Calling In Sick
Getting people to show up for work has reached near crisis proportions. People call in sick in higher numbers in my nursing department than in almost any other nursing unit in my employer's California hospitals. This is nothing new. Management has tried everything from threats to rewards to get people to come to work, all to no avail.
The bigwigs in charge of all of the hospitals have stepped in. To their credit, they are conducting a full investigation to hear everyone's side of the story. They appear to be operating under the assumption that something is terribly wrong at our hospital and if they can find the problem and fix it, then the calling in sick problem will be resolved.
First, we had to fill out an online survey. Now, they have a live person interviewing everyone privately to hear their stories. I'm one of the few people who rarely calls in sick, but I was interviewed along with everyone else. That poor interviewer got an earful. There are many desperately unhappy nurses. Some cried, one even yelled so loudly that the interviewer tried to give her the phone number of someone to talk to. It would be reasonable to conclude that the nurses who call in sick are really sick, although not physically ill.
Aside from rarely having aides to help us, my number one pet peeve is not giving us good staffing even when there are enough nurses. Our department has a new trick for saving money. They give each nurse the maximum number of patients allowed by state law and then put the extra nurses on "training". The nurses on training just do busy work and their time gets charged to the training department. It doesn't save our employer any money, it just changes whose budget the salaries come from.
The official staffing in our hospital is supposed to be four patients per nurse. Management has changed it to five, which is California law. If we are short-staffed, I'm more understanding, but to pull nurses off the floor and then violate our patient ratios annoys me. On the days when staffing is good, it gives us a chance to recover from the bad days. Now, there are no easy days, so the stress just keeps building, day after day. No wonder nurses are calling in sick.
Written by Melissa on 12:20 AM
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Melissa blogging from sunny Santa Clarita, Southern California, United States.
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4 Comments:
Sounds like a pretty stressful place to work. Was lawyering any easier? I am glad to see you blogging again. Has the fire danger passed?
that sounds sad, and bad. not to gloat, but i am glad the hospital where i work do the "one less" policy. since the california law if 1:4, we are 1:3.
are you considering transferring to a diferent hospital?
Sorry for your frustration.
Unfortunately, it's not just California. Several weeks ago, Mrs. B had spinal fusion surgery. On her third night in the hospital, she had to get up by herself to use the restroom because no one showed up to help her.
They answered the call button every time, but didn't follow through. Someone finally came two hours later.
The same thing happened for her pain medication.
I think the solution is to make all the administrators have major surgery.
Alan, it's hard to believe, but lawyering was worse. It didn't suit my temperment.
The ground is wet and soggy now, thank goodness.
May, California law is five to one, at least with the type of nursing I do. Your hospital is amazing. I can't leave because I'm working towards a good pension.
Bulldog, administrators do have surgery, but they get the vip treatment. Staffing is changed, so that they can pretty much have a private nurse to attend to their every need,immediately. They, of course, are happy with their care and our manager gets applauded. If you want good care, get a job as a hospital bigwig.
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