I am a Nursing Director at a very small rural facility. Our professional staff is also limited, and we do not have a pool to draw from, so when we have sick call ins it really impacts on remaining staff. Do any of you out there have policies that require staff calling in sick on their weekend to work to make up that weekend time to releive the staff that covered for them?
We have never such a policy, but are seriously considering it, I am sure that there will be strong opposition and any policy relative to this topic that you would be willing to share I would be most grateful for. We are not union, but the staff does have a committee that reviews personnel issuses and petitions administration for wages etc.
I have experienced those that needed "mental health days" and they usually fall on a weekend...but hey! we are nurses and human beings and we DO get ill just like our patients! I think an ideal staff would pull to gether and help eachother. I have done that, worked to help cover shifts and given up my weekends to help out. What I found out tho, the management that I worked for didnt give a hoot.
SO I use that as an example now that I am a manager and remember how I felt . I am new at this but boy, kind words and THANK YOUS go a long way. It is good to respect the people you manage and good to get respect back. That's the only way it works. Occasionally you will have one that doesnt give respect but coworkers learn fast . Evaluations are good for that subject.
At the facility where I work we are scheduled everyother weekend. We tried the make - up if you call in and we found that at times we would be so short staffed one weekend and way over staffed another. It doesnt work (at least there). how about discipline those who abuse sick time? OF course we had a nurse disciplined for over use of sick time. She had cancer and had to be off for treatments. I thought that was ridiculous to write her up. The best thing we have done was get in house pool. Not all options work in all facilities.
I for one get very upset when nurses come to work sick for 2 reasons 1 it is unfair to put the pts at risk of catching whatever it is that the nurse has and 2 I have lupus/fibro and would be very angry if the sick nurse gave me what she had. All that said the policy where I work sucks as we have to make up ANY day we call off unless we have personal hrs to cover it. To me it is cold, heartless and not very smart on the part of management to encourage nurses to come into work while ill. I realize there are plenty that abuse the calling off thing and they are the ones who should be penalized. A point system may help It wouldnt take any time at all to figure out the culprits of abuse and then using the points they could penalized while allowing the truely ill nurses the privelige of being human.
Specializes in Interventional Pain Mgmt NP; Prior ICU and L/D RN.
WOW!!! This is certainly a topic for debate!!! There are sure a lot of ruffled feathers around here....geez! First let me tell you what our policy states. A staff member (means all levels of staff) is supposed to call in 4hrs before their shift is to start (to try to give time for a replacement). If they call in on the weekend they are to make it up the next weekend if there is a hole. This was started because soooo many staff were simply calling out for mental health days! Sometimes in small groups so they could go "out".
It is very seldom that this get's adhered to, but it does at times. Every staff member knows the policy. We as charge nurses take the sick calls...I don't ask them why they are calling out, they are grown adults and I am not their keeper. But let me say, we all know the chronic ones who call out all the time (no one is sick that often unless they have a chronic illness!!) If you are out for >3 days you are supposed to get a doctors note and go by occupational health to get cleared. If you want a weekend off or some certain day off that you scheduled yourself (we have self scheduling) it is not a big deal; you find someone to switch with and the charge nurse can validate it for you with their initials. You don't have to go through management for it. This is supposed to help stop people from calling out (and does to some extent)
Do I personally have a problem with the sick policy..No not exactly. If you are sick; you are sick...it is there to deter those from just simply not wanting to work. We aren't sticklers to the covering the next weekend thing, those that are truely sick usually ask if there is a hold they can cover later in the week anyway to keep their pay (especially since if you are
I personally have only called out 2 days in 5 yrs of employment at my facility. That's not to get kudo's; I just don't believe in leaving my co-workers short just b/c I don't want to work one night. The 2 days I did call out I was extremely ill with a stomach thing going around at the time. My manager had already put my sick time in for me before I came back and made the comment "boy you really must have been sick to call out b/c you never call out". I believe in work ethics, it is your job, you made a committment to work, you should be there. I do have kids (3 of them) and do not have a problem for moms/dads calling out b/c their kids are sick, I fortunately have a husband who stays home with the children. (Not that the MOM part isn't saying I should stay home myself)..
