Venting

You make the assignment for the oncoming shift?

You make the assignment for the oncoming shift?

Everywhere I've worked (inpatient) it was done that way as well.

You make the assignment for the oncoming shift?

Yea Night charge makes day assignment and vice versa....headache

We are considering making the transition to that procedure as well. As it stands now, the night charge comes in 20-30 mins early to make out the assignment. I personally would like to make the change because as charge, I often don't get an adequate report from the dayshift regarding the last 12 hours. They seem so ready to get out the door that they often leave out important details. Now maybe that mindset wouldn't work well either if they are completing the next assignment but I feel it might be worth a try.

I also have people on my shift who are afraid of our more acute patients. They protect themselves and their buddies by saying, "oh well, so and so is better with that population of patients" which in actuality means "I'm scared to death." If the prior shift made the assignment, I don't believe that would hold water as management expects all of us to work in areas of our psych unit and no one would be protected from the more difficult assignments. Of course those voicing opposition currently are the ones who avoid the tougher patients.

And hey, if I make out the assignment for days, I'm in my bed and don't have to listen to their complaints all day.

On my previous floor, charge assigned for oncoming shift (large unit). Current floor (small), charge assigns own shift, collaboratively. Much prefer this way. It was irritating to hear complaints from oncoming shift even though they were free to make changes. They could redo the whole board for all I cared. Whining was easier, I suppose.

Anyway, enjoy your time off! Just came off vacation myself :)

Yea Night charge makes day assignment and vice versa....headache

Of course it's a headache. The person responsible for the assignment needs to be working along side the staff. It's all about accountability and availability.

Boggles my mind that the off going shift is responsible for the day shift assignment. I have worked in many facilities, usually charge nurse... I came in 1/2 hour early to get report and make the assignment. Very rarely received complaints.

Confer with the other charge nurses. Suggest a pilot program to change the responsibility of the assignment to the same shift. Approach NM with the plan. You can make this work.

^^^^This is definitely an interesting way to do it. I've never heard of that before. It may be tricky how to low census staff though, how do you all handle that?

And hey, if I make out the assignment for days, I'm in my bed and don't have to listen to their complaints all day.

Also known as "Not my circus, not my monkeys!!" 😄

I do NOT miss being charge at all-now all I'm responsible for is my own schedule, and when things change, I can move patients around myself. If I don't like the way it works out, well, I just tell myself to quit whining lol.

^^^^This is definitely an interesting way to do it. I've never heard of that before. It may be tricky how to low census staff though, how do you all handle that?

Not sure what you mean by "low census staff".

Not sure what you mean by "low census staff".

She means the person who gets told to stay home due to low census. When I worked the floor, it was rotated, and a list was kept.

She means the person who gets told to stay home due to low census. When I worked the floor, it was rotated, and a list was kept.

Thanks, yea we have a grid that we go by that tells us how much staff to keep based on patient number/census and we have to call people off based on a list of whose turn it is