When the hospital cancels you for a shift...

[nursie_nursie_415]

My facility has a "no cancel" policy for regular staff, & the per diem staff cannot be canceled within 72hrs of the scheduled shift. We can always "self cancel" in situations of overstaffing but because other floors may be short, the floors with extra staff float their less senior nurses where they are needed. This agreement between our union & the hospital coupled with the struggling economy probably has contributed to the hospital not having a new grad program in many years.

This past year especially, the census on my unit has been so low at times that half of the floor will be closed down. This has been happening on other floors as well. From a financial stance I don't blame the administrators for not allowing new hires but it is concerning that "young blood" aren't being trained, especially with some of the more experienced staff retiring or becoming too sick to return to work.

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

Oh I also forgot to mention that we can still come in for two hours to help out if the census is low and then we will go home on call...or if we do not want to be on call and another unit is really short, the supervisors give us the option of floating there to help out.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Yes, it's pretty common. I know of several hospitals that don't actually cancel employees, but put them On "stand-by" or on call for the shift. It's their way of making sure they have extra staff if needed without actually having to pay anyone.

[Reno1978, BSN, RN]

We have no mandatory low census for RNs where I work, so the hospital never calls RNs off that are PT or FT FTE. We typically have nurses who request low census, since we're rarely entirely full. It usually works out that there's already a volunteer or someone will volunteer when staffing calls to ask. However, we have the right to work if we're scheduled.

If we accept low census, we're paid $3.50/hr while we're on call for the remainder of our scheduled shift. If called in, we get call back pay of 1.5x pay.

In the rare case that there are no volunteers and there are more RNs than needed for a patient assignment, the hospital may call off a non-RN position and assign an extra RN to perform those tasks (telemetry clerk, unit secretary, etc).

That pretty much sums it up!

[DebCRNBSN]

We are put on-call and paid on-call pay. You have 45 mins to get to work once they call you and you can be called in anytime during that shift. We take turns and your over-staffed day is written in a book.

[8jimi8ICURN]

I've been put on call, called in to float and sent home early all in one night. I suppose it was a special circumstance. An actively laboring mother with pre-eclampsia needed greater than 20mg labetalol and needed cardiac monitoring while receiving the drugs. So I floated to labor and delivery. I fixed her and then got sent home. Oh well got paid to read pre-eclampsia and critical care for a few hours while being paid. All I had to do was chart a cardiac assessment q4 and post up 2 strips. Wish I could've had the while shift like that!

[ggunther]

Lately census has been low. We take turns with cancellations. My problem is with our hospital's unwritten but absolutely expected to comply policy.

If a nurse works a 12 hr shift s/he is not cancelled but "delayed". Which means that you have to be available or on call for the hospital in case you are needed at 3p or ll pm if nights. So it's not really like being off cause you're waiting, can't schedule other places. (many of nurses work agencies also).

Is this typical? uuuuhh, yep!

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I understand the hospital doesn't want to pay us if there aren't enough patients, but I rely on my income to live. We would take turns being on call and you would have to use your paid time off to get paid for it, or take it unpaid and lose money. This system completely benefits the hospital, and does not benefit the employee at all. I challenge managers to find a better way. I actually quit my previous job in large part because of this practice. I did not call out sick for over a year and a half, and I still didn't have enough vacation time to take a vacation. I had used all my PTO covering call shifts and needed time off, so I quit (which I was planning to do anyway but this pushed my timeline). Keeping good employees should be a priority. There has to be a better way.

[ggunther]

sounds like a lot of math at payroll time...

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

lately census has been low. we take turns with cancellations. my problem is with our hospital's unwritten but absolutely expected to comply policy.

if a nurse works a 12 hr shift s/he is not cancelled but "delayed". which means that you have to be available or on call for the hospital in case you are needed at 3p or ll pm if nights. so it's not really like being off cause you're waiting, can't schedule other places. (many of nurses work agencies also).

is this typical?

​yes, i've found it to be typical.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

yes. we are only cancelled at 4 hours at a time. so you can't do anything the whole day/night. dreading the call.if you want to get paid you have to use vacation days. or you can choose to go unpaid. there is not any " on call pay".....

[CJMR]

My hospital recently changed policy. There is no longer on call pay but they only expect a nurse to be available for 4 hours. I think it's a nice trade-off. On my unit we make a list of people willing to go first if there is low workload. Usually that is sufficient but if not, they go by who hasn't had it the longest.