Comments | riflop: work badness

riflop

work badness

Sep 12, 2006 03:08

Morale: plummeting. Work morale, that is. So no, this isn't another general morale failure, but it is a serious problem.

My job, working nights, is performed by a staff of 11 nurse practitioners, myself included. We currently have 4 vacancies. We're supposed to work with 4 NPs on each weeknight, 3 on the weekends. For the next month's schedule ( Read more... )

Comments 7

megjournal September 12 2006, 13:46:44 UTC

Dude, I'm sorry. Our jobs currently suck.
Is your hospital actively seeking people at the moment. I'll look around and see if I know of anyone. Are they specifically needing cardio nurses only?

riflop September 12 2006, 14:38:56 UTC

My job actually doesn't suck, which is why this is so very, very annoying. I was actually quite content with my job, and then *whack* went the hammerblow on my morale.

My service is currently seeking nurse practitioners who have prior ICU experience and at least a working knowledge of how to interpret an EKG. A background in cardiology is a plus, but not strictly necessary.

ubiq31 September 12 2006, 14:40:15 UTC

By "not having a single day off" I assume you mean other than your scheduled days off and not, actually, working solid from now until the end of the year? I mean, one's bad but one's really bad...

As you say, there's nothing you can do; they shouldn't be operating at those levels and they're going to lose more of you if this keeps up...but they also can't do the right thing by you and give you the time off because, as you say, there's not enough people to cover.

I'm surprised there's such a shortage, myself...

riflop September 12 2006, 21:34:11 UTC

Well, I'm no longer allowed to take vacation days to cover the extra shift each month I'm technically obligated to work, which means that I'll actually have to work 4 days one week out of every month, which is very, very grumbly. I'll still have my regular days off, but I've got three weeks of vacation time which, technically speaking, if I don't use by the end of the year I may lose.

Must look into whether that's being provisioned for.

The only reason there's such a shortage now is because we had several people decide to make life changes that involved resigning within close proximity to one another, as well as planned expansions in our service that increased our patient load- thus generating new NP positions.

ubiq31 September 12 2006, 21:51:47 UTC

Grah. They'd better make a provision for your vacation...and if you can stick it out, that's 6 for next year, eh?

As for the shortage, does that mean you shouldn't have a problem filling the positions? I know it'll still suck for some time after, but it'd at least be the difference between relief soonish and relief sometimeish.

banzai2326 September 13 2006, 14:24:36 UTC

If they won't let you use your use-or-lose vacation, find out if they will pay you for it. You've earned it, you have to be compensated for it.

riflop September 14 2006, 06:57:49 UTC

We're working on filling the vacancies, but we were approved for 4 new night positions about 6 months ago, which we had only just filled when people started resigning. Our interviews have been sporadic, and we only just had one good interview after several crappy ones. So, it looks to be awhile before these vacancies are filled.

Our hospital is unionized, so there's only so much they can get away with before I, personally, will start raising holy hell over. I'm going to see to it that none of my time is taken away from me, at the least.