The ANM is supposedly starting to penalize the chronic call out peope and the chronic tardy people at work. It will (supposed to at least) start reflecting on their evaluations.
No one penalizes anyone for being actually SICK..look what we work with; we aren't going to get sick once in awhile?...We need to concentrate on the others; and hopefully that is occuring.
At the facility where I work we are scheduled everyother weekend. We tried the make - up if you call in and we found that at times we would be so short staffed one weekend and way over staffed another. It doesnt work (at least there). how about discipline those who abuse sick time? OF course we had a nurse disciplined for over use of sick time. She had cancer and had to be off for treatments. I thought that was ridiculous to write her up. The best thing we have done was get in house pool. Not all options work in all facilities.
Tell me I'm reading this wrong...the nurse was disciplined for taking off sick days because she has cancer????that is friggin unreal! and we wonder why there's such a shortage...go figure
she sure did, you see, the nurse manager thinks she is "abusing her sick time". Unreal isnt it..... We have had a major turn over in nurses lately because of management, and they just cant figure out why!!
as i read through this thread, i realized that the only thing left in nursing that suprises me it that there are people who cannot understand why there is a shortage of nurses. people who cannot fathom why young men and women in college are choosing other professions. people who cannot comprehend why nurses are leaving the profession in droves. enough reason is right here, in this thread, in a nice neat package.
the fundamental question is "how do i punish my employees for having the temerity to be ill on a weekend? certainly they can plan better than that!" look at what you all, who are nurses, for god's sake, have said:
"at our facility, if staff calls in sick on the weekend, they have to work the next weekend, which would be their days off. we still have trouble with call-ins, but i don't know of anything that would cure that."
"we instituted the weekend call off rule about a year ago. it has been very effective, however, call offs happen."
"we also use the "if you call in sick on the weekend you are required to work the next weekend" policy. the catch is that the staff are informed upon hire that when they work the following weekend- it is on the shift where they are needed most- not necessarily the shift they usually work. there is no excuses accepted (i.e. "i don't have a second shift babysitter, etc....). this has helped with call ins."
apparently, you all are proud of the fact that your draconian policies are forcing nurses to work when sick, and consequences to the nurses, their families, or even the patients be damned. you are apparently proceeding from the assumption that all weekend call ins are bogus. in fact, some might be, but that in no way excuses your behavior. if you can prove a nurse has called off sick fraudulently, then punish that nurse. but proactive punishment of all nurses?
i am sure you are not, but all of you should be ashamed to claim the title "nurse."
kevin mchugh, crna
where are the "clapping hands" when i need them? (clapping and standing ovation here, kevin)
i couldn't have "felt" this speech better! amen to every word!
how about this one? i am a weekender...work 24 get paid for 36...i accumulate sick time as well as pto...but as a weekender, am not allowed to use the sick time, as one must be off sick at least three days to use it...so if i have a really bad cold and need to be off one or two days, god forbid, i would be given the occurance, without pay, as i can't use the sick time...weekenders are not allowed to call in ill, and if we do and do not want an occurance, must use fmla,and lose one of our 3 vacation days...and that requires at least a four day absence..which if we need only day, we are docked four of fmla...so either way, we w/e get screwed
My hospital has the ,if you get sick on a weekend you have to sign up for extra weekend hours, policy. We had to do this because managers couldn't make their chronic 'call-ins' behave. Also ,we have a sick time policy that states you can't use sick time for only one day off unless you are maxed out on sick time. The chronic abusers,of course are not maxed out on sick time! If you call in for two days you can use sick time for both days and it is only one occurance against your record. so this encourages everyone to call in for at least two days in a row.
I have to say that when I was a CNA, we always had people that called in on the weekends, so they had a policy that said you had to work the next weekend and if they didn't need you they kept a list of how many days you were out on the weekend and filled you in where ever they needed you. When I first became a nurse I remember another nurse being in the hospital during her weekend on and they made her make it up. I don't think they should make anyone make up their weekends unless it becomes a habit. It's not fair to the people who do go in on their weekends then they become sick and have to call in and they are expected to make it up. It's not like they were out partying. I told my last DNS that I didn't agree with that policy.
