol!

From now on, since I'm not yet a nurse, I will keep my mouth shut about things like money, and stuff that has really nothing to do with actual nursing. Because evidently getting my RN title makes me somehow more validated on non-nursing issues. How high and mighty......

And one more thing....is this really how you guys treat people in your community just because they have a difference of opinion? You call them out, make personal attacks......? I didn't tell the OP to save the money no matter what because I hate her, I did it because I thought I was HELPING. I don't post to hurt people in some way......

[cherrybreeze, ADN, RN]

OKAY ONCE AGAIN.

I'm SO SORRY that me telling people they should SET BACK money for an important job that they enjoy has offended so many people. ????

You're right. You should spend that money on whatever you want, and no one ever give you financial advice! EVER! Even when you obviously need it lol!

From now on, since I'm not yet a nurse, I will keep my mouth shut about things like money, and stuff that has really nothing to do with actual nursing. Because evidently getting my RN title makes me somehow more validated on non-nursing issues. How high and mighty......

And one more thing....is this really how you guys treat people in your community just because they have a difference of opinion? You call them out, make personal attacks......? I didn't tell the OP to save the money no matter what because I hate her, I did it because I thought I was HELPING. I don't post to hurt people in some way......

That's all you said? You really do believe that, don't you?

You didn't give*financial advice*, you said that an RN can afford (insert whatever here). That's not advice, that's an (incorrect) assumption.

You'll keep your mouth shut about things that "have nothing to do with actual nursing?" You specifically, repeatedly discussed a nurses' salary, when you don't even know what it is (it can vary widely due to specialty, region, etc).

You didn't talk about saving money, at least not right away, you came out of the gate saying the cost can't possibly be a concern.

[GadgetRN71, ASN, RN]

OKAY ONCE AGAIN.

I'm SO SORRY that me telling people they should SET BACK money for an important job that they enjoy has offended so many people. ????

You're right. You should spend that money on whatever you want, and no one ever give you financial advice! EVER! Even when you obviously need it lol!

From now on, since I'm not yet a nurse, I will keep my mouth shut about things like money, and stuff that has really nothing to do with actual nursing. Because evidently getting my RN title makes me somehow more validated on non-nursing issues. How high and mighty......

And one more thing....is this really how you guys treat people in your community just because they have a difference of opinion? You call them out, make personal attacks......? I didn't tell the OP to save the money no matter what because I hate her, I did it because I thought I was HELPING. I don't post to hurt people in some way......

I think what happened was, this thread got away from the root of the problem. The root of the problem was the OP goofed by not being available for call. Granted, the cell phone failed(which does happen) but if you have a job where call is expected, they have to be able to reach you. Period. If this means giving them your landline number, then that's what you do.

I do find that the whole call concept is difficult for many in the mother/baby branch of nursing. In my last facility, L&D called us one night wanting us to send up a tech to scrub a C-Section. The reason? "Our call person doesn't want to come in.." We were very busy ourselves so we ended up telling them they were SOL.

People just chose to seize on the money aspects but really, what it comes down to is your job has to be a priority. Maybe not your ultimate #1 priority, but it's important. Your employer has every right to expect to be able to reach you if you're on call. They have every right to discipline you if they can't, especially if it's happened several times.