You will recall that I was told that they couldn’t come close to paying me what other hospitals are offering me, even though they are paying H1C visa people $1 an hour more, and are paying contract nurses $20 an hour more than they are paying me. I haven’t yet put in my 2 weeks’ notice. I was planning on doing that this week. The problem? Since I am PRN, I was just notified that I have been taken off the schedule this week because the ED has a low census.
Last week, they had me come in 4 hours late one day, then had me leave 4 hours early the next. So I was 8 hours short last week. Now I am an entire week short this week. Hazard of being PRN, I guess. It’s enough to make it feel personal.
As for the low census? We are a 50 bed ED, requiring 14 nurses to staff for the shift. On busy days, we have as many as 90 patients at once, but 70 or so is the norm. That means we have patients stacked in the hallways on reclining chairs, and there are as many as 12 to 15 patients to a nurse. The days that I had my hours cut short? We had a full ED at 52 patients for 50 beds. So they sent me home. It wasn’t just me who was sent home early. I was on the midshift, meaning all of the nurses and techs who come in at 9am, 11 am, and 1 pm for their 12 hour shifts. The entire midshift- 3 nurses, 4 technicians, and a paramedic, were sent home at 7pm, even though we were full at 52 patients.
Nurses have remarked, “As long as we keep doing this, they will keep making us do it, until it becomes the ‘way we have always done things.’ Then we will be expected to run shorthanded.”
It looks like those days are here. Remember when they were squawking that the ICU was overrun with patients because they were at 95% capacity? That’s where the hospital purposely keeps itself- to maximize profits. So you lower capacity to match demand, except that in this case, they are keeping the hospital’s ED at over 100% capacity, which is dictated by nurses.
Not my problem in two and a half weeks. Now I am asking- should I even bother giving two weeks’ notice?
14 Comments
chiefjaybob · May 8, 2023 at 5:02 pm
There’s really only 2 reasons to give 2 weeks notice: in the event you don’t have your next job nailed down, you don’t want them slagging on you to a future employer; and, in the event the new job doesn’t work out and you need to or want to go back. If you already have your next job lined up and you are hired, I wouldn’t bother. They don’t seem to give a damn if you’re there or nor not, and given the labor shortage in healthcare right now, it doesn’t sound there is any realistic chance if you going back.
It's just Boris · May 8, 2023 at 5:28 pm
Yeah, give them the two weeks notice. And tell your coworkers that you’re leaving after you tell your boss.
You already know the worst that can happen if you give notice – zero hours.
On the other hand, if you don’t give notice, it’s something your boss can use to smear your reputation with your former coworkers, maybe the boss’s counterparts at other places … and one never knows when paths will cross again. Even if your boss isn’t malicious you can still see backlash down the road.
Is this improbable? Well, there’s a guy in my profession who left his job two jobs back, with a week’s notice. (The standard for our field is a month, longer is appreciated for mission critical positions.) His abrupt departure caused real problems for his former bosses, as he had an operations-critical job spot as a team lead. A year later he did it again – at least with 2 weeks notice this time, but still departing a mission-critical post. He made a career change this last time, and I hope he’s happy there because nobody I know in my profession would hire him again. No bad-mouthing, just the facts, are enough.
My field, at around 2000 people in the nation on a guess, is likely smaller than yours, and “everybody knows everybody.” But, still.
Divemedic · May 8, 2023 at 5:33 pm
I would agree if I were full or even part time, but I am a PRN employee. PRN means “as needed”
Rick · May 8, 2023 at 8:44 pm
That you’re asking the question tells me that it is important to you; that you view it as honorable.
Be true to yourself. Do that which is honorable to you and to how you were briught up. Do this even though there be no loyalty left in the field, or that you would ve ridiculed for staying true to yourself. Do not let others define how you conduct yourself.
Sorry if I sound preachy. Just reminding you of what you already know. You know the answer.
A Retarded Tower of Babel · May 8, 2023 at 5:53 pm
Bolshevik enemedia just reported on a missing Cleveland EMS who was supposed to testify in a rape case.
There was some harassment and a bullet fired through a window.
Jen · May 8, 2023 at 6:14 pm
Nope. They don’t owe you the same courtesy, so fuckem. They pushed too much, and I just walked. I’ve seen too many good and long term employees let go who then had the mandatory humiliating walk to their car by security. Why are we expected to provide notice to employers with no reciprocity? And to aesop- don’t be a jerk. I’m tired of getting beat up and thrown into walls by hood rats jonesing for dilaudid. And having my boobs grabbed. All for 20$ an hour. #fedup
EN2 SS · May 8, 2023 at 8:04 pm
At one job where I’d been for 14 years, as night foreman at a busy shop with the best record of shift income they’d ever had, I went in to work at four PM. The boss said he’d heard I was looking for another job. I replied, yes and here’s your keys to the building, then walked out the door.
