Nikki Nurse

The ANCC (American Nurses Credentialing Center) is the body who gives the "magnet" recognition and they are part of the ANA (American Nurses Association). One of the things that they encourage is getting nurses "certified" in their speciality. Well guess who does this? You guessed it,they are! They charge hospital up to $80,000 to get magnet status and then they make up to $480 from each nurse who takes the exam to get certified. By the way who covers this expense? After you get certified you must get 125 hours of CEU's to maintain certification. Once again, who pays.. probably you! Since a large portion of those CEU's must be related to your speciality and they are often difficult to find , guess who can provide them? They can ( for another fee of course). So it's up to $480 for the exam and even at $10 per credit hour, the 125 CEU's will be $1,250. What do you get for $1,730??? How exactly does becoming certified make our jobs better ? Do we get more pay? Lord knows we'll need it to pay for all of this. Does it help our nurse patient ratios? Does it get us guaranteed breaks and lunch? Better benefits? More vacation time? WHAT THEN? Oh yes, Magnet Status for the hospital. I hope somebody got a new Mercedes for this Magnet status idea. Better yet, how about a cut of the massive profits. I just wish it had of been my idea.

A few thoughts: 1. Scheduled 15 minute breaks 2. A 30 minute lunch break 3. Treat us with adult respect, not like children. Don't talk down and think we'll look up. 4. Don't "rule" with an iron fist. Most don't respect that sort of manager. 5.approve vacation time. 6.ask where the "issues" are and what we , as a team, can do to improve them. Those in the trenches know what the problems are and often know the answers to fix them. 7.ask for both sides of a story prior to writing anyone up. Just because a doc complains doesn't always mean he is right or even telling the truth. If needed ask others who were witnesses. 8. Don'tmake employees feel like they have to call in "ill" to get much needed time off (funerals,weddings, family members who have surgery or are very ill,etc.) because if it is that important to them they won't be there anyway. Just approve it and figure how to deal without that person since you will have to anyway. 9.look for the good in the employee and thank them (personally, not by e-mail) 10. Lead by example. You will get what you give.

Legally, when you are too tired and no longer feel safe tell the supervisor. They then should relieve you; if not, they become responsible for your actions or lack thereof( at least thats what our State Board of Nursing states in so many words). Check with your State Board. As far as no potty or lunch breaks...well, thats what unions are all about!! Why is it that so many facilities in this day and age treat nurses like modern day slaves? Better yet, why do we allow it? They wonder why nurses join unions but just look at all of the stories of what I consider to be ABUSE. Many sound like stories that you would think only happened a hundred years ago but not so.

Magnet status means having to put up with a lot of B.S. like making nurses get certified ( as if being a registered nurse isn't good enough), having to crawl a clinical ladder if you want the huge 2% raise,holding job fairs,making action plans, lots of posters and other such B.S.... I personally went into nursing to take care of patients. Just give us better nurse patient ratios so we are able to give good patient care; give us a reasonable wage without having to join a union; and give us some benefits. Get your community status by some other method!

Look up the FSLA (Fair Labor Standards Act), find what you need, copy it and present it to whomever is asking you to do this. It is simply illegal!

Look up the FLSA ( Fair Labor Standards Act), find what you need , copy it and give it to whomever is asking you to do this. It simply is not legal !

After finding out the legal aspect of this horrible issue (what contitutes "abandonment" from your State Board )I would get a group of nurses to complete the case which you are doing which is close to shift change and then ALL check out with whoever is in charge. Let them know that you have not accepted or even met the next patient who is in pre-op and that they currently have a nurse who is caring for them and that you will be leaving... and then do just that! Leave as a group. Things will then change. It sounds like you need some sort of call schedule so at least you'll know when you may have to stay late and you can plan your life around your call schedule as it sounds like you'll always be staying on your call night. Find out if this would constitute abandonment prior to implementing it but I bet that it does not. I wish you the best.

To TAZ 628...Not to change the subject but just want to know if you know what the criteria is to obtain "magnet" status ? I have tried all sorts of web sights and allnurse.com but with no luck. If you have a list can you post under Magnet Status? Any assistance would be appreciated.

Good reason why nurses should not accept any "salaried" position I suppose. If you don't work for a flat salary then the U.S. Dept of Labor states " hospital or residential care establishments may with the AGREEMENT AND UNDERSTANDING with employees adopt a fixed work period of 14 consecutive days and pay overtime after 8 hours in a day or 80 hours in the workperiod, WHICHEVER IS GREATER."

The U.S. Dept of Labor states "hospital or residential care establishments may with AGREEMENT AND UNDERSTANDING with employees adopt a fixed work period od 14 consecutive days and pay overtime after 8 hours in a day or 80 in the workperiod, whichever is GREATER.

Illegal period! The Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) states that compensatory time off in lieu of cash is not permitted. I encourage you to look up the LAWS and present them to you Human Resources Dept.

Is there any possibility that this doc has a "vested interest" in this laser company?

Does the doc have some sort of "vested interest" in the quacks? Could it be that he actually owns the lasers and has hired these folks to run them? He would then be collecting the rental fees from your facility to pad his own pocket. It wouldn't be the first time that I had heard of this sort of thing. I have heard stories of physicians owning a "company" who supplies different "equipment" and then refusing to use any other company...get the drift? Might be something that you want to have checked out by your facility.

In response to BADPHISH (above)...I have reason to believe that we are all happy to have jobs but that doesn't mean that we should allow them to cheat us out of overtime pay which the Wage and Hours LAWS (Fair Labor Standards Act) state are due to us!!! Unfortunately this sort of mentality is why they continue to give us the shaft! Why is it that so many nurses seem scared to stand up for their RIGHTS? Learn the laws, bring them to the attention of your work place, even if done by an sending a copy of the laws to your Human Resources Dept, and if there is no resolution, get in contact with your states wage and hour division and they will do an investigation free of charge. If found guilty of breaking the law they WILL make them pay and stop their cheating ways!

In response to Ocankhe (above) when I read the Wage and Hour Laws it states that for a 80 hour pay period they must pay the HIGHER of either 80 hours per pay period or 8 hours per day. It appears that they must still pay overtime if you work EITHER more than 8 hours in any one day or more than 80 hours in an 80 hour payperiod.