FROZEN account and consecutive shifts

I'm sorry for your situation. But I really hope they don't change thier policy. That is the number one thing I love about Nursa, they hold accountability.

And there's plenty of workers on the Nursa team who picks up the short shifts. We have 10+ new employees coming on everyday, glad it gives everyone a fair chance to snag a shift. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Mornique Dicey

@Cortney J.J. While yes we do hold clinicians to a high standard, you can always reach out to our support staff (801-695-9609) and they can look into your specific case. Let me know if you have any other questions!

@Cortney J.J. 

We recently updated our cancelation policy as of October 1, 2022. 🙂  Your account will only be frozen when canceling for the following reasons. 

• If you No Call No Show for a shift. 
• If you have three cancelations in a 30-day rolling period.

Hopefully, this is helpful. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. 

I think there needs to be a shift in the way we are looking (judging) those call offs. I was one to not call off and thought that I never would. But I ask you this, are you supposed to report to work when you're sick, because you're worried about policy? To do so puts lives at risk. What if you test positive for corona, you will be sent home. To use the word accountability says the people calling out are just doing it all Willy nilly...I'm confident the ADA and the like would have something to say about penalizing people for calling out due to medical reasons.

Not only that, but we ALL are in this field because we care about people and helping them is close to our number one reason we do it. When pulling out caregivers in a time when we are in a nursing shortage is downright unethical...resulting in patients not getting the care they need and deserve. It means others that are left to take up the slack are overworked which inevitably will lead to burnout. 

Take a look at these patient comments and ask yourself why would our agency have policy locking out competent nurses from working and helping and even possibly saving lives? 

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You don't know until it happens to you and you are the one calling out. The bad apples will get weeded out eventually by having a bad reputation and the facilities won't choose them to work.

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It doesn't really matter how we each individually feel about this policy. What matters is how it is affecting our patients. 

Do away with this policy so our patients don't suffer.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Kimberly Griffin4804500565

Wondering where you got the info as far as how many new nurses join each day and also that you seem judgmental regarding people who call off and voting for them to be held accountable. To me, I take offense by your comments. The times a called off were times, I as a healthcare professional should be competent enough to know whether i would be a benefit or a detriment to my patients. I would do it again. Other times I would call off are if I came down with the flu or covid and could pass on to my patients, some of whom are immuno compromised. Instead of your punishment of "being held accountable," it should be recognized as looking past ourselves and how much money we would be losing out on had we went to work sick, and rewarded for coming to that determinant that we DO NO HARM.....

 

This is backed by the CDC:

All employees should stay home if they are sick until at least 24 hours after their fever* (temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or 37.8 degrees Celsius or higher) is gone. Temperature should be measured without the use of fever-reducing medicines (medicines that contains ibuprofen or acetaminophen).

Note: Not everyone with flu will have a fever. Individuals with suspected or confirmed flu, who do not have a fever, should stay home from work at least 4-5 days after the onset of symptoms. Persons with the flu are most contagious during the first 3 days of their illness.

If you become sick at work

CDC recommends that workers who have flu symptoms upon arrival to work or become ill during the day should promptly separate themselves from other workers and go home until at least 24 hours after their fever is gone without the use of fever-reducing medications, or after symptoms have improved (at least 4-5 days after flu symptoms started). https://www.cdc.gov/flu/business/stay-home-when-sick.htm

What Employers Should Know

An important way to reduce the spread of flu is to keep sick people away from those who are not sick. Businesses should review and communicate their sick leave policies and practices to employees every year before flu season begins.

• Advise all employees to stay home if they are sick until at least 24 hours after their fever is gone without the use of fever-reducing medicines, or after symptoms have improved (at least 4-5 days after flu symptoms started).
• Prepare and advise employees on policies concerning caring for sick household members or children. Flexible leave policies and alternate work schedules can help prevent the spread of flu at your workplace, allow employees to continue to work or function while limiting contact with others, help maintain continuity of operations, and help people manage their health and their family’s needs.
• Prepare for employees to stay home from work and plan ways for essential business functions to continue.Employees may stay home because they are sick, need to care for sick household members, or because schools have been dismissed and they need to care for their children. Cross-train staff to perform essential functions so that the business can continue operating.https://www.cdc.gov/flu/business/stay-home-when-sick.htm

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I understand we are not employees, but according to these recommendations, it would be advisable to adjust the time away from work to at least half of what it is now. No where within the CDC does it say to punish those people who are sick for following the guidelines.

