I just got out of the shower after a long day at work and I'm so pissed at the current situation. So, our hospital will be letting all the "travelers" go at the end of the month, and the staff that remains will have to pick up ALL the extra shifts, mostly overnights. I will now be randomly assigned to work some overnight shifts on what are supposed to be my days off for who knows how long. After searching for staff for over three months, my department (radiology) hired ZERO people to replace the staff that left during the two years of covid. I hated my job before, but I really hate it more now. I don't know why I just don't quit. Oh, because I worked there for 15 years and I feel attached? Man, I wish I could just let go already.
I'm sorry, that really sucks! an undervalued workforce is not good for anyone.
my youngest has covid right now , he was fully vaxed and boosted so doing ok
The unfairness of the current situation is so wrong to all of you. Instead of doing all they can to show how they appreciate what you've been asked to do the last two years, they choose this. What are they thinking!
@kali66 So sorry to hear your youngest has covid. In all seriousness, covid is never going away, it is just a much stronger flu strain now and will be with us forever. We lost workers because they all became travelers and got paid big bucks to work somewhere else. My hospital is dumb for thinking those workers will magically come back. It will be years before things will even out again.
@milaniet They aren't thinking, that's the problem. Management has their heads buried in sand and many of us that are still there are thinking of leaving. We just lost our best "pool tech" this week to a better paying hospital. Things are getting fierce with pay around here.
Oh dear you are down in the dumps. Hope your situation resolves itself soon. Maybe it is time to move in a different direction. I am sure something will come up for you if you look for it.
Those in the ivory tower of management so often are ignoramuses! They should be required to work in the trenches once in awhile. Not putting others at risk but move their damn computers where to actually get to see what their decisions reap. I am sure that you will weather the storm of their stupidity with dignity and courage that they lack.
It's sad what you wrote, but I guess it's like that everywhere. When a good manager appears, the institution immediately rises above the levels and functions perfectly. But then they change management by positioning themselves ignorant. It still works for a while until everything breaks down. In the past, an experienced specialist became the boss. Now we educate young people in the field of management - they cannot do anything, and they treat employees as pawns on a chessboard. But I was in a better position than you because I loved my job so much. However, when, due to some confusion, the management said that for them I am only "at a cost", the air left me. I worked, but without being involved.
Oh! I feel so down because of this situation. I hate hypocrisy. They bark everywhere about appreciation of the work of you in the front line, and then they do this. It makes me sick with hatred towards everything that comes near management and politics. I know my feeling down or sick does not make your situation better. But i wish that you have the strength and wisdom to take the best decisions for you and that the decisions will turn the better for you.
Good capture of your feelings. Are the travelers just that expensive? Burnout sure seems like a possibility for all departments. Good luck dealing with this time. Maybe put away the overtime money and use it later as a cushion to allow you to make a change in the future.
Sorry to hear this Krista. Sounds familiar though - we have lost nine people to big payers in the last 14 months. Pre-pandemic we hadn’t lost anyone for two or three years so there is definitely a new game in town. In line with that Chinese curse, we are living in interesting times.
Very sorry. I saw a program on TV just yesterday about our nurses and hospital staff being overworked. There's a nurse fighting this all the way to D.C.
@haskar I wrote this to give perspective on the situation, as I am assuming it's like this everywhere, but I'm not entirely sure. The answer to everything is MONEY. My hospital is deciding to be cheap at a moment when being cheap is the worst decision a company can make right now. Oh, and I work in Scottsdale, which is the richest suburb in Phoenix, if not one of the richest suburbs in America.
@monikozi hypocrisy doesn't even describe it. They saw the train coming for them miles away, and management chose to just stand on the tracks and allow the train to hit them. They chose a temporary solution to solve a permanent problem. So f*ing stupid, it blows my mind.
@cwbill Hiring travelers is EXTREMELY expensive, like overtime on steroids, nursing rates most especially. Now upper management is saying that they will not renew any contracts, and most of them expire beginning of April. It will be a virtual ghost town here when all that temporary staffing leaves, to be replaced by the remaining staff who feel like ghosts themselves now that their souls have been sucked out of them.
@marlboromaam Ya, it's pretty bad now and will only get worse. I am not even interested in racking up any more overtime, especially not doing nights shifts. It's gonna mess up my life in a way that I don't want it to. I HATE working overnights, been there, done that.
@northernexposure Right?! The crazy amount of money that is being thrown around is absolutely insane. I toyed with the idea of being a traveler tech, but I'm just not in the mood to bother. I want out of the hospital completely. Maybe I'll just go work in a bookstore.
@blueberry1222 I’m giving day care to disabled people, our groups are getting bigger and you have to do more with less staff……..I don’t want to talk about pay….😡 or I’m getting pissed too
Well, i'd say 15 years is a long time. Maybe it's time for you to take another challenge. My adopted philosophy is: when you are in a place where you feel uncomfortable, move, you are not a tree. At some point, when things became unbearable at work, i fired my boss. (Well, our higher bosses fired him because i spoke up). Later on, as i was working at another company where the bosses had no other bosses, i opted to move myself. Life is short.
I do feel for you, Krista. I retired early from food service management, just before covid, due to similar issues - failure to hire enough staff so that I had to work brutal hours to cover, with a failing back. Finally just snapped, three months shy of 65 and said f*** it, walked away. I hope you can have a better outcome.
my youngest has covid right now , he was fully vaxed and boosted so doing ok
I'm currently mid-way through writing my second travel book :) So less stressful doing that, and way more fun!!!