maybe it's just me.....but can anyone explain to me why a nurse would want to work nine twelve-hour shifts in a row?
this is a staff nurse i'm referring to, and she was telling me how much overtime she has on her checks....something like forty hours of overtime (i'm assuming they pay every 2 weeks.) :uhoh21:
why on earth would anyone want to do this? what's bad is that by doing these kinds of hours, she is setting a precedent for all the other nurses on the unit - in other words, if she works sixty hours a week management will probably say "well, look at so-and-so, she works sixty hours per week, i guess the other nurses can do it, too!"
there are only a handful of staff nurses left, the rest are agency/travel nurses. there's no difference in this ms floor than any other. i'm wondering if this is the reason they can't keep staff.
they have one or two nurses willing to work constantly, so they expect the others to.....and no person in their right mind is going to want to work those hours, at least imho, unless they have some sort of emergency financial crisis.
12x9=108. This nurse is sick, or she will be. I doube management is looking up to her as a hard worker. I wonder about the safety issue for the patients.
Some prople are workaholics, have no family, and thrive on this type of environment.
We have a nurse who took off 2 days last month and worked doubles on 20-25 of the other ones...do the math. She also gets time and a half after 8! Been doing this for the last 4-5 months. Opps forgot to add..she comes in late every day at around 4 pm for a 3p-7am shift.
Yah I understand that some of us NEED to work, but what about the patients. Some of her work doesn't get done just about every day. I find management just as at fault....What really killed me is that they will be the first to write her up when they find something small.
Me......yep I did the OT thing when I was young and first married. Now just every other weekend and MAYBE a shift here or there. Their guilt trip doesn't work on me any more! The kids come first and I'd rather do without.
Sorry, but we lost a wonderful ICU nurse who did lots of OT. Great nurse, great person.... got T-Boned on the way home from work. Apparently fell asleep.
No person or facility should allow more than four twelves a week. Not good practice, not top notch care, not a good idea.
.....................................................no person or facility should allow more than four twelves a week. not good practice, not
top notch care, not a good idea. after three, i'm ready for a break.
i totally agree! myself, working two 12-hour shifts per week is a killer. it takes everything out of me to get through those two days each week! if i didn't have to work like that, i wouldn't do it at all. who was it that started those awful 12s in the first place?
I can't see that any amount of money is worth your license or life (d/t risk for traffic accident). And, forgetting those two issues, what about a life?
I totally don't get this post. Why do you care how much someone else works? If she isn't making errors, it has no impact on you. Additionally, everyone has different motivation-she may be doing it to pay off debts, she may just like to work, whatever it doesn't matter, it's her business.
The statement "this makes the rest of you look bad" is ridiculous. There must be some insecurities for anyone to think "management" would look positively on this and want to enforce it on the remainder of the staff. You have a choice how many hours you work so, say no.
Some people in their right mind do like to work those hours. Just because others don't, doesn't mean one person is right and the other person is wrong. Some people don't understand why other people turn down shifts. It's a matter of preference. Some people don't understand why other people care about their business....
"I totally don't get this post. Why do you care how much someone else works? If she isn't making errors, it has no impact on you. Additionally, everyone has different motivation-she may be doing it to pay off debts, she may just like to work, whatever it doesn't matter, it's her business."
I said:
They have one or two nurses willing to work constantly, so they expect the others to.....and no person in their right mind is going to want to work those hours, at least IMHO, unless they have some sort of emergency financial crisis.
"The statement "this makes the rest of you look bad" is ridiculous. There must be some insecurities for anyone to think "management" would look positively on this and want to enforce it on the remainder of the staff. You have a choice how many hours you work so, say no.
Some people in their right mind do like to work those hours. Just because others don't, doesn't mean one person is right and the other person is wrong. Some people don't understand why other people turn down shifts. It's a matter of preference. Some people don't understand why other people care about their business...."
I couldn't care LESS about somebody else's business, but this place is 90% agency/travelers. I was trying to figure out WHY.
And yes, there IS a safety issue involved: 9 twelves IN A ROW is not safe...as several other people apparently agree with.........
who was it that started those awful 
NurseGuy_in_06
276 Posts
Some prople are workaholics, have no family, and thrive on this type of environment.