Required to work as PCA instead of being cancelled!

[Lovemyjobrn]

Has this happened to anyone? Went in to the hospital I was scheduled to work at today...when i reported in they realized they were fully staffed and said: since we have to pay you 4 hours anyway, we are short an Aide, so we need you to work as a PCA for the 4 hours. i'm thinking....can they do this??

I called my agency and they said i "had to". This really bothered me...not that i am above an aides work...but that's not what i was booked for or what i went to school for! Also this hospital is notorious for cancelling due to poor scheduling. I ended up getting vitals then went to house super and said I'm leaving. Just curious if this is common place.... thanx

[schroeders_piano, RN]

I was placed on low census once. Instead of sending me home, they had me helping environmental services. Heck, for $28/hr I'll mop any floor. It felt like a night off.

Schroeder

[eddy]

I was placed on low census once. Instead of sending me home, they had me helping environmental services. Heck, for $28/hr I'll mop any floor. It felt like a night off.

Schroeder

That's awesome! I'd do it without hesitation. If I'm still being paid the rate I was promised as a nurse, I wouldn't consider it below me at all. Instead, I'd be thankfulllllll that they were generous enough to OFFER me a way to not go home virtually empty handed.

I'll take an overpaid mop detail any day! :)

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

Since they had to pay the same you no matter what job you did or if you stayed or not...

I don't understand why they didn't just lighten up the nursing assignments, therefore creating one more assignemnt for you. That way, being short an aide wouldn't have been such a big thing since you'd all have decent assignments and more time to spend with each patient?

I don't work med-surg anymore, but I just don't understand why this wasn't done, since they had to pay you the same amount anyways.

[txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN]

If I am at my own job I will do anything from mopping to cleaning baseboards. However, when I work agency and get cancelled upon arrival I am leaving with my 2-4 hr inconvience pay. They are paying you because they can't get their stuff straight and cancel folks 2 hours prior to shift, not to work as a aide.