Short Shifted
Night number one was a decent night. On a floor where the team work was great!
Night number two comes.
1730 I get a call. Well, actually a voice message cuz I’m in the shower getting ready for work. I call back and I’m told I’m to come in at 2300 instead of 1900. OK.
{scratching my head when she couldn’t tell me what what my assignment would be given they modified my shift to these particular hours}
I stop my prep and lay down on the couch to watch some videos, after sending SU an email at work (we’re working opposite shifts all weekend to see how that rolls) to let her know.
SU comes through the door a little later and sees me on the couch.
“What’s wrong? Are you ok?”
“Yup, was told to come in at 11 instead of 7.”
I make her dinner and lay back down, setting the timer to make sure I get back up by 2200.
Time rolls around, I go in at my 2300 appointed time, check the board for my assignment, and….
No assignment. Name is on the board but no assignment. So I go over to the staff managers office and ask what going on. She makes a call and tells me to go to the ortho rehab unit. (Damn! Was hoping for something like ICU again…)
I get up on the floor, get report on my six (ONLY 6!) patients. Three NAs and 20 patients; where they are for the most part well up on narcotics. Should be a decent, easy, short shift. Spend 30 minutes getting report and some basic things in order. Another 30 minutes of actually doing a couple of things for my patients, and then the phone rings.
It’s the charge RN telling me that the float NA that was assigned to the ICU has been released from the ICU (they didn’t need him after all) and since he’s fulltime and I’m PRN they are moving him to rehab and I’m to go home.
Two hours after getting there I’m walking out the door again. So glad I only live 20 minutes away. Some of these guys live an hour from the hospital. If I had driven that far I mighta been pissed.
Still not sure why they just didn’t call me off in the first place. Oh well. It at least paid for the gas to go back and forth and keeps me on the night schedule/routine (nothing worse than getting called of the 2nd of the 3 days of nights and having 2 “first” nights).
Sweat dreams! I’m off to sleep the day away to be ready for work tonight!
Can they do that? 2 hrs and send u home? Unreal. Here u have to work 4 at least. If you don’t start and just arrive and they send u home they have to pay for 2 hrs…but once we walk in the door, it’s 4 hrs. And if you are regular staff….it doesn’t matter how slow it gets….no one gets sent home….
I don’t know how u can make a living…
PRN stands for Red Headed Stepchild.
Yeah I know the letters don’t work, but it’s what it means.
Without doubt.
Float Pool NA: the medical world equivalent of krill.