Guess I’ll do it all?

I have two evening techs who split the week.

One works 3 evenings, the other 2.

The one who works 2 had surgery last week.

Yay for her (this was a long anticipated surgery).

Boo for me and the evening shift.

She will be out for 12 weeks.

Okay. I make the schedule and I have 15 other techs to rotate through her shifts.

I made a rotation, and scheduled people with it.

It was fair and equitable.

And if one of the day techs works an evening shift, they are schedule off the next day.

Same way it has always been done.

But day shift complained.

“It is too much.”

Um, it is only one shift a month.

They may have missed the fairness part of it.

It works out to ONLY one shift a month.

Schedule got posted on Sunday, to start in 2 weeks.

Wednesday, my assistant nurse manager pulls me into her office and said that some of the day shift techs had an idea.

They wanted to do their evening shifts on call.

ON CALL!

And they only want to be in the department if there is a case.

This means that I would be alone in the department.

I would do all of the evening shift chores: pulling cases if any left, pulling instruments if not done, cleaning rooms, stocking rooms, setting up any OR except for our call room.

By myself.

Plus all of my own charge nurse chores.

And if a case comes in I have to call them in, at a premium, to come do the case that I have scheduled, pulled, opened, and sometimes prepped the patient myself.

cool, cool.

On one hand I can be assured the work is done completely, and well.

On the other, I will not have to shepherd staff through the evening shift chores.

On another, I find this incredibly insulting to the tech out on leave, de-valuing her work like this.

On another, I will not have to find them work to do, because they are incapable of thinking/seeing what needs to be done and doing it without being told.

On yet another, I find this incredibly insulting to all the evening shift workers.

Again, this is not how it is to be valued.

I have to wonder, if this is a way to get rid of the shift all together.

Or of seeing how much I am willing to put up with before I leave.

Day shift wins again with their shitty ideas that leaves them without doing the tedious work.

Again.