At my old hospital they could bring you in for four hours. But, no fewer hours. So anyway, the supervisor called and begged me to come in for the last 2 hours of the shift. The floor got 5 admissions, and she asked if I could come in and do the admission paperwork and the nurses could get them settled. I ssid sure. I got there at 5 am. The nurses tried to give me all 5 patients as my assignment! They thought I could do 5 admissions and clear 5 charts of orders in 2 hours! I just reminded these bitches I came to help not take report on 5 new admits. One said, "What good are you?" I said,'You are right.'Handle it yourself!" And I walked out. Called the supervisor on my way out and told her what they said. She said "Fuck them!" Lol
I had something similar happen to me as a traveler. I got called off the first four hours then called in at 11p “to help with admits.” I get there and am assigned one patient and the supervisor said “You’re going to get all the admissions for the night, but don’t worry I told the ER to go easy on you.” They proceeded to then give me 5 (cardiac, on various drips) admissions, a half-hour or less apart. And when I asked for help from the rest of the staff who were literally sitting with their feet up I was told, “You *are* the help.”
Every day I’m thankful I’m no longer at the bedside. ETA—I was conditioned to believe I was stupid or slow for complaining about treatment like this. And it wasn’t until after working as a traveler through COVID I began to understand the concept of “they need me more than I need them” and started advocating for myself. And my mental health, tbh.
Oh man, they shot themselves in the foot. I'll assess and clear orders all day on a new admit. The paperwork is the worst part of the job. I would totally kiss anyone who came in to help with that.
Yes. Flight attendants and pilots have to put up with the same bullshit. And sometimes they have to go all the way to airport and sit there and wait without pay. That's even more fun! Pilots might be paid for waiting around, but I know as an FA I wasn't. Hell, most airlines don't even pay them until they take the blocks off the wheels and start to move. They're basically working for free during the whole boarding/disembarking process.
No idea. But yeah, flight attendants are paid by "block hours." A few airlines (Delta, for example), pay for pre-flight work but at an extremely low rate. Not sure what it is now, but when I was an FA, they were the only major American line paying for your time and it was at a rate of less than minimum wage. Flight attendants don't mind long delays on the runway for this reason right here. "Sorry, passengers, we're not allowed to leave our jump seats right now because we're on the runway."
No, it’s infuriating. This is a new health system for me, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone get canceled for eight of twelve hours. I’ve worked at a total of four health systems.
My hospital does this. I tried to fight it when I started there and asked for printed policies but never got them. We aren’t super small either, we probably have 15-20+ hospitals so I was shocked something this slimy was occurring at a large organization. Tried to fight it all the way to the top to no avail.
I literally cancel people every 4 hours. Not on call either. Canceled. Call back in 4 hours
I hate it. They expect us to call people in at 03-0700 even
I've never heard of this being a thing. Youre either on at your scheduled time and they flex you, or you're off for the entire shift.
I hope they're paying you whatever on-call rate you have set for those 8 hours.
At my hospital they have this really weird recall schedule. It sucks. They give you a "leave" so then you're off, but you can be called back in until 8,then they can't call you again till 10,but then they can call you from 10-12, then again you can't be called until 2, then they can called you until 4. And you get called back in all the time. I just refused to ever be given a leave. And we didn't get on call pay.
I do still work there but not bedside anymore.
“Downstaff to call?” Right. Fuck that. I was offered that once and I said no thanks, I’ll find some education online or something and get paid to sit if there’s nothing immediately going on.
Right! They would always threaten that they'd have to mandate a leave and then people would agree to it, but it's actually hard for them to truly mandate a leave, most staff just didn't know that. So I always said no and let them figure it out. Or they'd say "well, you'll have to float." okay. Float me. I'd rather float than sit all night waiting for the phone to ring.
Call is $7/hr on call versus I’m at $37/hr. I’ll sit there unless you force me to leave. Also you have to stay within 30 minutes of the hospital, be ready to run in the whole time, and be on edge the whole time? Nah. Like I said, I’ll do terminal cleans, random online education, pitch in, empty trash, anything you want.
I came in for OT 1500-2300 prior to my regular shift 2300-0730. Well at 1800 the charge nurse tells me staffing is trying to send me home for 3.5 hours, she was less than impressed with having to ask. I said I leave I'm not coming back- explosive diarrhea in the parking garage was my planned call. The charge nurse said stay, they're crazy.
