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

[pumpkinseeds]

If you want to work, work. If you don't want to work, don't work.

I've been an RN for over 20 years and I've learned a painful lesson - working extra does not win you brownie points. Au contraire, it seems to earn an extra measure of disrespect from some managers - they knew I was such a doormat, a weak little people pleaser, that I would sacrifice my personal time and my family obligations just to get their little pat on the head.

Work does not care if you have to pry your kids off your legs, crying "mommy, why are you always working?" Work does not care if you miss your anniversary dinner. Work does not care if you are so exhausted you crash your car on the way home, as long as you manage to clock in tomorrow.

I only work if I want the money. That's why I'm agency. I have no trouble saying no. If they want me bad enough they'll show me the money. I worked Christmas day last year because they offered me 65$/hr. For that much money I'd strip to my underwear and dance the hokey pokey.

There's PLENTY of nurses out there who need work. You are not morally obligated to pick up extra shifts because HR is dragging their feet on hiring someone else. The other nurses can do wound care too - they may not as well as you but they can still do it. No one is going to die if you're not there.

Don't feel guilty. You will have other jobs but your children need you now. And I'd ignore their vm's too. They know they have spots to fill, they know you don't want the OT, so why are they calling you? They're wasting time they could be using to interview. Poor time management skills, if you ask me.

[rn/writer, RN]

I began as a CNA and worked my way up the ladder. I have always answered the call to help, I have never and would never not answer the call to help even when I had pulled 72 hours in a row. Its what I do its what I CHOSE.

I also had childern at the time. They learned by what they saw not what I said. Thay are all in good professions. Its the LOVE not the TIME that makes a good parent. We are all very close, closer then most. I don't talk the talk with out having first WALKED THE WALK. Get it?

These choices were yours to make, and it sounds like things worked out well for you.

But each individual has to decide what they have to give and where the lines are drawn. I know too many people who plowed everything into their work to the detriment of their families and now regret it.

I do agree that it is discourteous not to ever answer the phone. I would encourage someone in this position to answer the phone and say, "I can't come in today. Nor will I be able to pick up any days this week, so, please, don't continue to call asking me to pick up extra hours."

I also concur with the suggestion that, if you are at all willing to take extra shifts or half-shifts, you should work something out with management so that you are not making anything less than you do on weekends. If anything, there should be a bonus for helping them get through this rough patch. Of course, this is based on the thought that they are doing something to alleviate the problem long term, like hire and train at least two new nurses with possibly another one for back-up (sick days, vacations, someone having to quit, etc.). If they're planning on keeping the status quo and just having you plug the worst holes, that isn't right.

Few of us live for our jobs. We don't even live for our patients. We care, but we care about ourselves and our families, too. For most of us, the job, while we appreciate it very much, is a means to and end. It is not all-encompassing, nor does it outrank our families on the radar screen.

Yes, there are some who spread themselves so thin you can see through them, but if they do this on a regular basis, they actually teach management to have unrealistic expectations and poor staffing. "Suzy Saran Wrap could stretch--why can't you?"

BTW, not picking up unwanted overtime is not failing your employer or your patients.Management refusing to hire enough staff and burning out the ones they do have--that is failing the patients.

[stefanyjoy]

Nursing is not a job its a calling

Boo. This is my least favorite cliche nursing phrase ever.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

Boo. This is my least favorite cliche nursing phrase ever.

I agree. It kills the profession. Makes it sound as though anyone who watches "Care Bears" movies and likes to make koochy koochy noises can be a nurse.

[linearthinker, DNP, RN]

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.

Bold emphasis mine. I agree with that, and that alone. Alas, it is not your problem and you do not have to worry about it. The rest is hogwash, not to put too fine a point on it. It is just a job, work your shifts and get on with your life. :)

[linearthinker, DNP, RN]

What on earth is the nurse's creed?

[slackula]

Always remember this: Use the job. Don't let the job use you.

[mazy]

1. Anyone can be anything they want on a website, an RN, CNA, MD...

2. No I don't believe you have truly walked the walk, at least not for 10 or 15 year, if you have at all. If you did, your babysitter did a really good job raising your children, she must be very proud of their success.

3. There's nothing to get....so your point is?

Finally, finally someone said it. Also, the poster's use of language is very strange -- stilted and kind of hyperbolic. Something just isn't right...also, join date is the 19th. I think that's today....but I'm a little bit fuzzy today. Long miserable week of work and all that.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

Bold emphasis mine. I agree with that, and that alone. Alas, it is not your problem and you do not have to worry about it. The rest is hogwash, not to put too fine a point on it. It is just a job, work your shifts and get on with your life. :)

See, the problem with having no one else in line to replace the people who were fired, to me, truly is an administration/management problem, 100%.

What leads to the problem:

1. Training the minimal amt. of staff to perform the functions. It costs money, yes, but that does not necessarily mean going with the bare bones least amt. of training is the right choice. Look at the situation TC's facility found themselves in. Spend a couple hundred now to have more people trained, avoid problems that cost thousands in the future.

2. Since it does cost money to train people for the role, being picky about who receives said training should go without saying.........but apparently not at TC's facility. Training two people to perform the role and then firing them reeks of poor managerial decision making, and the fallout from said decisions should land on their laps alone. Said fallout being that they now have to train more people to perform the role and they look foolish on the budget.

3. Sort of related to #2, depending on what happened: Why were the other two fired? We don't know, the only info we have to go by is they received special training and then were cut lose. Were the firings petty/personal/financially motivated or did the nurses truly need to move on? Maybe the issue isn't so much that more people should have been trained or different people trained, but perhaps the firings are questionable. Again, reeks of poor management, fallout should be squarely on their laps.

I'm all for being flexible when everyone is doing everything they can to make the wheel spin, but being inconvenienced because management made off the cuff decisions and are now regretting it isn't a part of that.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

Finally, finally someone said it. Also, the poster's use of language is very strange -- stilted and kind of hyperbolic. Something just isn't right...also, join date is the 19th. I think that's today....but I'm a little bit fuzzy today. Long miserable week of work and all that.

Want to know what my week was like? I thought it was Sunday all day today .

[mazy]

What scent of bodysoap is that? I use Axe right now but might change to what you are using.

<_>

>_>

Cause I'm finding out, the Axe commercials are bogus. I'm yet to have a beautiful woman throw herself on me after I use it. Such a scam of an advertisement.

Please let us know if any beautiful women throw themselves on you when you stop using Axe...you might be able to prove an inverse correlation. Or something like that.

[demylenated, BSN, RN]

I would also ask that members hold off on inside jokes from threads in AN Central. Without the context, the comments can look improper and out of place.

Thanks.

Ok, ok!! But, I *MUST* add this as a quick note, and I'll be good and go back to my corner...

It (the thread) didn't START out on ANCentral

Okthankyouverymuch, going back to sitting quietly on my hands :)