Yes or no?

wildtime88 · Dec 18, 2001

Go home now!

I know you are the ER nurse manager, but call your boss if need be and let him or her deal with it.

This is why hospitals in general get away with not addressing the core issues which cause nurses to leave. There is always a nurse who is going to step in no mater what the conditions or under what circumstances. This is why you have lost your regular staff to agency and can not find anyone to come in.

Go home!!

Stargazer · Dec 18, 2001

Second that. Call your boss and tell him/her that you're only staying to do a double if you get tomorrow off. All of it. Your hospital needs to have options and a contingency plan for this. It's the holidays, it's flu season, and there WILL be sick calls. This is what agency nurses are for. Or better yet, an in-house agency staffing program. If your hospital administrators aren't prepared to staff the ER safely, then they should be prepared to close to ambulance traffic, at least.

Wild's right---as long as there are a few people willing to kill themselves by stepping in to fill staffing holes no matter what, administrators have no incentive to make things better. I know it's tough not to feel responsible when you're the manager. But it won't do your department any good if you end up sick or make an error because you're dog-tired.

For what it's worth, this kind of shite is precisely why I left the bedside.

prmenrs, RN · Dec 18, 2001

Rick---

Look up the s and s of sleep deprivation--it might apply to you.

If your bosses have bosses, let them know the situation in ER. Ask for a meeting w/the CEO, or whomever, and ask him/her if you can be held responsible for "therapeutic misadventures" that are inevitable under these circumstances. Be sure you have hard data--how many nurses were on, who many pts. were seen, if you had to go on bypass, how many nurses have had to work doubles, double-backs like you described. Are you down positions? Can you get travelers? The concept would be to solve staffing issues by having more staff available.

When we were desperate earlier in the year, our managers established an "in-house" registry--regular staff nurses who would come in for 1/2 or full shift @ time and a half or even double time. They could split a shift if they wanted. It's not as tiring to work an extra shift if it's only 6 hours long. They went thru a registry, the money came out of a different budget "pocket". I would think the hospital would have an emergency fund set up to deal w/severe shortages. That's what this is.

Be sure to TELL management that they need to come around once in a while, and take some heat from the staff, and reward them for "above and beyond". Sending in pizza once in a while wouldn't hurt. People are dedicated, but it helps to be appreciated, out loud, in public, in writing! I once got a "Thank You note from the D.O.N. for working a double! Probably will never happen again, tho.

Wish I could come help, but the commute's a bit much; I don't even have snow tires anyway! Not to mention, I kinda have a personal rule about no pts. over 15#s! :eek: :eek:

Chin up, Rick, football season is almost over!!

aimeee, BSN, RN · Dec 18, 2001

Only work the double if they find a replacement for you tomorrow. You won't be safe to work without rest, not to mention the hell you will be putting your body through.

Another thought--will somebody split the shift with you? A day person come in several hours early so you don't have to stay the whole thing? I used to make that compromise sometimes. I can do 12, but I would never make it through 16--especially when the kids were wee ones up at the crack of dawn.

fiestynurse · Dec 18, 2001

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egmillard · Dec 18, 2001

Unfortunately, and as you know, guilt can burn you out. I have worked many doubles, and your priority are you and your family, the patients will be ok, I HOPE.. GO HOME, the ER will be there in the morning, and with rest you will be ready for the next shift, but then you know this already:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

CEN35 · Dec 18, 2001

thanks for the replies............i'm trying everything...........just has a gard time knowing there will be 3 nurses and 20-24 patients...

me

RNforLongTime · Dec 18, 2001

I agree with everyone else. Go home! Or, if they are willing to give you tomorow off, then work the double BUT ONLY IF they give you tomorrow off!

God Bless!

Kelly:)

CEN35 · Dec 18, 2001

guess i am a sucker for now........but it won't happen often.

me :rolleyes:

LilgirlRN, ADN, RN · Dec 18, 2001

Get a new job...there is a nursing shortage on, they aren't real hard to find Sorry, I am sarcastic to the core... at least your staff knows you give a s**t. I couldn't drag my boss in here if all of my coworkers dropped dead after eating the mystery meat in the cafeteria. Maybe you can get someone to sit with the kids while you get a nap today, I hope so, sorry about your plight :/ Wendy

hoolahan, ASN, RN · Dec 18, 2001

Rick, I hope you are keeping track of all the extra shifts you donate. You are salary, right? So, essentially, your time is donated!

If I were you I would probably stay too, I would have a hard time leaving my staff like that, BUT, I would NOT come in the next day. AND, I would be on the horn with the pwers that be and order them to start using agency to supp, or implement a double time plan STAT!

In the hospital where I worked years ago, we started double time for ANY time not scheduled. You have to be at least a 0.5 FTE to receive this bennie. Honey, let me tell you, we had to start a list like a pull list, to be fair in who got the double time, there were that many offers! We all made a killing for about a year, then the gravy train pulled into the station.

My girlfriend was the nurse manager of an open heart unit, and she just gave double time when she was desperate, whether they liked it or not, if it meant her not having to come back in for nights.

Don't kill yourself. This is why I would NEVER be a nurse manager in a 24/7 operation. I watched my friend come to the point of nervous breakdown on many occassions, and I decided, there would never be enough money for me to do that job.