Hello Everyone,
I work about 50-55 hours a week (not incuding work related reading done at home). I have been in this job 6 months- was a staff nurse on the unit prior to this. My staff are unionized and there are provisions made in their contract to be compensated for each hour they work and for overtime they incur. Recently we have lost a few core staff members due to increased job opportunities in the OR that has recently become busier.
It is difficult to get staff to cover sick calls as we have very little extra staff right now and a lot of them are new to the unit and nursing. We are not allowed to mandate staff to come in and I am not sure that mandation would work as people would get good at ignoring their phones. Since Sept. 11, I have noticed a dramatic difference in the number of times people will actually come in at the drop of a hat to cover a sick call. The burden has been falling on me and a couple of wonderful staff nurses.
I am paid a straight salary and with the hours I work, I make less than my staff. On evenings, nights and weekends, there are nursing supervisors who are supposed to take care of things like staffing and other managerial issues when I am not at work.
I really like my managerial job, but I have been called by these supervisors at least once per week to cover the unit in some way.
I don't mind doing patient care (in fact, I miss it), but I feel as if these supervisors feel that I am supposed to "live" for the hospital 24 hours a day and to come in for free. One "supervisor" called me last Saturday to come in to work 7p to 9p since the day girls did not want to stay 2 hours past their shift while waiting for the 9pm person. So...the expectation is there- that I should come in on my weekend off to work 2 hours for free. Managers at this hospital are not compensated for coming in like the staff are. My boss says that I can take compensatory time..."Comp time" is an illusion as the pile of work is always there waiting for you no matter what comp time you take. No one does it for you while you are gone. There are times I have wished for a fairy godmother!!
Sometimes, my working as a staff nurse shows that I care about patients and staff and I feel like a team player when I do it, BUT for the most part- I feel that some of the staff really do not care if I have family life as long as they are getting their 4 days off per week. I also feel that some of them may secretly have some satisfaction in seeing me work all kinds of odd hours.
Most of my staff members have the this lack of understanding regarding the "life" of a manager with the exception of a few. One of my staff members was a manager not too long ago and one of my most helpful staff. Thank God for her and her sense of humor! I need to be careful not to tire her out!
:kiss :roll
Due to the difficulties in covering the unit and for patient safety reasons, I felt the need to initiate a call schedule. I do not think it is much to ask the nurses working three 12 hour shifts/wk to take a shift of call every week or two. They get paid for every hour they work and paid to be on call. When they are called in, they get time and one half for each hour worked. Some of my staff feel that I am expecting a lot- and one member verbalized that I should make myself a part of the call group in addition to my managerial job and responsibilities. She didn't say much more after I told her that my being on call and working the unit thereafter is a "freebie".
For those of you who may be thinking that I should hire more staff: the people are NOT there. I have "stolen" as many of the med/surg nurses as I can and I continue to look for new nurses everyday. On one hand, my staff say that they are "burning out" due to orienting new people to the unit and on the other hand, they ask me to hire more people. I could use per diem nurses, but my some of my unionized staff do not want them in our unit. Administration has also discouraged us from using per diems to cover for vacations this summer.
In light of the national nursing shortage, lack of extra staff in my unit, and the fact that we already have so many new nurses on nights, do you think that I am asking too much with having a call schedule to cover our unit? I feel that the burden of staffing should be shared by the whole team until we hire more staff.
I would like to know what the rest of you are doing out there and if you have a problem with having a couple of days off to yourself or any part of "a life"?? Are you expected to be at the beck and call of the hospital 24 hours a day? How are you handling the nursing shortage?
I am new at this and welcome any comments.
Thanks!