max1x

Thanks for the reply Nancy. You're darn right it is mandatory overtime, and the fact that it is being done merely to cover holes in the schedule and call outs makes me feel I need a shot of compazine, cause I just want to vomit!! IMO it is not a coincidence that this is being done at a time when many staff have quit (or been fired by our battle-axe of a DON, but that's another story). I'm sure management has been running the numbers, and they have figured out that if they have to fill all the holes in the schedule with pool nurses this will put them way over budget. So they plan to fix their budgetary problems by placing yet another burden on the staff nurses! BTW, this is the same hospital that (in management's infinite wisdom) began admitting pts from the ER to the hallway on med-surg floors. I kid you not, pts were admitted to the HALLWAY!!! to clear out the ER in a timely fashion to improve their Press-Gainey scores!!! We had to care for pts on a stretcher in the hallway, until a real bed was available. Fortunately someone called the state health dept., and management was forced to change their evil ways.

Thanks for the reply. The short answer is: no; and no. We have no contract to check, and we are not union. We are at the mercy of Fearless Leader, who euphemistically answers to the title of nurse manager. Needless to say, most of the staff are very unhappy about this, and many are planning to quit if this goes through. However, most (if not all) the nurses on my unit (except me of course!!) are unwilling to speak up and complain about this. They will quietly gripe and complain amongst themselves, while continuing to kiss Fearless Leader's butt, right up until the time they quit and take their services elsewhere! I guess I can't blame them, because Fearless Leader's standard answer to complaint's like this is "well, if you don't like it, there's the door!" For what it's worth, she (the nurse manager) is a dedicated nurse who genuinely cares about pts. and quality care; but her leadership and management skills are nonexistent, and it shows. I don't yet know how this will play out. One small hope: house bill 834 to ban mandatory overtime recently passed the PA house of representatives. I'm not sure if it applies to "on call" though.

Well, get this! The hospital where I work in Philadelphia is planning to force us to take on call. This is being done because management has decided it is cheaper to force the staff to work overtime than it is to pay pool or agency nurses to cover holes in the schedule. My nurse manager even told me this when I pressured her for a straight answer why this was being done. We will not be paid anything for being on call, not a dime! If we get called in we get our regular pay, plus overtime for anything over 40hrs per week. Is it legal to force people to be on call on their days off and not pay them for it? Also, nurses that work in the OR are paid for being on call, but us med-surg scut-monkeys will not be.

Is being forced to be "on call" and getting called in to work on your day off (thus forcing you to work beyond 40 hrs per week) considered mandatory overtime? I tend to think it is, since 1) it's mandatory, and 2) it's overtime. The hospital where I work in Philly is planning to force us to do this. This is not to cover "emergencies" but is being done simply because it is cheaper to force the staff to work overtime than using pool or agency nurses to cover holes in the schedule. My nurse managed told me this when I pressed her for a straight answer about why this is being done. We will not even be paid for being on call. We will be paid only if we are called in to work.

I've been waiting for the Calif. staffing laws to spread to the rest of the country. As far as I know, no other state has adopted those (or similar) mandatory nurse-patient ratios. This is not surprising, since the healthcare industry has spent more money fighting this than it would likely cost them to just hire more nurses. This worked in Calif because the nurses there organized as a group and demanded this. This is what we all need to do.

The OP stated she had already met with the nurse manager. In my experience, if the place really needed nurses, and they were actually hiring, the NM would be wanting to get the nurse onboard ASAP.

As others have said, once you pass the boards you have every right to identify yourself as an RN. No employer has the right to prevent you from doing this. The RN title is granted by state law. Employers can't mess with that. Some employers try to make titles ambiguous so that patients won't find out how few real RNs they have; and how much care is provided by ancillary staff.

Lots of people ask me (perhaps because I'm a guy) if I like nursing, and if it is a good career. My standard reply "Well there is a REASON that there is alsways a nursing shortage". This is the reason why. Everyone knows why there is always a nursinf shortage. It is beacause the salary and working conditions mean that few people would ever want to do this. Employers know there are 2 ways to solve the shortage: 1) improve the salaries and working conditions. 2) import lots of immigrant nurses from third world countries who will be more likely to tolerate the salary and working conditions just to escape crushing poverty in their home countries. It is clear the heal care industry has chosen option #2 If it sucks where you work, then either speak up and complain, or find someplace else to work. However, it just may suck just as bad at another hospital. Choose carefully.

I have seen these people advertize on TV http://www.assuranthealth.com/corp/ah/ I have no idea how good they are. They do advertize that they provide flexible health plans based on a persons needs.

My guess is that the place is not begging for nurses at the moment. If they were, they would be eager to get any warm body with a nursing license on the job ASAP. Also, they could be having a budget crisis (y'know, the kind that affects nurse staffing levels but not much else), and they are not eager to hire at the moment. Either way, you have the right to a straight answer. Keep asking until you get one!

If you want to make a lot of money, but have very little free time, go to medical school. If you can be happy with a decent salary (but a lot less than a doctors salary) and you value your leisure time, go to nursing school. I only work 36 hours per week (3 12hr shifts per week). I make 60-65K, and I have more leisure time than anyone I know!

When was the last time anyone saw employers random drug testing doctors or pharmacists? Drug abuse among those professions is just as common as with nurses. Most MDs and pharmacists would likely never tolerate such an insult as random drug testing. As nurses, we are expected to take what ever crap comes our way.

It was Ben Franklin who said: "He who would sacrifice essential liberty for some temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security". As we are forced to give up more and more of our privacy rights; I fear the day will come when many people will forget that we once had privacy rights! I think the reason more employers do not do random testing is because it usually is found to be not cost effective. Testing for cause is just as effective as random testing everyone. Also, random testing does promote an atmosphere of mistrust among employees.