Taking Time off

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I work every Friday for the same pt, same shift through an agency. Since it is summer and my kids are off from school I will be taking a few Fridays off. I notified the agency with plenty of advance notice and they called the pt. and told them that I was taking time off and that they were not sure of replacement! I was so upset that they did this. Is this common? And when you are taking time off do you usually tell the pt. too? I figured notifying the agency was all I needed to do. Now when I work on Fridays all I hear about is the Fridays I will be off and who will take care of pt!! I should not be made to feel guilty for taking Fridays off with plenty of advance notice.

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Specializes in med-surg, teaching, cardiac, priv. duty.

Ohhboyyy! Welcome to private duty or shift work!! Most unfortunately, your experience was typical and common during my 4 plus years of doing shift work in the home through agency! I worked through 2 agencies. First one seemed to have a serious lack of qualified nursing staff. If I needed off there was literally no one to replace me. And I worked this case full-time for 1 and 1/2 years! Well, sorry, but I can not work full-time and never have time off. I have a life and like to take vacations and such. The family would literally have a conniption and make me feel so guilty for taking time off. I would give a HUGE advance notice too. I stood my ground and took time off...but it was stressful. You MUST stand your ground - this family would have had me working 7 days a week, 365 days a year!

Second agency seemed to have a better pool of qualified staff but was grossly unorganized. You would tell them weeks ahead that you were taking a certain day(s) off and they would just forget and they never notified the family. Communication was atrocious! Basically, if you are a responsible and caring nurse and wanted your patient to have a replacement nurse when you were off, you would have to: tell the family yourself that you would be off, and notify the agency you would be off, and then you would have to call the agency over and over and over again to keep reminding them of your day(s) off!! SERIOUSLY! This is ******, and I am not afraid to say it! What a nightmare. I started putting all my requests for time off IN WRITING so I had proof I had properly notified them. I no longer work for Maxim!

YOU ARE CORRECT IN YOUR POST... All you should have to do is notify the agency once, and NOT tell the family. It is the agencies responsibility to do the schedule and notify the family. The agency is suppose to be the liaison so that things stay professional. Unfortunately, this is not how it plays out in real life. Sigh.

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Thank you for validating how I feel! You nailed it. And it is ******. Everything in your post is my current experience with them.

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It is the responsibility of the agency to inform the patient and provide a replacement. Nurses keep their patients informed as a matter of everyday convenience and communication. Unfortunately, usually the patient or the nurse have to continuously remind the agency of an upcoming absence. It is very unprofessional to keep haranguing you about your absences and so typical of ***** staffing personnel.

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If it is the patient that is bothering you on Fridays about who will be taking your place for an absence, by all means, direct their questions to the agency. Tell them the agency provides your replacement, not you.

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