Well, don't come back

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Hmmm, this is a new one. At least for me. My cousin has been doing independent PDN for the past 8-9 years. She's very savvy and usually diversifies her cases so she isn't dependent on one client however this past year has been very difficult in the independent arena and she only has two clients, one of which is mostly full time, the other she fills in 1-2 times per month. She's been with this 3/4 time family for years, since the little one came home from the hospital and the child is fairly stable so I guess she got comfortable. Well, she and I just had the saddest FaceTime session EVER. She lost her job.

She normally works every other Sunday but traded this Sunday with another independent because she was invited to Sunday service by her brand new fiance's family. Towards the end of this week the nurse she swapped with developed a stomach bug and the family won't have her back until she is symptom free for 48 hours. At this time it's obvious she's not going to make the Sunday deadline and therefore the Sunday shift reverted back to my cousin. My cousin, who is usually so sweet and accommodating told the family she could not and would not work Sunday because she already has very important plans. The family told her, paraphrased, well, if you don't come on Sunday don't bother to come back! You nurses are so insensitive, don't you understand trach parents deserve holidays, too?!

...and nurses don't?

So now she's down to her fill-in because she will not choose work over her new family and I don't blame her. I just feel sorry for her but I can guarantee she will go back to having her hands in several pots as soon as she can! As for the family: I have never!!!!!! :madface:

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Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

Wow... so a family that has coverage seven days a week is ticked off that they have to care for their child for ONE shift???

What if she came down with the tummy bug today and so didn't meet their 48-hour requirement... would they still tell her not to bother coming back at all?

Crazy....

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Don't you know us nurses should never spend time with OUR families?:banghead:

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I am sorry she had to go through that. It was really rude of them. It is one reason that I stopped doing PDN direct for clients because I was treated as if I was obligated to them in every circumstance. Some of them act as if you are a purchased slave.

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Mmmm....that's not cool! For us, if a nurse had swapped shifts and something came up and the other nurse couldn't make it, well....that was it. We dealt with it all by ourselves. :yes: Sometimes, ya gotta give a little to get a little. :)

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Hope you cousin finds something soon. It's tough as an independent contractor these days. :madface:

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Specializes in Mental Health.
I am sorry she had to go through that. It was really rude of them. It is one reason that I stopped doing PDN direct for clients because I was treated as if I was obligated to them in every circumstance. Some of them act as if you are a purchased slave.

I haven't worked as an RN in home health yet, but I have worked as a CNA full time throughout school for almost 2 years and patients unfortunately expect you to drop everything for them. If I worked an overnight and the CNA relieving me called off I would get stuck there for countless amount of hours (Pretty sure this isn't even legal but I was afraid of losing my job over it). The lack of understanding and professionalism was horrible at times.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

I sincerely hope she does, too. She actually mentioned going back to reapply with some of the agencies, including the infamous "M" because she has a family to support. However, those who live in NY and bill independently know that agency rates are nowhere near as high as MCD reimbursement rates and she would need to put in lots of hours with likely pretty crappy cases in order to maintain her standard of living. The tears she cried... oh, my gosh. She feels so hurt by the family and even called around to others on the case to see if she could get other coverage but it was impossible last minute on Easter. Her next scheduled shift is tomorrow 6 AM and she's debating whether she should just show up because she knows that the shift is probably uncovered. But then again, independents can be very vulture-like when it comes to hours and if the parents truly took her off the schedule those hours may have been gobbled up instantly. Every time I even hint at sticking my toe back into PDN something like this happens and I realize I just don't have the time or the patience for the madness.

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MCD = Medicaid? If so, I am in NY and the reimbursement rate is horrible compared to agency. Unless, she was doing medically fragile children over-nights. Those reimburse well. I get more per hour from the agency.

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I'm sorry for your cousin. The family reacted to their stress in a very poor way. IMO, IF the policy is that a calling out nurse must find a replacement, then it's the sick nurse that should have found the replacement. Your cousin took the day off and found a replacement. There should have been no further action required on her part.

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