Twenty Hours Overtime

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.

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

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.

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I don't see how you work a 16-hour shift. I'm an RN as well and I usually work 12-hour shifts and that is enough for me. Working that long can be dangerous to the patients, too. I don't know if the hospital realizes that. They do need to hire more nurses. Do they intend on doing so?

Originally Posted by LovesMyCats

They do need to hire more nurses. Do they intend on doing so?

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The problem is that the nurses who are working are not leaving a paper trail to prove that there is a massive shortage. They are afraid to fill out "heavy work load forms" and feel guilty if they see that the next shift is left short staffed, so instead of making the supervisor "mandate" them to stay, they end up being guilted into saying "yes, I'll stay" which automatically makes it voluntary and takes the onus off of the hospital.

I've just returned after being on disability for over 4 years. The staffing has been on the decline while I have been away. Apparently nurses have been complaining about the staff shortage, but because they aren't creating a paper trail, when the union goes to the hospital to address the staff shortage, the hospital says "prove it" and the union can't because the nurses haven't been filling out the forms because we can't get it through their freaking heads that the heavy work load form is against the hospital, not the manager of the ward we work on.

I'm working at it, but it's like banging my head against the wall. I went ahead and used my last weekend Sunday shift as an example of how bad the staffing is on our ward and in the hospital so far as float nurses and casual nurses are concerned. The president said that it will eventually come to the union having to file a grievance against the hospital in order to get anything changed. I told her to go right ahead and use our ward as the griever because the number one issue that the staff on my ward wanted brought up is staffing. The way I look at it is if they are that upset about staffing that they wanted me to bring it up, then they gave me permission to file a grievance on their behalf.

With a grievance it becomes a legal issue and the hospital has no choice but to address it.

It isn't the first time I've filed a grievance with the union, but I pick my battles. The 2 other times I filed a grievance resulted in changes, and back pay for certain nurses (it was relating to charge nurse duties and pay) and even a change in the contract wording (which the labour lawyers who worked on our contract for over a year completely missed until I pointed it out about 6 months into the contract.)

Oh, I see. These nurses really do need to get it through their heads. So all they have to do is fill paperwork that says they are shorthanded and they will get nurses?!?! Is this a bad thing in their eyes? I don't get it.

They are blessed to have you around to stand up and be willing to go to the union.

Originally Posted by LovesMyCats

Oh, I see. These nurses really do need to get it through their heads. So all they have to do is fill paperwork that says they are shorthanded and they will get nurses?!?!

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Well, no it isn't that easy. But the union needs a paper trail in order to go to the hospital and either force them to hire more staff, or to close beds so the bed numbers are more inline with the actual number of staff that they have working.

There is also a problem with the fact that there are casual staff who have told me after the fact that they had been available to work, but were never called. We've heard that several times. So the hospital supervisors and those in charge of staffing ward requests are not doing their job. They make a half hearted effort and call a few people and that is it. Then they tell the wards "there is no one."

On Thursday I was there for my regular shift, a midshift from noon unitl 7:30 pm. There was also another nurse there who worked days and was asked to stay an extra 4 hours (a 12 hour shift) so she was leaving at 7:30 pm too. A regularly scheduled nurse came in at 3:30 pm. In addition there was the evening charge nurse.

At 7:40 pm the girl who was booked to come and replace me and the other nurse who was leaving, hadn't shown up. The charge nurse called to supervisor. Apparently the girl was sick and wasn't going to be coming. But the message was never relayed to us. I absolutely couldn't stay because I did 12 hours the day before and was scheduled for 16 the next day, and the other girl couldn't stay either because she hadn't planned on working in the first place and only came in because she too felt guilty. She only planned on doing 8 hours, but ended up staying for that additional 4 hours.

So her and I left, leaving 1 nurse on the floor and another at the desk. The charge nurse who hasn't looked after patients in about 12 years had to take patients. She's supposed to be a resource nurse, but she hasn't kept up her bedside nursing skills.

Yet when I said that they should fill out the heavy work load form because they were working below baseline staffing (2 nurses on the floor and one at the desk in charge), the charge nurse said that they managed fine and didn't fine it to be a "heavy work load." No matter how much I tried, I couldn't get across to her that they need to fill one out anyway because they were working below baseline staffing numbers even if the work wasn't "heavy" and it would create a paper trail. The nurse in charge refused. I can't fill one out on their behalf because they are the ones who have to sign it.

So it's people like them that are not only shooting themselves in the foot, but also every single one of their co-workers.

For example. Yesterday at noon I found that the ward had a huge number of discharges. And that there was a good chance that I might not have had to work the prebooked evening shift after my day in computer class. However, what happened was that they pulled the float nurse who was scheduled to go to the ward and put her somewhere else, and kept me on as a double shift.

That left me and another regular nurse on the floor with patients, and the charge nurse at the desk. We have a total of 22 beds on the ward, and on Fridays it's usually very busy because there are usually several ORs on Thursday. However Thursday's OR slate was unusually slow which resulted in there being only 7 patients on the ward at 3:30 pm Friday, when I arrived.

We all knew it wouldn't stay like that because when we have empty beds the gynecology doctors fill them rapidly, and also if the medical floors are busy we end up taking 4 of their patients.

At 6:00 pm the supervisor came around and said "I have to pull a nurse." She wanted one of us to go to another ward to work. It would have been me or the other nurse on the ward. If the area was anything other than baby related, I would have been the one to be pulled because I used to float all around the hospital and have been to all of the other wards, whereas the other nurse has only worked women and child for the last 25 years.

I came right out and told the supervisor that I'm there on a voluntary double and that I had been hopeful at 3:30 pm that I wouldn't be needed and could go home, but it had been decided by staffing to pull the float nurse and leave me to do the pre-booked double shift.

I told her that if it was decided that our ward only required a combined total of 2 nurses on the ward for the rest of the shift, that I was going to go home because I didn't want to be there anyway: I only signed up because I thought it was going to be busy on our ward.

At that point she couldn't pull any of us. If she had made the decision that our ward didn't require a total of 3 nurses and could get along with 2, at that point I could have gone home and there was nothing she could do about it. Because I was already on overtime she couldn't mandate (force) me to stay. And you can only mandate a regular staff nurse to stay, on the ward that she is employed on. You can't mandate them to stay and then pull them to another ward. If I were a float nurse, yes, but I'm not, I have a permanent position on the ward I work on.

She was not very happy with that. In fact she was quite rude!

Wow. I would be tired too Get some rest and take it easy, you deserve it.