staffing policies

[painmeds]

Been a nurse for a couple of years but I do not have experience with an on-call, overstaffed, standby policy before. Only worked at 2 hospitals with this being 1 of the 2.

I have worked at this hospital for almost a year now and the staffing department does not adhere to protocol.

We have a log that shows who floated where and when, but the staffing log is not available to staff nurses; meaning, there’s no transparency here. I don’t want to go into detail about how what is going on or how I uncovered it because I know employees at my facility are active on allnurses and I do not want to be retaliated against.

Frankly speaking, I want to know if there is anybody outside of the hospital I could give a “call” to? The charge nurses, managers, even our union is aware of what is happening. Maybe I should just find another hospital to work at? At 1 year in, 7 of my colleagues have left. I live in Northern California so finding work will not be difficult. Unfortunately, I moved a block away from the hospital when I was hired.

[caliotter3]

If the union can’t, or won’t, rectify this, I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t think I would jump ship due to proximity to your home, but if you are seriously shortchanged on hours (or the opposite) and this is hurting your bottom line, then maybe this is the reason to make a move. Only you can answer that for you. You know what they say about the greener grass.

[kp2016]

You are very right to withhold any details that could be used to identify your hospital or yourself but honestly your post is now so vague it's hard to understand exactly what your problem / question is.

I just realized what you meant. If the policy isn't being applied fairly and everyone already knows it is probably time to look for a new unit.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

Confused...what is the problem? If you like the job perhaps you can make attempts with management to change it.No place is perfect and you may find worse problems at other places.I would never leave a job I liked over a minor issue but it's all relative to how the issue impacts you and it may not be minor to you.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Is it bad enough that you are willing to risk potentially worse conditions elsewhere and to make a longer drive in order to do so? Not saying that would be a wrong choice - just thinking that is the bar you will need to measure this by. Is this something that is going to impact your job satisfaction to that degree, or can you be annoyed by it but move on and hope it changes as well as maybe lobby for it to change when your satisfaction survey comes around, etc?

[bentover1]

I wonder if we are employed at the same location. There is only 1 hospital in the city I work at in NorCal.

Here at my hospital, I completely understand why the practice is unchecked. Our staffing “policy” is based off of seniority and favoritism. The people in power (charges, managers, even Union) turn a blind because they are often stakeholders of the hospital who have put in over 10+ years. And being a new employee at my hospital, I get the worse assignments (by acuity, “always on the call light”, or admit nurse) and called off out of turn.