At the job I went to, they lied to me on what I would be doing, I lasted one day. I came in and loaded up my stuff, the boss asked what was going on, I told him “I’m already sick of your shit” and walked out.
At the next job I stayed for 12 years before calling them on their bullshit. But I got smart this time, I took my vacation and went to work driving long haul. At the end of my vacation, the boss’s suckass called and asked when I was coming back to work, I told him “I’m having so much fun, I think I’ll stay out for another week.” The boss called and asked when I would be back, I told him “I don’t have time for your bullshit right now, I’ll call you when I get back home.”
Total time out of work? One f’n day in all, because I wanted a little time off. LOL
As you should understand, I give the exact same two second warning on quitting as they give when firing. For the record, I’ve been fired twice in 55 years, both times for being too honest in response to their questions.
Zeb · May 9, 2023 at 2:31 am
You owe them nothing. The last two times I gave 2 weeks notice, I was let go on the spot. My check was ready the next day.
Given How they have been treating you, I’d buy your co-workers Donuts & Starbucks, and quit.
Elrod · May 9, 2023 at 6:15 am
I’m in the “give ’em two weeks notice” camp only because you can truthfully state you followed Industry Standard Employment Practices to your next employer(s).
Worst case? They give you 2 weeks unpaid vacation. Very worst case? They make you work every crappy shift for those 2 weeks in a very shorthanded environment. But when you Exit Stage Left 3 minutes after your scheduled departure you can document that you completely fulfilled your obligation to your previous employer.
Sounds like small beans, but in today’s environment CYA has value.
E M Johnson · May 9, 2023 at 7:42 am
PRN and they are disrespectful of you? fuck-em bring pizza or donuts or whatever to the break room then go tell the charge I’m out
TechieDude · May 9, 2023 at 8:01 am
Normally I’d say give the two weeks. Worst case they send you home, like they probably would anyhow. It is customary.
It also gives you the chance to tell everyone goodbye, and let them know where you’re going. Then let the poaching begin. It’s how it works in IT. Three different companies I’ve been able to staff with my compadres.
And if they hand you a noncompete (to keep their staff from being poached) tell them after I get two weeks check. The others know where you went, you have nothing to do with them going there anyhow.
Then again, I’m not where you are. In my current world at bigrainbowcorp, I work at home. More than once I’ve been sorely temped to simply go find another job and then tell them when I’m safely ensconced, having a few weeks of double pay.
I owed the original company my loyalty. They treated me awesome, stood by me when I had cancer, invested in me and my career. Then we merged. I owed the new entity the same. They were a decent company and I still worked for an awesome boss in an awesome team.
Then we got bought by bigrainbow corp, who paid $75M for us, a $40M company and within two years, the business is in single digits, most of my friends fired. The products are, in effect, dead.
Meanwhile, there’s a constant stream of woke bullshit on Teams. We have money for that, it seems. These guys, I owe nothing.
Aesop · May 10, 2023 at 12:12 am
Ain’t no such thing as “non-compete” in nursing.
Unenforceable anyways. We’re licensed professionals, not coal miners or a ballplayer in the Negro leagues in the 1930s.
Besides, the entire medical industry, short-staffed everywhere non-stop since the 1970s and getting worse year over year with the end of the Baby Boom workers, would crash coast-to-coast in about a day.
And when a hospital starts cheaping out like DM’s soon-to-be-former employer is doing, one or two employees leaving can quickly turn into a full bank run scenario.
BTDTGTTS.
Divemedic · May 10, 2023 at 5:54 am
Why, when you are about to quit, would you sign a non-compete? They can’t withhold your last check if you refuse to sign it.
Aesop · May 10, 2023 at 12:04 am
Now see if you can figure out yet another reason why I stay in the only state in the country with mandatory-by-law nurse:patient staffing ratios.
And when you’re beating your head against a wall, it feels so good to stop.
YMMV, but were I you, I’d cut the notice I’d give by the same number of hours I’d been shorted in the previous month.
I.e. 36 hrs cut would equal 1 week notice. Etc.
As it is, it sounds like they won’t even notice you’re off the schedule.
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