This past week between Sunday and Friday I did 20 hours of overtime (2 sixteen hour shifts and one 12 hour one). It nearly turned out to be 24 hours but I told them in no uncertain terms that I could only do 4 hours extra on Wednesday because I had a meeting to attend, and regardless of what the staffing was going to be like, I had to leave.
What was the meeting about? It was a union meeting and I wanted to talk to the union president about the staffing situation on our ward, which is not only a problem with the number of staff on our ward (we either need more or they need to close some beds), but it's a symptom of a hospital wide problem with nursing staffing.
I do enjoy my job, but I don't enjoy working 16 hour shifts on a regular basis. I don't mind the odd one, in fact I would like to work one every 2 weeks because I work part time, 8 shifts out of 10, and if I work one double shift every 2 weeks, the over time I get for the second shift on that one day gives me a full time pay cheque, with the benefits of the extra days off that come with working "part time".
However, these double shifts are becoming routine on our ward. The shifts I worked were "prebooked", meaning I saw there was staff needed and I know staffing is so bad that they wouldn't be able to fill 2 empty nursing spots on a particular day, so I prevolunteered myself out of guilt for my co-workers who may or may not have been forced to stay at the last minute for the next shift, or the next shift having to work short staffed, and that is no fun because our ward can be so darn busy that having 8 or 9 patients to look after means no breaks and usually overtime to finish your charting and stuff.
I'm dog tired today. I'm thankful that I had someone come in and clean for me today. It was $45 well spent because I'm so bagged there is no way I would have gotten any cleaning done at all this weekend before having to return to work on Tuesday, probably for a 12 hour shift instead of a scheduled 8 hour one.
What was the meeting about? It was a union meeting and I wanted to talk to the union president about the staffing situation on our ward, which is not only a problem with the number of staff on our ward (we either need more or they need to close some beds), but it's a symptom of a hospital wide problem with nursing staffing.
I do enjoy my job, but I don't enjoy working 16 hour shifts on a regular basis. I don't mind the odd one, in fact I would like to work one every 2 weeks because I work part time, 8 shifts out of 10, and if I work one double shift every 2 weeks, the over time I get for the second shift on that one day gives me a full time pay cheque, with the benefits of the extra days off that come with working "part time".
However, these double shifts are becoming routine on our ward. The shifts I worked were "prebooked", meaning I saw there was staff needed and I know staffing is so bad that they wouldn't be able to fill 2 empty nursing spots on a particular day, so I prevolunteered myself out of guilt for my co-workers who may or may not have been forced to stay at the last minute for the next shift, or the next shift having to work short staffed, and that is no fun because our ward can be so darn busy that having 8 or 9 patients to look after means no breaks and usually overtime to finish your charting and stuff.
I'm dog tired today. I'm thankful that I had someone come in and clean for me today. It was $45 well spent because I'm so bagged there is no way I would have gotten any cleaning done at all this weekend before having to return to work on Tuesday, probably for a 12 hour shift instead of a scheduled 8 hour one.