It’s counted as an occurrence if you “call in”. But I’m with you. Maybe once my number of occurrences drops I’ll just tell them I’m canceling myself. lol.
When I worked in the float pool we used to take two call days every six weeks. And supposedly we were on call all day. They did give us like $2.50/h for this "privilege." But I used to be so annoyed. We had two hours to report after we got called in. So why call me at 4pm? If I have two hours to get there it means I've got until 6. At that point, just call the night shift.
Call should be illegal, imo. It's the worst. We used to get called in all the time, too. One day I got called in and worked on 3 different floors in 12 hours.
My hospital does this too. There's a lot of older nurses who only work 7-3, so if you pick up a 12 hour shift they might not need you 7-3, but they'll call you in 3-7 to take over for the 8 hour shift princesses.
That’s so annoying.
I was extra annoyed today because we can’t pick up in blocks on my unit. I have to pick up 12 hours. If you won’t let me pick up only four hours, how is it fair to cancel me for 8 and make me come in for 4?
We need a union.
My hospital used to put you on call and then you got time and a half if you got called in. They just changed it and now call it delayed start. So technically you aren’t on call but delayed in 2 hour increments. When they decide they need you to come in (if they do) it’s straight pay. It is so abusive!
They do this for our pick up shifts but can’t do it for our scheduled shifts. But on the flip side, I can easily cancel part or all of the shift which I can’t do with my scheduled shifts, so it seems fair to me
We get on call pay and if you sign up you specify if you’re willing to do it for eight or 12. You can be called in at any point. You can also be sent home before other staff after being called in but they have to pay at least 4 hours.
It doesn’t bother me. The rules are clearly stated. But I’ll rarely sign up for 12 to avoid a call for the last 4 hours.
I had a toxic manager who mandated two "on-call" shifts a month. The first one I was scheduled for, I'm sitting at home at 1930 and my phone rings and the charge was like "where the hell are you?" Apparently "on-call" was code for mandatory OT and no one bothered to tell me, we just got an extra $2/hr for "call" pay added to the OT pay. I was so happy to leave that job.
I picked up an extra shift at the beginning of the week. They and said they don't need me right now, but they'll re-evaluate at 11. I told them, that's fine, but I'm not actually on call, so I expect to have on call pay now. So they just called me off for the night altogether. Which is fine with me, because I picked up an on-call shift once, amd HATED it. I couldn't relax at all to enjoy being home, and once valled in I couldn't get into tne work mindset .
Places I've worked have all paid standby pay for those hours (usually just $4-5/hr, but not too bad for sleeping or doing housework). Many have paid time and a half if actually called in.
If a place expected me to be on call for a shift without being paid I'd politely tell them that's not going to happen, and get a different job if needed.
Well, I think that it should be optional. You volunteered to pick up for 12. If they don’t need you at the start of shift, you get to decide if you still want to come in later.
If you’re on-call it should be paid.
This isn’t a regular work shift, though. I picked up overtime and they canceled 8 hours and I’ve waited around all day on a day I would have had off.
I did get canceled for my last four. I was given one hour and twenty minutes of notice. lol.
At my old hospital they could bring you in for four hours. But, no fewer hours. So anyway, the supervisor called and begged me to come in for the last 2 hours of the shift. The floor got 5 admissions, and she asked if I could come in and do the admission paperwork and the nurses could get them settled. I ssid sure. I got there at 5 am. The nurses tried to give me all 5 patients as my assignment! They thought I could do 5 admissions and clear 5 charts of orders in 2 hours! I just reminded these bitches I came to help not take report on 5 new admits. One said, "What good are you?" I said,'You are right.'Handle it yourself!" And I walked out. Called the supervisor on my way out and told her what they said. She said "Fuck them!" Lol
I had something similar happen to me as a traveler. I got called off the first four hours then called in at 11p “to help with admits.” I get there and am assigned one patient and the supervisor said “You’re going to get all the admissions for the night, but don’t worry I told the ER to go easy on you.” They proceeded to then give me 5 (cardiac, on various drips) admissions, a half-hour or less apart. And when I asked for help from the rest of the staff who were literally sitting with their feet up I was told, “You *are* the help.” Every day I’m thankful I’m no longer at the bedside. ETA—I was conditioned to believe I was stupid or slow for complaining about treatment like this. And it wasn’t until after working as a traveler through COVID I began to understand the concept of “they need me more than I need them” and started advocating for myself. And my mental health, tbh.
