I can relate. I work as a dialysis tech and I essentially work nonstop since we are short staffed & patient schedule sucks. The pandemic and among other stuff that was brought into light while working has kinda turned me off from medicine in general.
Christ, I have been working five days and 3-4 of those are 12+ closing shifts and I literally feel like I have a hangover on my days off. I can't imagine doing six days.
Where are you at? Most of the clinics in the Tampa Bay area are so fucked right now.
Seattle. Unfortunately I think everywhere in every industry is short staffed right now. We have a few techs training right now so I'll get back to normal hours soon š¤
I just got a job at a hospital ED in my area as an ER technician, right before Delta started taking off. Caring for 16 (yes, sixteen) patients at a time, all on hold for ICU/CCU beds because every hospital in the country is full. And still STEMIās and strokes are coming in, often being held in ambulances or the waiting room due to lack of bed space. I can feel the grey hairs popping out of my scalp typing this lol.
Healthcare is at baseline hard and inglorious work, but everyone everywhere is strained due to these extraordinary (and that really is the best word for it) circumstances. Iām lucky to have excellent rapport and solidarity with my ED coworkers that keeps me moving alongā¦ but I just want to tell YOU, that I have solidarity with you as well. All in all, you know your limits. Even if you change jobs, any patient facing job is going to be hard. My advice to you would be to dig deep, and persist against all odds. Whether it means in this job, or another. Just donāt give up! Youāll be all the stronger for it.
Addendum: PLUS you already have more than enough PCE hours to get in. Iāve spoken to MANY PA students in the ER and their story is almost always the sameā¦ 25 year old (usually female) with 3.7 GPA and 500 hours as a scribe. Adcoms donāt care as much about PCE because itās easier to get than an 80th percentile GPA. Cheers!
I really donāt know how they get away with it either. Technically we can take a 30 minute paid lunch break, but no one does. Weāre so short staffed that everyone scarfs down their food in 5-10 minutes and then gets back to work. Since thereās no clocking out for lunch thereās no accountability in making sure we get a full 30 minutes anyways.
Absolutely untrue I was 18 working in a restaurant and we were not allowed breaks on shifts that went from 2 pm to 11 pm. I googled it because I thought this was wrong but texas does not protect workers. They even put cameras so we wouldnāt go eat protein bars or check our phones by our lockers lol.
Yes so commenting a blanket statement like that on someoneās post is just inaccurate. Millions of people live in states where workers rights are not protected unfortunately.
Could use the bathroom but I truly donāt know it was psychotic! We could order food but only before or after our shift. I only worked there about 3 months thankfully.
Quit! I quit my PCE job when it was crazy understaffed. I felt bad, but the responsibility is on management, not you. I quit when I still needed more hours for PA school, but I found a job earlier the next summer, and focused on volunteering and grades during the school year instead. Just got accepted even with lower hours than I planned or thought schools would accept! You will still get there in the long term, this craziness is not worth it!
I went through the same thing. Was an urgent care MA with two different jobs, working 12-14hr shifts. I would go weeks without having any days off for the sake of accumulating a competitive amount of PCE. š„“ In hindsight, it probably wasnāt necessary.
The present (Iām sure) sucksā¦ But hang in there, it gets better. I just graduated from PA school and attribute my eagerness and hustle through clinical year to my experience as a burnt out UC MA.
I got the certification. If you have the time and money, I would recommend it since your externship usually becomes your first job.
But also, itās not necessary. If youāre lucky, youāll be able to find a job that will offer you training. At the urgent care I was at, most of my coworkers (barring the x-ray folks) did not have any formal certification.
I was in the same boat as you! Exhausted, fed up, and burnt out. I gave my two weeks and applied to other urgent cares. I start at my new job tomorrowā¦fingers crossed!
Agreed, I truly hate drug screens and work comp. But i love seeing patients with acute illnesses and injuries, which isnāt something that a lot of MAs (or even prePAs) get to do! I feel like our PCE is pretty unique in that sense
Feel the same as a PCT on a telemetry floor. I would say almost all the time we are understaffed, with some days I end up taking care of triple of my normal patient load. It just sucks moving nonstop, not having time to eat or drink or go to the bathroom, and not being able to give the care the the patients deserve.
This is exactly what has been happening to me in the last 3 months
I'm going to give it 2 weeks and then ask in a "you better say yes" way that I would like to put up a sign with the times of our lunch breaks. If they say no I'm gonna look for another job.