Specializes in Cardiology (ITU), Acute Renal/Dialysis.
As I read through this thread, I realized that the only thing left in nursing that suprises me it that there are people who cannot understand why there is a shortage of nurses. People who cannot fathom why young men and women in college are choosing other professions. People who cannot comprehend why nurses are leaving the profession in droves. Enough reason is right here, in this thread, in a nice neat package.
The fundamental question is "how do I punish my employees for having the temerity to be ill on a weekend? Certainly they can plan better than that!" Look at what you all, who are nurses, for God's sake, have said:
"At our facility, if staff calls in sick on the weekend, they have to work the next weekend, which would be their days off. We still have trouble with call-ins, but I don't know of anything that would cure that."
"We instituted the weekend call off rule about a year ago. It has been very effective, however, call offs happen."
"We also use the "if you call in sick on the weekend you are required to work the next weekend" policy. The catch is that the staff are informed upon hire that when they work the following weekend- it is on the shift where they are needed most- not necessarily the shift they usually work. There is no excuses accepted (i.e. "I don't have a second shift babysitter, etc....). This has helped with call ins."
Apparently, you all are proud of the fact that your draconian policies are forcing nurses to work when sick, and consequences to the nurses, their families, or even the patients be damned. You are apparently proceeding from the assumption that all weekend call ins are bogus. In fact, some might be, but that in no way excuses your behavior. If you can prove a nurse has called off sick fraudulently, then punish that nurse. But proactive punishment of ALL nurses?
I am sure you are not, but all of you should be ashamed to claim the title "nurse."
Kevin McHugh, CRNA
YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD! GREAT STUFF Kevin, I applaud you !
I am with Kevin! I can scarcely believe my eyes here. I have a few questions for you managers:
Do any of you have young children? Do any of your facilities provide onsite day care/nightcare? How about for SICK KIDS? If you had a sick kid, would you stick him/her in a daycare situation? (I would NOT). Has any of you not been able to make it to work for ANY REASON AT ALL? ANY reason? Was IT legitimate, really??? DO ANY OF YOU HAVE LIVES?
These are sincere questions, though they may SOUND tongue-in-cheek. Questions from a staffer who works almost exclusively weekends and is married to military. Cause things happen. I rarely call in sick, but when I DO you BEST BELIEVE IT IS LEGIT. My husband deploys, my kids get sick....who watches kids from 6p to 8a on WEEKENDS????
You need to rethink your punitive policies if you expect to retain quality regular staff, let alone recruit BACKUP! Shame on all of you! I would be gone before the next weekend if you treated ME that way, honestly. Just my 0.2 from an ordinary staff R.N. with a LIFE.
You must have some advance notice when your husband is going to deploy. You need to have 3 sitters lined up for those times. How can you think you would never need a sitter?
How can you not care or realize that, just as caring for your children is 24/7, so is the facility's requirement to care for residents or patients 24/7? What are they supposed to do at the job?
I'm not saying they should believe every weekend call off is bogus or that the staff who are ill should have to work anyway or should be punished for getting sick. But both parties, you and the facility need to plan better and be more prepared. I know it's hard, please understand.
But what if you were at work during a blizzard or hurricane or other disaster and your relief didn't make it in? Would you walk out and go home to your kids? Or would you expect the sitter to stay with them a few more hours so you could stay, as you should, with your patients?
I know it's painful, I know it hurts. I have lived it so I do know what you're up against. Still, this is the situation.
Used and abused
41 Posts
I have experienced those that needed "mental health days" and they usually fall on a weekend...but hey! we are nurses and human beings and we DO get ill just like our patients! I think an ideal staff would pull to gether and help eachother. I have done that, worked to help cover shifts and given up my weekends to help out. What I found out tho, the management that I worked for didnt give a hoot.
SO I use that as an example now that I am a manager and remember how I felt . I am new at this but boy, kind words and THANK YOUS go a long way. It is good to respect the people you manage and good to get respect back. That's the only way it works. Occasionally you will have one that doesnt give respect but coworkers learn fast . Evaluations are good for that subject.