Pulled to another shift!!!

[deespoohbear]

I am a dayshift person. I work 7a-7p full time. I have been with my current employer for almost 8 years. Due to the high turnover of nurses, I am about 5th on the list for seniority for our department, out of about 35. The past few years, our nursing management has made some deals with other nurses to be able to keep them. Some of the nurses wanted to go to "baylor" (weekend option) on 7p-7a, so they were obliged. So now our regular night crew doesn't have to work weekends, because of all the baylor people covering that shift. But the day shift crew is working every 3rd still, with no extra compensation. Which of course, has the day shift crew riled up. Now we will add salt to the wound, and rub it in. Since the baylor people don't have to work holidays unless the holiday falls on their weekend, guess who gets stuck filling in the 3p-11p shifts? The day shift people. I had to work Christmas 3-11, and now I have to work New Year's Eve 3-11. Two other day shifters got pulled also, and they are as upset as I am. We weren't even asked. And the other thing that ticks us off about this, is that the people working day shift have A LOT less seniority than the three of us that got pulled. Seniority doesn't mean squat at our facility.....One of the nurses has already threatened to call in but the DON heard about it and told the one nurse that she would be disciplined if she calls in...love be treating like a bunch of 5 year olds....

Anyone have any ideas on how me and my co-workers can handle this unfair situation? Thanks for letting me blow off steam.......

[cindyln]

Well all I can say is that sucks!!! I work permanent 7a-7p and whenever a 7p-7a nurse is on vacation I get pulled to that shift.Boy do I scream!! And to top it off,they never get pulled to cover days! WTF!!

[sjoe]

dees writes: " our nursing management has made some deals with other nurses to be able to keep them."

Doesn't that give you any ideas?

Remember the motto:

[SmilingBluEyes]

Let's face it---nightshift sucks. You have little ancillary support at night. The doctors are much less than courteous and helpful when you are forced to call them at night. You never get enough sleep. All the classes and meetings we have to attend are on DAY shift hours. All the luncheons/events are on day shift and we get the cold leftovers if we are lucky. When there is just ONE class we have to go to----one call-in----one person on vacation---one "whatever" that makes a change to the schedule, traditionally, we have gotten stuck covering it where I work. We now no longer have sufficient personnel on nights to cover us if there is JUST ONE SICK CALL....gee wonder why. The solution where I work? Call agency in. (hmmm that spawns another idea...different thread). Where I work, Day shift rarely covers us. Day shift is also MUCH fatter-staffed where I work. Hardly makes the differential worth it....anyhow-- ok too much junk, so, what's my point?

There are reasons many people don't work nights many places, as illustrated above. I think your nightshift crew very resourcefully found what works for them and got mgt. to buy off on it. So why blame them if they come up with a viable solution to what likely was a miserable situation for them? Who should not try the same? There ARE resources out there to fill those holes or cover what is not currently. I suggest those be explored. Like sjoe says, don't take the crap lying down. Night shift didn't .....DO something about it. Or realize you are stuck..... Or move on.......there are alternatives. I wish you luck!

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I work a level one trauma center ED where I'm a night charge nurse. We have been staffing with travellers for the last 8 months with no end in sight due to our high turnover. I've beenin the same place for almost 7 years and desperately want to go to days, but since I'm an experienced nurse, that's not going to happen anytime soon. We don't cover any shift except our own and sometimes we can't even cover that!!!

[hoolahan, ASN, RN]

Why shouod they not have to work a Holiday unless it is on a weekend? They should have t work w everyone else on that. Tour manager is cow-towing to the Baylor people, maybe they would like their hospital to be open only on weekends??

Frankly, I would take the discipline and call out, send a strong message. If they won't change the holiday policy, the least you guys should be able to do is your own holiday schedule. What we used to do is post a sign up list for the four big days xmas eve, xmas, NYeve and NY. Peole would sign up, number their chioces. 99% of the time everyone got what they wanted. I ususally did 3-11 xmas eve and xmas or both eves. Believe it or not, I was lucky enough to usually get xmas off. In 13 years there, I worked 2 xmas days. There were always other people who wanted NY off more, so we usually got what we wanted.

The manager was MORE than happy to turn over the holiday scheduling to someone else as well. Since everyone got what they wanted, we had very little if any call-outs too.

Much better than being treated like babies!!!

[JNJ]

traumaRUs: If your unit is using travelers, you can negotiate an indpendent contract getting agency type pay per hour e.g. $65-85 (which is what the agency is charging, not paying the travelers). Facilities are desperate to keep qualified staff and will do this with the right approach. They are getting a known person with skills. They will likely ask you to keep your contract quiet and write in a 'do not publicise or recruit' type clause, but you will have blazed a trail. Eventually other RNs will do this, your facility will be well staffed with permanent staff etc. See the nurse entrepreneur subject area on this site or independentrn.com for detailed help (you'll need to be a member, but the info is valuable, helpful and real.) Empower yourself.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

deespoohbear....oh yeah, been there done that.

[Jenny P]

All I can say is that really SUCKS! Seniority should count for something, and if it doesn't, I'd leave. They want to mess with the senior nurses, then maybe they should lose the people that they treat that way.

Hoolihan, Baylor shifts allow the other nurses to work less weekends. I've just gone to an evening baylor shift myself and that means I work EVERY weekend. This gives my co-workers the ability to work only every third weekend instead of every other weekend. It also means that I won't be accompanying my DH to many social functions because I'm working weekends--when the rest of the world has time off to socialize. Right now I don't work holidays because I've been here for over 20 years, but now that I'm starting Baylor, they are checking the contract to see what happens when the holidays DO fall on the weekend. Right now it appears that in 3 years I will be working 3 straight years of working Christmas Eve, Christmas Night, New Years Eve, and New Years' Night if I'm still on Baylor then.

[hapeewendy]

I had to delete an incredibly intelligent sounding

post out of paranoia of being discovered..wahhhhhhh

they really are out to get you...

anyway I know what youre goin thru first hand

and it sucks, I dont know what you can do , here we have a union and many ppl have filed grievences against our present manager, whether it will make any difference is yet to be determined...

good luck friend

[BadBird, BSN, RN]

Yes, you are getting screwed. Good for the night shift and Baylor nurses, now you day shifters need to negotiate, stick together and changes will occur, just continue to bytch and management will walk all over you. Good luck.

[DIPLOMATICRN4HIRE, MSN, RN]

It seems if you have worked one holiday you should be off on the other. Even though the experience is what keeps you or the fact that management says thats why your needed that day , inform them they are experienced as well. Your being screwed. nothing more nothing less. I do hope you get a solution soon. You seem very dedicated to your hospital its a shame they dont see it that way.

Zoe