What is it with nurses showing up late!

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 18, 2015

This one's been done before.

Check out this thread:

https://allnurses.com/nursing-and-professionalism/chronic-tardiness-40481.html

Excuses abound.

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 18, 2015

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/regarding-chronic-tardiness-974433.html

Most recent thread. People are late for a lot of reasons, cultural considerations, ADHD and not being able to read conventional clocks. I am not kidding. Check out that thread.

caliotter3 · Mar 18, 2015

At one place where I worked one was able to report off to the house supervisor, or floor supervisor and then leave, if the oncoming nurse had not appeared by a certain time.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 24, 2015

Was this a one-time event? Or an ongoing problem? If you've only been there two weeks, you probably don't know for sure. I'd cut her some slack until I found out. It would be a shame to go off on her and then find out she was in an accident on the way to work or was flying back from her father's funeral and the plane was late or her dog just died. 45 minutes late is a bit too long for a chronic "It takes 15 minutes to drive to work so I'm leaving 15 minutes before I have to punch in" problem.

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Mar 25, 2015

Used to work with a CNA that was always walking in at 1120pm for an 11pm shift ... always! For the entire 2 years I worked at that hospital. So unprofessional! Let alone the fact that he always slacked off when he could on shift and ironically was very diligent about taking his breaks too. This is also a reflection of bad management, which clearly existed.

ausrnurse · Mar 25, 2015

What the! 45 minutes late! Honestly, I think anything more than 5-10 minutes is pushing it and I would have been calling to find out where she was. My workplace starts calling after about 5 minutes past your start time. I once worked on another ward relieving for a shift though and the nurse I was paired with was half an hour late and nobody said a thing although she apparently did it all the time!

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · Mar 25, 2015

This happens a lot when there are no time clocks to prove otherwise.

If there are time clocks, this is something that your manager can track. And I am sure none too thrilled at having to pay you overtime with a night differential. How long is too long? If you are on a 3-11 shift, and have to stay until 11:30 for your meal time make up, (providing you get a 1/2 hour meal) if the oncoming nurse is not in by 11:30, I would call the nursing supervisor on call, state that there is a no call no show, and have that person take it from there.

Unless you have mandatory overtime, at which point, I would be so annoyed as the nurse coming in can't just call and say she is running late?

You bet your bippy I would put in for that time--you deserve to be paid. At the same time, the manager needs to deal with nurses coming in late--45 minutes is just rude--especially if there's no time clock, and she is being paid beginning at 11pm.

Sigh, I too am a little old for all that, my mother disciplinary/basic work professional behavior blurb has been learned by my own kids, and I just have little patience for adults who should know better, but don't and try to get away with stuff like this.

Now, if this is a one time "I overslept" or "my babysitter didn't show" or other stuff--then by all means I am not cruel to the junk that comes up and is unavoidable. But when one strolls in at 11:45 like they are queen o' the may.....yup, that would send me over the edge. I am wicked old, I am wicked tired, I am wicked cranky, can I please just go the heck home???? (Then I would be dragged into the mangers office for eating my young and bullying......Sigh.)

FlyingScot, RN · Mar 25, 2015

I took care of this problem with a nurse that was always late for her shift and by late I mean 30-45 minutes late she'd stroll in. I wrote report on the patients. Placed it in an envelope marked "report" and taped it to her computer. Of course I actually did a hand-off to the charge nurse but Miss I'll Show Up When I'm Darn Good and Ready didn't know that. Then I left. She called me at home with questions and I hung up on her (I called the charge nurse to let her know that she had called with questions so she could answer them...eventually). She tried to get pissy with me the next evening (when she showed up on time) but I pointed out that her tardiness was rude, against facility policy, she was going to be written up if it happened again and if she wanted report for me she'd better show up on time and ready. Never had another problem with her.

klone, MSN, RN · Mar 25, 2015

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/regarding-chronic-tardiness-974433.html
Most recent thread. People are late for a lot of reasons, cultural considerations, ADHD and not being able to read conventional clocks. I am not kidding. Check out that thread.

You will be interested to learn that things came to a head, management got involved, and the tardiness issue is no longer a problem. I did lose a friendship over it, though.

Mesmerize · Mar 25, 2015

IMO Showing up frequently late for work is unprofessional! It is not fair for previous nurses to wait after long exhausting hours to give report to the oncoming nurse! I can understand if a nurse is late because of bad weather conditions. Even then, nurses should leave the house way earlier. I haven't called off in over a year, and I make sure I arrive at work 30-40 mins early , just in case there are traffic issues. Sometimes it is okay to call off or be late, things do happen, hopefully not often!

allnurses Guide · Mar 25, 2015

Well since I am the new kid on the block I didn't say anything just yet. The facility is LTC and chronically understaffed. THey tend to hire a lot of new grads. I actually like new grads but the workload is intimidating for them. This is not my first rodeo but they only gave me 3 days orientation before cutting me loose on a brand new computer system that even the older nurses didn't know. Good thing I'm technology savvy. Still the late nurse in question has been late twice more and called off last night and the night before. I only live ten minutes from the facility but you can bet I am making sure they pay me all the over time I am due.

Going to go take a nap now

Hppy