What is the cancellation/on-call policy at your facility? Last week, my facility instituted a new/updated on-call/cancellation policy. Basically, nurses are no longer cancelled, they are placed on-call, for their whole shift, up to the last two hours of their shift. Additionally, nurses are now being paid $3.00 per hour, for every hour they are on-call. Personal time can be used in addition to this new on-call premium, or nurses can elect not to use their personal time and only receive the $3.00 per hour. Previously, nurses were paid zero/zilch/nada/nothing for being on-call (which only lasted for up to 4hours, at which time the nurse was either cancelled for the rest of the shift or called to report to work by 11am/2300hrs).
So, the differences in the new policy are: Nurses are not cancelled, they are placed on-call for their whole shift (up to 5am/1700hrs); nurses are paid an on-call payment of $3.00 per every hour they are on-call; nurses can be called to work at anytime during their shift once they are placed on-call; and nurses can be placed on-call as late as 2 hours before their shift begins. Also, nurses are to report within 1hour after being notified they need to come to work.
As you might imagine, there are more negative responses towards this policy than positive responses. For example, night shift nurses are especially concerned about their safety/leaving their homes in the dead of night (sleepy, driving, safety); many nurses live more than an hour away; since nurses are now on-call their whole shift, other plans still cannot be made or events will be missed because there is no longer a time limit that a nurse can reasonably expect not to be called in to work (even at 2am or 4am); once a nurse is called in, the nurse is guaranteed to work the rest of the shift. More than a few single nurses with young children have been asking, "What am I supposed to do with my child(ren) once I am placed on call?" One nurse mentioned that she uses a night-care service, but she cannot drop off her child after 8pm.
To be fair, so far, those of us who have been placed on-call were called either not called in to work at all, or were called at 2am (night shift) notifying us that we were not needed for the rest of our shift. But, I think many of us had already decided that we were going to bed, whether we were called or not.
I predict that not many nurses will be signing up for overtime because those on OT are usually the first to be cancelled, and now, since there is no cancellation, only on-call, why put yourself in the position to wait around to be called for only $3.00? At least, if you only work your 3-12hr shifts, it is unlikely that you will be cancelled (or rare), and if you are not scheduled on a given day, if the census is high, they will call you and ask you to work (at least in this case, you're not waiting to be called to come in after being placed on-call).
Let me close by saying these are the kinds of policies that I believe put good, competent, staff in the position or mindset to leave the unit/employer/profession. At the very least, policies like these put nurses more at risk of receiving disciplinary warnings because they are made to feel there is no work-life balance. Other nurses talk about how, "All this is not worth $3.00," and still others say, "Well, they're gonna write me up because how can I be expected to come in at 1am or even 3am, and work for the rest of my shift." The nurses who are single parents feel even more stress because they feel their kids' safety and lives are now at risk.
Bottom-line: many nurses are saying, "It seems no matter what, nothing gets better for us; we're damned if we do, damned if we don't. Management just doesn't care about us, yet, we're supposed to be the caring/compassionate profession."
What say you? Maybe you have some good suggestions, thoughts, and ideas!