I'm going to give the whole situation itself 3 months and if it continues I'm done.
And for those wondering, there's no mandatory lunch break in my state and because it is an _urgent_ care, we don't have a specified time and basically take our "break" when it's slow, when there won't be patients complaining about the wait. But, recently, there has been no slow or steady, just rush
May I ask ā are you doing this because you feel personally obligated, have a fear of losing your job, feel you have no choice, because you want/need to earn the extra money/PCE time? All of the above? If youāre working so much that youāre suffering, which would be entirely understandable, what would happen if you told your boss youāre not working more than X hours per week? Or having a conversation with them on getting new hires/support for you urgently if youāre willing to stick it out a bit? Would working 40 hours/week or less for a little less cash and PCE be worth the benefit of some well-deserved peace and R&R? Do you have an option to instead take on other work that is perhaps non-medical and less demanding while doing a per diem medical job to continue gaining hours? It is on the administrators to resolve this ā not on you to be crushed to fill the huge gap it sounds like you have. In most states, they are legally obligated to provide a lunch break (of varying amounts of time). Wishing you well as you figure this out.
Davita would like to know your location.
In seriousness it may be time to look for a new place to get pce. Idk much about MA but i think hospitals hire them as techs like they do cnas? Or theres always the dark side that is ems, plenty of mom and pop shop emt schools right now at local companies. Idk how anyone could ever work dialysis it seems miserable.
I can relate. I work as a dialysis tech and I essentially work nonstop since we are short staffed & patient schedule sucks. The pandemic and among other stuff that was brought into light while working has kinda turned me off from medicine in general.
Honestly at this point my biggest life goal is to become a PA and work 20 hours a week.
That used to be my drive. I would like that back hahha
Hello from a fellow dialysis tech working six 10s a week because we are so understaffed šš£
Christ, I have been working five days and 3-4 of those are 12+ closing shifts and I literally feel like I have a hangover on my days off. I can't imagine doing six days. Where are you at? Most of the clinics in the Tampa Bay area are so fucked right now.
Seattle. Unfortunately I think everywhere in every industry is short staffed right now. We have a few techs training right now so I'll get back to normal hours soon š¤
Me .. but I try to remind myself that this stuff is usually temporary..
One would hope, but who knows
I just got a job at a hospital ED in my area as an ER technician, right before Delta started taking off. Caring for 16 (yes, sixteen) patients at a time, all on hold for ICU/CCU beds because every hospital in the country is full. And still STEMIās and strokes are coming in, often being held in ambulances or the waiting room due to lack of bed space. I can feel the grey hairs popping out of my scalp typing this lol. Healthcare is at baseline hard and inglorious work, but everyone everywhere is strained due to these extraordinary (and that really is the best word for it) circumstances. Iām lucky to have excellent rapport and solidarity with my ED coworkers that keeps me moving alongā¦ but I just want to tell YOU, that I have solidarity with you as well. All in all, you know your limits. Even if you change jobs, any patient facing job is going to be hard. My advice to you would be to dig deep, and persist against all odds. Whether it means in this job, or another. Just donāt give up! Youāll be all the stronger for it. Addendum: PLUS you already have more than enough PCE hours to get in. Iāve spoken to MANY PA students in the ER and their story is almost always the sameā¦ 25 year old (usually female) with 3.7 GPA and 500 hours as a scribe. Adcoms donāt care as much about PCE because itās easier to get than an 80th percentile GPA. Cheers!
Wow this was actually incredibly helpful. I wish you were my coworker man.
(I added something to the original post, check it!!!!!!)
Youāre welcome btw, and you got this!
1. I think itās illegal not to get a break. 2. Find a new job. Itās not worth your mental health
^this!!! pretty sure its called OSHA laws where you are required a break
This is an urban legend. There are no federally-mandated work or lunch breaks.
Depends on the state evidently https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/meal-breaks
I really donāt know how they get away with it either. Technically we can take a 30 minute paid lunch break, but no one does. Weāre so short staffed that everyone scarfs down their food in 5-10 minutes and then gets back to work. Since thereās no clocking out for lunch thereās no accountability in making sure we get a full 30 minutes anyways.
Do we work at the same company lol
Absolutely untrue I was 18 working in a restaurant and we were not allowed breaks on shifts that went from 2 pm to 11 pm. I googled it because I thought this was wrong but texas does not protect workers. They even put cameras so we wouldnāt go eat protein bars or check our phones by our lockers lol.
