They won't stop calling me!

[optimist]

The facility I work in had an organized 'Wound care dept' consisting of 2 nurses during the week and myself on the weekends. We are the only ones that do wound care in the building because we recieved special corporate training and can provide consitancy with care and documentation. Something happened recently that caused the facility to lose both of thier weekday nurses at the same time. Since then the scheduler/don/admin have been blowing up my phone begging me (on my vmail) to come in and help since Im the only one left that knows all the proper documentation (anybody can read the TAR, but few know how to properly measure and describe). I havent returned their calls for several reasons 1)I dont feel like its my place to run in and rescue them, they should have had a plan in place before they let those nurses go. 2)With all of the drama going on in that building, Im afraid to do anything above what is expected of me for fear my head will be the next to roll 3)pulling extra shifts there does not earn you any brownie points or incentives, its just kinda expected and 4)I rather enjoy my weekdays off with my babies. So how do I get them off of my back. So far Ive just been ignoring their phone calls (and they are getting crafty using their personal cells to call me now). I hate to make up some excuse but Im not sure how honest to be in telling them I dont want within 100 feet of that place till saturday??

Thanks

[G MA RN]

And whom do you think should do the extra work while looking for replacements or training the new nursing staff. You do not seem to know much about "wound care."

It is a highly "Specialized" field and not all can be trained to do this position.

The ones calling her usally means they have not had this traind and there for can not preform the duties. Not answering the calls is not the soultion.

I have worked in the feild for more years then I can count. When did it become OK to over look the Patients needs for our own. With this attitude, the medical field is in a very bad place.

[G MA RN]

Its not their responsibility that you have children either. Special Training cost money, you do hold some responsibility to pick up the slack when the need is present. We as Nurses have had to pull 2 or 3 shifts, many weekends, Holidays away from family. Why do you think you are so special? That is what the Medical Field is all about, giving of yourself no matter the difficulity. We do it for the GOOD of the PATIENTS not ourselves.

[caryrey02]

Any time you recieved "special corporate training" you are pretty much at their beck and call. Not answering or ignoring the calls can and will cost you your job. Many medical facilites have no replacements in line when some one leaves or is fired. It is up to the regular staff to pick up the slack. Working in the Medical Field holds a different level of responsibility and commitment then the other work force. Just think for a moment, what if your child, mother, brother, or other family member had a nurse like you that did not answer the call for help to do her job. How would you feel? It is Nurses like you and others like you that give the patients cause to complain. Nursing is not a job its a calling and if you are not prepared to fully commit to your duties as a health care giver, find another career.

I strongly disagree with you since this nurse has no obligation to do someone else's job. It is the management's responsability to fill in those gat that they allowed in the first place to occur. There are plenty of nurses out there that would be more than happy to cover some of these spots. If we nurses don't stand for ourselves we will continue to be stepped on and our job taken for granted. You should re-evaluate your standards and ideas of nursing

[bsnanat2]

And whom do you think should do the extra work while looking for replacements or training the new nursing staff. You do not seem to know much about "wound care."

It is a highly "Specialized" field and all can be trained to do this position.

The ones calling her in usally means they have not had this traind and there for can not preform the duties. Not answering the calls is not the soultion.

I have worked in the feild for more years then I can count. When did it become OK to over look the Patients need for our own. With this attitude, the medical field is in a very bad place.

G MA RN,

When the OP's kids are teens and acting out and complaining that she was "never there for them", I doubt the argument that she was looking after 'the patient's needs' will fly with them. There are services in place that the facility can contract with until they get more people trained. Nursing may be a calling for you, but for many it is a wonderful career. The purpose of this career is not to fulfill some type of calling in the world, but to provide for one's family while allowing for a measure of fulfillment. If this career is allowed to take the place of one's own family, that, to me would be the ultimate failing and the missing out on the most important calling of all. I think I know where you are coming from, but the OP can't take on the welfare of all the facility's patients (that is the job of administration). She can, however, take on the welfare of her family. The rest will have to wait until the weekend.

[David13, MSN, RN]

And whom do you think should do the extra work while looking for replacements or training the new nursing staff. You do not seem to know much about "wound care."

It is a highly "Specialized" field and all can be trained to do this position.

The ones calling her in usally means they have not had this traind and there for can not preform the duties. Not answering the calls is not the soultion.

I have worked in the feild for more years then I can count. When did it become OK to over look the Patients need for our own. With this attitude, the medical field is in a very bad place.

And when did it become acceptable for managers to not have a plan in place and to then hold the staff nurse responsible for this mismanagement? As for not answering the calls, that is not this nurse's responsibility unless the nurse has been told they are on-call and are receiving on-call pay. What, for example, would be management's back-up plan if this remaining nurse were far away on vacation? This is the type of situation for which agency nurses are utilized. Agency wound care nurses are available. They might be expensive, so perhaps their salary should be subtracted from that of the managers who created this situation?

[G MA RN]

With that attitude, you may not keep a job for long.

[ipsuelpn]

Just say no and briefly explain you are only available on your scheduled days to work.

[bsnanat2]

Unfortunately, many of these "T e m p o r a r y" situations, turn out to be anything but that. Once you step in to save the day, that becomes what is expected. The OP has her own situation to deal with. Management can just as easily tell the weekday staff that they will have to step it up on a "T e m p o r a r y" basis.

"Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

[magnum68]

And whom do you think should do the extra work while looking for replacements or training the new nursing staff. You do not seem to know much about "wound care."

It is a highly "Specialized" field and not all can be trained to do this position.

The ones calling her usally means they have not had this traind and there for can not preform the duties. Not answering the calls is not the soultion.

I have worked in the feild for more years then I can count. When did it become OK to over look the Patients needs for our own. With this attitude, the medical field is in a very bad place.

I disagree with everything you have said related to this topic.

[bsnanat2]

I think I understand your point, but here is something else to consider....

When you have a limited number of folks who can do a very necessary and very specialized thing, as management, you have two choices. 1) Keep them very happy and very satisfied or 2)get on top of making sure that someone else can do their job, preferably you.

When I was in management, I had people who were far better at some things than I was, but I had no one who did something that I was not familiar with, at least a little bit. To do anything else is simply bad management and bad management abuses good employees. If the OP works for bad management they'll simply use her concern for patients to run her in the ground and then find someone else when she drops dead of exhaustion. Once I had a job where I asked for a raise after being frustrated that one was not offered. The owner said yes and when I asked why he didn't just give me one he said basically, 'why should I when you would clearly work for less. It is the job of management to get the most for the least.' The moral of the story is that bad management almost never looks out for the benefit of the patient and definitely never looks out for the benefit of the nurse. Bad management only looks out for itself.

[nohika]

I agree. Once management realizes they can mis-use the OP heavily, they won't bother hiring another nurse - why should they? They have one doing all the work. Give management an inch, they'll take a mile.

[G MA RN]

How exhausted can a weekends only Nurse get?

Most of us do not work the "9-5" jobs and work 10+ hours a day 6-7 days a week. We have a family too. It is not the "problem" of the employer that one wants to be with family either. Have you read the Nurse Creed Lately?

Being familiar with a procedure does in no way mean you can perform the skill

adequately. I have assisted in many surgeries and I am "familiar" with the process, but this by no means suggests I should be allowed to perform the surgey. These day the attitude seems to be "its not my job," or "its some one elses fault." No wonder the Medical Profession is in such dire straights. The patients used to trust the Nurses and Doctors, now they no longer have respect for the Medical Professionals, and I can see why.