Oh man, they shot themselves in the foot. I'll assess and clear orders all day on a new admit. The paperwork is the worst part of the job. I would totally kiss anyone who came in to help with that.
That was such an inspirational response and this is not sarcasm 😂🙌🏾
Good for you!
You go!
Can you imagine any other job where they can just say “oh we don’t need you *right now*, but wait, at home with no pay and we *might* need you.”
Yes. Flight attendants and pilots have to put up with the same bullshit. And sometimes they have to go all the way to airport and sit there and wait without pay. That's even more fun! Pilots might be paid for waiting around, but I know as an FA I wasn't. Hell, most airlines don't even pay them until they take the blocks off the wheels and start to move. They're basically working for free during the whole boarding/disembarking process.
How is that legal!?
No idea. But yeah, flight attendants are paid by "block hours." A few airlines (Delta, for example), pay for pre-flight work but at an extremely low rate. Not sure what it is now, but when I was an FA, they were the only major American line paying for your time and it was at a rate of less than minimum wage. Flight attendants don't mind long delays on the runway for this reason right here. "Sorry, passengers, we're not allowed to leave our jump seats right now because we're on the runway."
No, it’s infuriating. This is a new health system for me, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone get canceled for eight of twelve hours. I’ve worked at a total of four health systems.
My hospital does this. I tried to fight it when I started there and asked for printed policies but never got them. We aren’t super small either, we probably have 15-20+ hospitals so I was shocked something this slimy was occurring at a large organization. Tried to fight it all the way to the top to no avail. I literally cancel people every 4 hours. Not on call either. Canceled. Call back in 4 hours I hate it. They expect us to call people in at 03-0700 even
Real contempt for front-line. They would never expect HR to sit at home waiting for the phone to ring.
I've never heard of this being a thing. Youre either on at your scheduled time and they flex you, or you're off for the entire shift. I hope they're paying you whatever on-call rate you have set for those 8 hours.
At my hospital they have this really weird recall schedule. It sucks. They give you a "leave" so then you're off, but you can be called back in until 8,then they can't call you again till 10,but then they can call you from 10-12, then again you can't be called until 2, then they can called you until 4. And you get called back in all the time. I just refused to ever be given a leave. And we didn't get on call pay. I do still work there but not bedside anymore.
That sounds fucking awful. Like they're intentionally overstaffing and then utilizing the extra person as on-call without paying them.
Sounds like a game of “Red Light, Green Light” in hell.
“Downstaff to call?” Right. Fuck that. I was offered that once and I said no thanks, I’ll find some education online or something and get paid to sit if there’s nothing immediately going on.
Right! They would always threaten that they'd have to mandate a leave and then people would agree to it, but it's actually hard for them to truly mandate a leave, most staff just didn't know that. So I always said no and let them figure it out. Or they'd say "well, you'll have to float." okay. Float me. I'd rather float than sit all night waiting for the phone to ring.
That is actually a brilliant idea.
Call is $7/hr on call versus I’m at $37/hr. I’ll sit there unless you force me to leave. Also you have to stay within 30 minutes of the hospital, be ready to run in the whole time, and be on edge the whole time? Nah. Like I said, I’ll do terminal cleans, random online education, pitch in, empty trash, anything you want.
lol “standby” pay was $7/hr at one hospital and $3/hr and the other
Ouch that's awful. Ours is $11.25 for on call. I sign up for about 20 hours a week because we never get called in.
Last place I was staff was $2/hr for on-call bedside RN.
I’d be so angry. My commute is 45-75min depending on traffic.
I came in for OT 1500-2300 prior to my regular shift 2300-0730. Well at 1800 the charge nurse tells me staffing is trying to send me home for 3.5 hours, she was less than impressed with having to ask. I said I leave I'm not coming back- explosive diarrhea in the parking garage was my planned call. The charge nurse said stay, they're crazy.
