The Overtime

I was called to do an overtime last Friday night because we are currently under staff due to the unexpected circumstances happened to our other colleagues.I came from a night duty and I didn't slept well. Without further question, I agreed to do the overtime. Anyway I am alone because my husband went home for his vacation. I was very happy also because it will be an extra money for me, especially that my children are coming to join us here.

I was whistling when I came in our unit, I was so happy that we were 3 nurses. At the middle of handover, my co-staff nurse from AM duty interrupted the handover and told us that somebody must float to Pediatric Oncology. That decision was from the Nursing Supervisor. I was so irritated and angry. Imagine, two nurses left for the night duty, leaving us with 6 patients each. I don't worry about the statistics,it was the policy and protocol that I was after. According to the policy,there must be no less than 3 nurses in every unit for every shift. I could have gone home and leave the 2 nurses on the regular shift. I mean. what's the point of calling me to do the overtime and they floated my co-staff to augment the staffing of the other unit?

After the handover, the Nursing Supervisor phoned my team leader and told her that she will send an Assistant Nurse to help us. I thought that we were lucky because she didn't forget the policy. After few minutes, we saw a man in a light green scrub suit walking towards our nursing station. He introduced himself. Holy shit! the Nursing Supervisor sent us a MALE nursing assistant. Maybe she forgot that all the sitters in our unit are FEMALES, uncovered during the night and lying beside their sick children. I mean, she should have sent us a female nursing assistant.

To be fair with the male nursing assistant, I have seen that he tried his best to help us but what we really need that time was a REAL HELP. How can you ask the man to answer the call bell if he needs to knock first and tell the sitter that he is a man and they need to cover first before he can enter the room? What if it was an emergency?

Most of the time, I am asking myself if the Nursing Supervisors are doing a critical analysis about this matter. I think they just want to see that the unit/ward is covered with 3 staff without thinking about the acuity or the number of nursing hours we are spending in every patient.

Finally, at 7:00 A.M. the shift was over. Thanks to God nothing happened.I always pray to God and always ask for His help every time I am in this kind of situation.