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Ever since one of our full-timers retired at the end of January (smart move on her part >.> ), we've been stretched thinner than usual. Now we have two full-timers, two part-timers, and two PRNs. The two of us who are PRN have one week on and one week as backup, which essentially is being on call without getting paid for being on call.
Our tale actually begins on Saturday, when I was on call. It was a bad call day. In a last-ditch effort to make money, any order that comes across, we have to do. On the weekend. With the tech getting paid time and a half. Seriously, don't tell me that's cost efficient, but whatever. I pretty much spent my whole Saturday at the hospital and missed an event I really wanted to go to. At the end of the night I had two bone scans (
so not important enough to drag me in on a weekend) and two lung scans (somewhat more important) to show for it.
This week was Other PRN's week to be on the schedule and my week to be on backup. Being on backup usually means a day off because they're really harping about hours. So imagine my surprise when at a rather unpleasant hour on Monday morning my cell phone ringing woke me up. Other PRN called out sick (Other PRN's reliability is rather spotty, so who knows about the validity). This really throws a monkey wrench into things because Other PRN takes a lot of call. But if you call out of work, you can't be on call that night. I was on call over the weekend, so I wasn't taking it. One of the part-timers eventually agreed to it with the stipulation that he didn't have to work Tuesday. Which I didn't know about because I had already left for the day when the agreement was reached. So I got another phone call at a similarly unpleasant hour on Tuesday morning.
By then, I was really annoyed because I was supposed to be off. I jokingly mentioned that if Other PRN called out Wednesday, I might kill her because Li'l Sis is in town for Spring Break and we're way overdue for a girls day. I didn't get called in Wednesday, but I found out later that I probably should have been.
Apparently Other PRN did in fact call out again and Boss Lady came down yet again in the middle of a crazy busy day and couldn't understand why they couldn't get anyone else to come in. Well, Other PRN was sick, the two part-timers work at other facilities on the days they don't work at <hospital>, I have out of town family visiting, and our call techs also have other full-time jobs at other facilities. There literally is no one else. Lead Tech really took pity on me since I had worked the last 3 days when really truly I didn't have to. She recognizes that it is very generous of Other PRN and I to agree to the backup set up and they were very lucky I was willing to come in.
And based on the story she told me, it was a good thing I wasn't there. According to her, Boss Lady said all we do is stand around and inject people. Which is basically akin to telling a nurse (which Boss Lady is) all they do is hand out pain pills.
Now, I consider myself pretty mild-mannered and it takes a lot to get me angry. But had I been there, I might not have been able to stop myself saying something that probably would have gotten me fired. Lead Tech is a bit more high strung than I, and she said if she hadn't been in the middle of juggling several patients, she would have walked then and there. And I wouldn't have blamed her one bit.
Which brings us to today, which is how I found out about all this. Other Full-Timer is sick, too. Her I believe more than Other PRN (though strep seems to be going around, so if she really is sick, I hope she gets better soon). So yet again, I get a phone call at an unpleasant hour and truck myself into work. And I'm sick too.
Tomorrow I'm covering for Lead Tech, but at least that was planned. Still, one or both Other PRN and Other Full-Timer really need to be there tomorrow or it's going to be a seriously bad day.
Really I just want to crawl into bed and stay there.
Our tale actually begins on Saturday, when I was on call. It was a bad call day. In a last-ditch effort to make money, any order that comes across, we have to do. On the weekend. With the tech getting paid time and a half. Seriously, don't tell me that's cost efficient, but whatever. I pretty much spent my whole Saturday at the hospital and missed an event I really wanted to go to. At the end of the night I had two bone scans (
so not important enough to drag me in on a weekend) and two lung scans (somewhat more important) to show for it.This week was Other PRN's week to be on the schedule and my week to be on backup. Being on backup usually means a day off because they're really harping about hours. So imagine my surprise when at a rather unpleasant hour on Monday morning my cell phone ringing woke me up. Other PRN called out sick (Other PRN's reliability is rather spotty, so who knows about the validity). This really throws a monkey wrench into things because Other PRN takes a lot of call. But if you call out of work, you can't be on call that night. I was on call over the weekend, so I wasn't taking it. One of the part-timers eventually agreed to it with the stipulation that he didn't have to work Tuesday. Which I didn't know about because I had already left for the day when the agreement was reached. So I got another phone call at a similarly unpleasant hour on Tuesday morning.
By then, I was really annoyed because I was supposed to be off. I jokingly mentioned that if Other PRN called out Wednesday, I might kill her because Li'l Sis is in town for Spring Break and we're way overdue for a girls day. I didn't get called in Wednesday, but I found out later that I probably should have been.
Apparently Other PRN did in fact call out again and Boss Lady came down yet again in the middle of a crazy busy day and couldn't understand why they couldn't get anyone else to come in. Well, Other PRN was sick, the two part-timers work at other facilities on the days they don't work at <hospital>, I have out of town family visiting, and our call techs also have other full-time jobs at other facilities. There literally is no one else. Lead Tech really took pity on me since I had worked the last 3 days when really truly I didn't have to. She recognizes that it is very generous of Other PRN and I to agree to the backup set up and they were very lucky I was willing to come in.
And based on the story she told me, it was a good thing I wasn't there. According to her, Boss Lady said all we do is stand around and inject people. Which is basically akin to telling a nurse (which Boss Lady is) all they do is hand out pain pills.
Now, I consider myself pretty mild-mannered and it takes a lot to get me angry. But had I been there, I might not have been able to stop myself saying something that probably would have gotten me fired. Lead Tech is a bit more high strung than I, and she said if she hadn't been in the middle of juggling several patients, she would have walked then and there. And I wouldn't have blamed her one bit.
Which brings us to today, which is how I found out about all this. Other Full-Timer is sick, too. Her I believe more than Other PRN (though strep seems to be going around, so if she really is sick, I hope she gets better soon). So yet again, I get a phone call at an unpleasant hour and truck myself into work. And I'm sick too.
Tomorrow I'm covering for Lead Tech, but at least that was planned. Still, one or both Other PRN and Other Full-Timer really need to be there tomorrow or it's going to be a seriously bad day.
Really I just want to crawl into bed and stay there.
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