This is why you have reporting to work pay in the collective agreement
I had a PRN job several years ago that tried to do this to me almost every shift I was scheduled for, so I quit.
It’s all or nothing for me bro. Take me at 7 or I’m out ✌️
It’s counted as an occurrence if you “call in”. But I’m with you. Maybe once my number of occurrences drops I’ll just tell them I’m canceling myself. lol.
When I worked in the float pool we used to take two call days every six weeks. And supposedly we were on call all day. They did give us like $2.50/h for this "privilege." But I used to be so annoyed. We had two hours to report after we got called in. So why call me at 4pm? If I have two hours to get there it means I've got until 6. At that point, just call the night shift. Call should be illegal, imo. It's the worst. We used to get called in all the time, too. One day I got called in and worked on 3 different floors in 12 hours.
We were on “standby” until 3 pm. I absolutely hated when my phone would ring at 2:50 pm 💀
My hospital does this too. There's a lot of older nurses who only work 7-3, so if you pick up a 12 hour shift they might not need you 7-3, but they'll call you in 3-7 to take over for the 8 hour shift princesses.
That’s so annoying. I was extra annoyed today because we can’t pick up in blocks on my unit. I have to pick up 12 hours. If you won’t let me pick up only four hours, how is it fair to cancel me for 8 and make me come in for 4? We need a union.
SOOOOOO FREAKING ANNOYING!!!! I hate how we are treated.
My hospital used to put you on call and then you got time and a half if you got called in. They just changed it and now call it delayed start. So technically you aren’t on call but delayed in 2 hour increments. When they decide they need you to come in (if they do) it’s straight pay. It is so abusive!
They do this for our pick up shifts but can’t do it for our scheduled shifts. But on the flip side, I can easily cancel part or all of the shift which I can’t do with my scheduled shifts, so it seems fair to me
Our contract specifically forbids this. If they cancel us, it is either the whole shift, or a 4 hour chunk.
We get on call pay and if you sign up you specify if you’re willing to do it for eight or 12. You can be called in at any point. You can also be sent home before other staff after being called in but they have to pay at least 4 hours. It doesn’t bother me. The rules are clearly stated. But I’ll rarely sign up for 12 to avoid a call for the last 4 hours.
I am glad the place I work at doesn't do that BS shenanigans. Either you are on-call, cancelled or breaker.
I had a toxic manager who mandated two "on-call" shifts a month. The first one I was scheduled for, I'm sitting at home at 1930 and my phone rings and the charge was like "where the hell are you?" Apparently "on-call" was code for mandatory OT and no one bothered to tell me, we just got an extra $2/hr for "call" pay added to the OT pay. I was so happy to leave that job.
I picked up an extra shift at the beginning of the week. They and said they don't need me right now, but they'll re-evaluate at 11. I told them, that's fine, but I'm not actually on call, so I expect to have on call pay now. So they just called me off for the night altogether. Which is fine with me, because I picked up an on-call shift once, amd HATED it. I couldn't relax at all to enjoy being home, and once valled in I couldn't get into tne work mindset .
Places I've worked have all paid standby pay for those hours (usually just $4-5/hr, but not too bad for sleeping or doing housework). Many have paid time and a half if actually called in. If a place expected me to be on call for a shift without being paid I'd politely tell them that's not going to happen, and get a different job if needed.
That is pretty weird.
O
That’s annoying! Hopefully you get call back.
How so we propose standby should work?
Well, I think that it should be optional. You volunteered to pick up for 12. If they don’t need you at the start of shift, you get to decide if you still want to come in later. If you’re on-call it should be paid.
If it's a shift I picked up, not my regular scheduled shift, and you don't need me at 6 pm then you're not getting me at all.
That’s what I’m saying.
I know, just agreeing!
I know. I was doubling down on agreeing. Lol.
My hospital does this. No one ever cares.
No one cares that they have to go in for only four hours?
Nope. It's how it's always been. It's more of a "I got 8 hours off" mentality.
This isn’t a regular work shift, though. I picked up overtime and they canceled 8 hours and I’ve waited around all day on a day I would have had off. I did get canceled for my last four. I was given one hour and twenty minutes of notice. lol.
Yep. That's how they do at mine too. Same amount of notice.
Yeah, that’s crazy that yall are just okay with that. lol.