Times Are Tough When...

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

We all got a great laugh today...a friend of mine was going to call in this morning until she heard the message on the answering service of our Ambulatory Care nursing office. Normally, the secretary leaves a message on the voicemail stating to tell them which clinic you are calling in for, your title, how many days you'll be out, etc... Well today, it has changed. Our administrator leaves his message that says "If you are a chronic time abuser, you may wish to reconsider this call in. If not, you have the option of applying for FMLA leave rather than to risk losing your job. If you STILL plan to leave a message, give the pertinent information and a number where you can be reached". NOW, I have heard EVERYTHING!:chuckle

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Times are tough when you call the manager of the least popular place to float to ask to work a holiday.

I have been cancelled as a per diem so much recently that I did just that.

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I wonder how many reconsidered.

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

My daughter is a CNA at the nursing home, I took some cookies out to her tonight and she said all but 2 CNA's called in!!! Yikes....quardruple the work for those girls---and I dont know this but I am taking a wild guess here. Not a single member of mgmt is going to come in---what do you think??

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

update----daughter home and no one came in to help. no mgmt and no agency. the nursing home was staffed with 3Lpns, 1 Qma and 2 CNA's and almost 100 residents!! during the 2-10 shift. That means during dinner and getting everyone to bed time.

I wonder how rushed the night care was tonight on Christmas eve?? Very sad.

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Specializes in ICU.
update----daughter home and no one came in to help. no mgmt and no agency. the nursing home was staffed with 3Lpns, 1 Qma and 2 CNA's and almost 100 residents!! during the 2-10 shift. That means during dinner and getting everyone to bed time.

I wonder how rushed the night care was tonight on Christmas eve?? Very sad.

This is just terrible! And aweful for the residents!@!!! Oh my goodness, I would be very upset if this was the place my parents had to live. I am glad your daughter made it out alright. It just shows how tough she is! I'm sure she did the best job she could, considering the circumstances.

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My daughter is a CNA at the nursing home, I took some cookies out to her tonight and she said all but 2 CNA's called in!!! Yikes....quardruple the work for those girls---and I dont know this but I am taking a wild guess here. Not a single member of mgmt is going to come in---what do you think??

Too many people, and not just nurses and CNAs, are proving that expecting them to act responsibly is a losing bet.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I wonder how many reconsidered.

Quite a few...and they passed the message on to all of us so we can listen at our leisure. It is a sad state of affairs. One of the disadvantages of working for a city hospital that has unions is that much of the dead weight stays on for YEARS. But behind this, all bets are sort of off. A deal was made between the unions and management that they can start off with the time abusers before they start hitting just anyone because at this point, we ALL need our jobs...union reps included.

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Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.

I think that is a great message. Last year they made a rule for our department. Anyone calling in had to call the don or supervisor, not just talk to the charge nurse. Amazingly call offs declined dramatically. I swear there are people who call in for a hang nail. And others I work with that you can to force to go to ER as they are having chest pains and are symptomatic with history of MI..

The biggest change I have seen this past month. Co-workers due to having no sick days. and very low PTO time are postponing their own surgeries as they do not have enough days to cover their pay. Now that is a symptom of these extraordinary economic times. Who would have thought. Short term disability only covers 60 percent of their pay..

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Specializes in MSP, Informatics.

Love the message!

I know from personal experience, who you get on the phone when you call in does make a difference.... Not that management should give you a hard time if you call in. But some sure do!

I also know calling in is a judgement call. There are times when you are sick, that if you are working with a good crew, you can get by. They pick up some of the slack for you that night, because they know you will do the same for them if they are a bit under the weather. Or in the case of the night shift, if they go 0 hrs of sleep durring the day.

And if you know you would be working with the laziest bunch of whiners.... it is easier to pick up that phone and call in sick if you really are!

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I took yesterday off. I emailed my boss to make sure she didn't mind and she actually emailed me back thanking me for having the "respect" to ask first. Well, duh! I'm not calling in sick Christmas Eve, or any other time, unless I'm, well - sick.

I guess it says something about the current work ethic.

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Specializes in O.R., ED, M/S.

Where I work there is a policy in place that if you call off the day before or the day after a holiday you cannot use any PTO pay to make up for that day. Your call off is considered a day with out pay. They also keep track of these for future call offs.

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