BirdieRN

Please reach out & discuss with your HR rep. Floating stresses everyone out, but your Autism can make it unbearable. This type of floating policy is not uncommon. The goal is, of course that everyone has adequate staffing. Please reach out to HR & request an accommodation. Possibly not to float or to only float to your base hospital or notifying you the evening before when you have to float. Think of ideas that will reduce your reaching / anxiety. Wishing you luck & be kind to yourself! Nursing is a hard gig! Doing it with Autism makes you a Rock Star!!

I find it interesting that no one brought Staffing up in this discussion. Most of the facilities have done this to be fiscally responsible & and to provide safe Staffing. Safety is hugely important especially for the night shift. At a previous facility the scheduling and Staffing committee actually had the staff vote on night shift standby hours. The 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. night shift staff would not be called in after 1 a.m. per their votes which meant the night shift staff would have to deal with any change in Acuity or census. The cost when ended leveling out with some overtime as opposed to calling someone in. Granted no one ever wanted to call someone in with just two hours left of their shift unless it was an emergency. What Staffing policy would you want to implement to ensure that staff was available when needed to support stay safe Staffing?

Use the timer/clock on your cell to remind you. We have timers in our lunch room so you can set and remember to clock back in when your'e done w/ lunch. Some facilities have staff punching in/out for lunch, instead of by omission as some described, because there have been issues regarding people not putting in the request for no lunch to the labor board. After that everyone has to punch in / out or have a CN sign for no lunch. Once it was made mandatory, and everyone was assigned a relief person for their meals, they started taking them. You're new, they're's a learning curve ;-)

You are exactly right. When used correctly PPs can give outline summaries, graphic examples, and even humor to sometimes vast amounts of information For those nursing instructors that know how to use them. THose that don't summairly read drone on endlessly. I would be willing to be the teachers who do this are not at the top of their game, and just trying to get by. One of the inspirations to those up and coming in the field is to keep your perspective fresh along with your techniques.

:redlight: Seriously??? I've worked in a hospital for 20 years. It is usually not the nurses having sex, it's housekeeping & dietary (and on those rare occasions, administration). Those positions are usually filled by younger, non-professional staff. A direct care patient nurse has very little time for anything extra, let alone sexual activities. This is a continued sexist belief. Physicians / Residents / Interns are another story. Where some facilities continue w/ double bunking of staff (either male or female) and the expectation is to be there for > 24, and a bed is provided, yes, sexual activity is much more prevelent among house staff.

Would like to add there was a med /surg manager position available, in addition to staff positions that were not allowable options from the administration. The Telemetry position was eliminated by combining two telemetry units, & the less experienced (lower paid) manager received that position. No disciplinary actions were ever given to the nurse manager. Never have I seen a manager without the basic knowledge of the unit hired. While many managers have clinical experience, the leadership experience is something that can be learned "on the job". What do you think?

Looking for anyone with relating experiences to mandatory nurse manager transfers in their facility. Recent experience with the following: Nurse manager of Telemetry was told she was going to be transfered to critical care. Nurse manager has no critical care experience. No education on critcal care was made available. Offer was refused, was deemed a "forced resignation". Nurse manager refused on the grounds that 50% of the position is paperwork 50% is staff evaluation, mentoring, education and training. Being unable to do half of the position puts patients being cared for at risk of inferior quality of care. Would love to know your opionions on this matter, especially if you have had any type of similar experience. Thanks

Good Luck! Consultants commonly come in to bring down your WHPPD. :trout: It is very difficult to come accross that information on line. One company will sell it to you, and I did purchase it. While it's costly ($150) it does give excellent break downs regarding what facilities are utilizing for their WHPPD. The ability to be as efficient as possible is key, but the best consultants aid on how to get to that point, not just throwing down a number and walking away. Good luck to you & your staff.