My employer has called me at 6 a.m during my last three days off from work to see if I'd like to come in and pick up an extra shift. My husband went balistic this morning and told them off. I'm starting to feel sick because I'm not getting enough sleep, and I'm angry that I have to start taking my phone off the hook. How do you feel when the hospital calls you on your day off?

MJ

My phone rang at 6:45am today. Luckly I have call display, and I know the phone number of staffing when they call. I just decided not to answer. They probably needed someone to work on our "sister" unit anyways. I don't get calls from work too often. Our scheduling people have a binder where you can put in any available days you might be willing to work overtime on your days off, and they go through those lists before starting to call people at random.

I asked to be put on a " do not call list" because I will ONLY WORK WEEKENDS. I was told, "We have to call everyone, so we are going to call you, too." They treat every nurse like hospital property.

MJ

MJ,

Nurses are not property of the hospital and may not be treated as such! I strongly suggest you have a frank discussion with the manager of the staffing department and your department manager. A followup email to them with a copy to your Vice President of Patient Care Services might be effective in addressing what appears to be a poor staffing practice. For what it is worth, at my place of employment we make a note upon request of those nurses who will work only specific shifts or days - and we do NOT call them! Furthermore, when I know that a nurse has something special planned on a particular day, I do not call him/her!

Joy

Thanks for the advice, Joy. I hope it works. I know nurses who are leaving the hospital because they refuse to be treated like this anymore. You would THINK that the hospital would wise up. It doesn't cost a penny to treat someone with respect.

MJ

I usually feel sick to my stomach, because they are going to ask me to come in and I will feel guilty if I say no!

Kim,

Please let go of feeling guilty. Healthy boundaries are integral to a healthy life. So... say "No, but thank you for thinking of me" when asked to work more often than what is best for you. And, please, say "Yes" when you have the time, strength, and willingness to come in on your day off. Working beyond our strength or working at the expense of our mental health or working instead of investing in the lives of our loved ones is foolish. And for those of us who are tempted to covet the dollars extra work brings in, let us remember that sometimes money is too expensive to be earned!

Stepping down from my soap box,

Joy

I use to feel guilty, but I don't any more. I am so tired, and I just want to be left alone.


MJ

Although it is tough getting calls every morning, there must be a reason that they feel that they have to all everyone.

My farther used to do a few weekend shifts (4hours on Sat). It was a small town and a lot of his team used to go home or away on the weekends, so he felt that he was saving people from having to stay just to go into work for a few hours when he was already going to be in town. The rest of his team found out how much he was getting paid for doing these few hours and took it to the union as they felt that they should be given the opportunity as well (which they already were, just said no, so it stopped being offered to them each week). The workplace ended up rostering people on for the 4 hours. People complained about having to hang around in town. Dad went back to doing it.

This is probably what your workplace is trying to prevent by calling and asking everyone each time. I would suggest that you setup a "Do Not Call List" at your workplace, but it gets updated each week or month. That way if someone then turns around and says that they weren't getting any overtime work, the list gets consulted for that month and it can be resolved.

I work agency at the moment, and I put in allocations (AM, PM, ND) every week. If work calls and I have allocated myself to an AM shift, I am expected to do it. However I get days off if I want them.

I am wondering why (as P/J said) that they don't set up some kind of on call list. I seems fundamentaly wrong to be continually ringing people on their day off. If people don't get their off duty time then they won't be fit for work. If they have to ring every day then their staffing levels are wrong. But if people want to work extra they should volunteer not be called (and not at 6am). This would not set me up well for any day and can't blame you MJ for being fed up with it.