Call off coverage

[u/ProfessionCrazy8569]

Finding coverage for call offs is rough.

How many of your are getting bonus shifts or have an on-call schedule to help cover call offs?

[u/MrDelirious]

...y'all are getting coverage?

[u/Tsunami1252]

If y'all aren't getting coverage I recommend you take all your breaks, work at a normal pace and take your time. Delayed patient care in the face of chosen understaffing is not your problem, it is managements.

[u/Murphy-Fail-409 → u/Tsunami1252]

This.

[u/liver747]

We rarely fill shifts!

We fill when we're at 5 on days (fully staffed is 9) 3 on evenings (5 fully staffed) and if anyone calls off on nights.

We work short a lot.

[u/flyinghippodrago → u/liver747]

Damn! How big is your hospital?!

[u/liver747 → u/flyinghippodrago]

We have 885 beds but we get a lot of outpatient specimens and specimens from non-testing hospitals.

We act as a referral/IRL and product distribution site for a bunch of hospitals.

Just like everywhere else it's more dependant on who's working more then the staffing level lol.

[u/R1R1FyaNeg]

My hospital has multiple PRNs that will work various shifts then overtime for full-time techs. There is critical pay for phlebotomy, but tech side is pretty stable.

Don't overwork your employees and make work too stressful and some will stay PRN after retirement or won't mind working some overtime.

[u/Ill_Salad_1022 → u/R1R1FyaNeg]

A couple of our PRNs work full time hours, without benefits

[u/Ksan_of_Tongass]

That means youre understaffed.

[u/brOwnchIkaNo]

OVERTIME 😁

[u/fat_frog_fan]

when someone calls out we just don’t have coverage because we don’t have the staffing to call someone in lol

[u/TastingTheKoolaid]

The people left behind just have to “make it work”.

[u/Ill_Salad_1022 → u/TastingTheKoolaid]

That is the worst thing ever

[u/Swimming-Let6665]

We are offering $500 bonus for 12 hr shifts

[u/Asilillod → u/Swimming-Let6665]

This is the way.

We are staffed 1 tech per shift and if there is no coverage ….i suppose mgmt has to come in or close the lab. $500 might convince me to go cover though. We’ve been offered $60 bonus for the 12 hr shift - I laughed and laughed.

[u/GrownUp-BandKid320]

We don’t fill call outs at my job. We are well staffed enough daily that it would take 5 people calling out for us to be understaffed. We often have people who are “float” benches or “insert bench name 2” when the bench is fine with only one person (albeit much more work) that can cover for any call outs. Edit: We also have a max number of people who can take PTO on one day (3) to prevent being short staffed if someone calls out

We have on-call for weekends but that’s because we literally don’t work weekends unless an emergent new leukemia case comes in. In that case it goes through two rounds of MDs before it’s approved for us to come in so we rarely get called.

[u/New-History853]

We get $10 extra an hour if we pick up extra shifts from call offs.

[u/Annual-Arugula473]

We have an on call schedule for nights and if you get called in you get time and a half i think. Other wise the other shifts just try to spread out to cover the missing person, someone might try to call someone to see if they want to come in to help but idk about them getting extra pay for that. If a second shift person calls out someone on first shift might be able to do a double in which case overtime pay is a good incentive.

[u/Practical-Reveal-787 → u/Annual-Arugula473]

Wouldn’t it be time and half anyway because if somebody is coming in extra, it’s overtime?

[u/Annual-Arugula473 → u/Practical-Reveal-787]

Not necessarily, you can be on call without working that day or even that week. Per diems/ part timers/ night shifters that do 7 on 7 off/ ect

[u/kipy7]

We only have on-call for major holidays, which pays 2x if called and 4 hours of base pay if not called. For weekends, maybe someone will be asked to stay later/incoming CLS asked to start earlier, but it's voluntary and we just catch up on the next shift.

[u/Basic_Butterscotch]

I work 2nd shift and have been staying 3-4 hours late to help cover overnight at least one day a week for a while now.

The extra money is nice but apparently the director is really upset about paying OT so they might just start making the night shift work with 1 tech instead of 2 when they’re short.

Edit: I’ve never once been offered any kind of bonus for picking up extra hours tho.

[u/OnlyHere4Football]

We’re short staffed as it is, we have no on call schedule, much less bonus shifts. If someone takes PTO we have to switch shifts instead of getting OT. All of our PRNs are also FTEs at other hospitals so they can hardly cover.

[u/External-Berry3870]

uhhh, unionize.

We are still short, but we have five plus casuals at any time for sick calls and five plus techs whose only job it is to cover vacation and scheduled time off for known full time lines. If none of the casuals are available for a short call, it goes out by seniority to everyone and someone who wants it, takes it.

If they still can't find someone, you close that bench and document that the work is delayed by a day due to management not finding staffing. If it's an off shift call out where staff is already thin, either someone stays or the hospital closes that department and ships to another in town hospital. That happening is a big enough egg on face that all managers over staff to avoid having to explain why to the higher ups.

Even enough union documented days of not filling day time staff and you get another casual or another full time relief tech on payroll.

[u/Asilillod]

They offered $5/hr bonus for covering last minute open 12hr shifts. I would only do that if I had absolutely nothing better to do. It used to be $150-250.

[u/sweetshiftsupport]

Are you the one that finds coverage? I’m a WFM for a popular UC chain and I’ve been dying to find anyone that has a similar job. It’s so stressful!