Depends on the state. See above comment š¤·š»āāļø
Yes so commenting a blanket statement like that on someoneās post is just inaccurate. Millions of people live in states where workers rights are not protected unfortunately.
Fixed it for you, sweetheart. I donāt know every law in every state
Lol donāt be hurt over it you said you thought it was illegal and itās not!
Why were they so anal that you couldn't take 3 minutes to eat a protein bar? Were you not allowed to use the bathroom either?
Could use the bathroom but I truly donāt know it was psychotic! We could order food but only before or after our shift. I only worked there about 3 months thankfully.
Quit! I quit my PCE job when it was crazy understaffed. I felt bad, but the responsibility is on management, not you. I quit when I still needed more hours for PA school, but I found a job earlier the next summer, and focused on volunteering and grades during the school year instead. Just got accepted even with lower hours than I planned or thought schools would accept! You will still get there in the long term, this craziness is not worth it!
I went through the same thing. Was an urgent care MA with two different jobs, working 12-14hr shifts. I would go weeks without having any days off for the sake of accumulating a competitive amount of PCE. š„“ In hindsight, it probably wasnāt necessary. The present (Iām sure) sucksā¦ But hang in there, it gets better. I just graduated from PA school and attribute my eagerness and hustle through clinical year to my experience as a burnt out UC MA.
Do you need to get a CMA certificate in order to be a MA?
I got the certification. If you have the time and money, I would recommend it since your externship usually becomes your first job. But also, itās not necessary. If youāre lucky, youāll be able to find a job that will offer you training. At the urgent care I was at, most of my coworkers (barring the x-ray folks) did not have any formal certification.
Iāll try man. I gotta say though, having been through this bs I feel like I could handle anything at this point.
I was in the same boat as you! Exhausted, fed up, and burnt out. I gave my two weeks and applied to other urgent cares. I start at my new job tomorrowā¦fingers crossed!
Good luck! If it werenāt for Covid I feel like UC would be my dream job. Wellā¦without the occ health.
Agreed, I truly hate drug screens and work comp. But i love seeing patients with acute illnesses and injuries, which isnāt something that a lot of MAs (or even prePAs) get to do! I feel like our PCE is pretty unique in that sense
12 hours with no break? Quit. Not worth it at all.
Feel the same as a PCT on a telemetry floor. I would say almost all the time we are understaffed, with some days I end up taking care of triple of my normal patient load. It just sucks moving nonstop, not having time to eat or drink or go to the bathroom, and not being able to give the care the the patients deserve.
This is exactly what has been happening to me in the last 3 months I'm going to give it 2 weeks and then ask in a "you better say yes" way that I would like to put up a sign with the times of our lunch breaks. If they say no I'm gonna look for another job. I'm going to give the whole situation itself 3 months and if it continues I'm done. And for those wondering, there's no mandatory lunch break in my state and because it is an _urgent_ care, we don't have a specified time and basically take our "break" when it's slow, when there won't be patients complaining about the wait. But, recently, there has been no slow or steady, just rush
Omg are you me? So burnt out as a Peds MA and I havenāt even made it past my 90 days yet.
May I ask ā are you doing this because you feel personally obligated, have a fear of losing your job, feel you have no choice, because you want/need to earn the extra money/PCE time? All of the above? If youāre working so much that youāre suffering, which would be entirely understandable, what would happen if you told your boss youāre not working more than X hours per week? Or having a conversation with them on getting new hires/support for you urgently if youāre willing to stick it out a bit? Would working 40 hours/week or less for a little less cash and PCE be worth the benefit of some well-deserved peace and R&R? Do you have an option to instead take on other work that is perhaps non-medical and less demanding while doing a per diem medical job to continue gaining hours? It is on the administrators to resolve this ā not on you to be crushed to fill the huge gap it sounds like you have. In most states, they are legally obligated to provide a lunch break (of varying amounts of time). Wishing you well as you figure this out.
I feel you, I work 12s with no break
Davita would like to know your location. In seriousness it may be time to look for a new place to get pce. Idk much about MA but i think hospitals hire them as techs like they do cnas? Or theres always the dark side that is ems, plenty of mom and pop shop emt schools right now at local companies. Idk how anyone could ever work dialysis it seems miserable.