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I would hope that you don't go to work when you're sick either.

 

Thank you all for sharing all your thoughts on this feed. @Cortney J.J. @Mornique Dicey and @Kimberly Griffin4804500565. I love that we are able to discuss and share all our thoughts on this topic.

 

Cancellation Policy:
We have a cancellation policy in place to help hold all clinicians accountable for their behavior. We are working towards the sweet spot of accountability but still enabling facilities to provide quality care.

We have updated our cancellation policy as of October 1st. The original policy is if you cancel a shift OR NCNS (don't show up to a shift with no call ahead) then you would be frozen for two weeks. The new policy is only if you cancel 3 shifts within a 30-day rolling period OR NCNS for a shift then you will be frozen for two weeks. NCNS are taken very seriously. We understand things happen such as sickness or family emergencies, and that is the reason we have adjusted the policy. As long as a clinician is giving the facility a heads-up, that is what matters. Facilities are also able to give excused absences and you can talk directly with schedulers to confirm this.

@Kimberly Griffin4804500565I would love to continue to discuss what changes could be made to the policy to make you feel more like you are being held accountable without being judged when using your professional judgment to cancel a shift.

 

Picking up shifts on consecutive days:
We have lots of clinicians that pick up a few shifts in a row at a specific facility. They may even welcome it to create some continuity. I would request them all and contact the facility to show them you are interested in all the shifts for that week. 

 

Let me know if there are other questions!

You are missing the point. Still so stuck on policy that you can't/won't see what I'm trying to relay..."accountability, behavior" all in the name of "enabling facilities to provide quality care."

 WHAT A JOKE!!!

I mean no disrespect, but if you expect me to believe that,I mean...this policy is doing everything but that!!! You are NOT enabling facilities to provide quality care when you are keeping clinicians from working,because you feel they deserve punishment!!! Who made this policy and what best practice is it following??? 

I'm going to stop before i say things that aren't very nice, but I'm just keeping it real. If any of this so called policy is hurting even one of our clinicians and also hurting patients and you still believe that punishing people for (medical issues )"their behaviors," then there is no use to try to communicate any further.

WOW!!!

Edited November 13, 2022 by Kimberly Griffin4804500565

I’m sorry @Kimberly Griffin4804500565 that I am not understanding. I really am trying to understand what a fair policy would look like. Clinicians not showing up for scheduled shifts is still detrimental to patient care, although we know this is not your case. A policy is unfortunately necessary. We know there are emergencies, medical issues or other things that come up in life.
 

We aren’t trying to punish anyone, only help. What could a more fair policy in your eyes look like? 

Base it on what the CDC recommends when they talk about people sick with the flu. One week is plenty of time to recover and recoup. 

Thank you for your time.

...and truly to be "fair," we are independent contractors...why the policing? Just know that this situation handles itself. If it becomes a problem, the facilities will be the ones who will not choose that person and/or label them as DNR (DO NOT RETURN)

I'm not trying to be difficult, but it breaks my heart to read this original post and know the feeling. People are living paycheck to paycheck. Are you really wanting to ultimately be responsible for families losing their homes or going hungry in the name of accountability. I know not.

 

Also, another point that comes to mind. When i was working with the Department of Defense, those soldiers coming back from war would explain that they do not seek help when it comes to their mental health because of the "stigma" that comes along with it. That is the opposite of what we want to happen. We need people to take a step back and regroup when they reach their breaking point.
Whatever the reason is that person has decided that work is not the place they need to be on that day, we really should respect that decision. It could be another nurse is bullying them and they can't take it anymore. We need to be sensitive to that. It's not always just someone running amuck. 

There is plenty of work out there. Bottom line for this company I'm sure (as is any company)  is to increase profitability. Supply and demand. If you don't supply the demand, they will look elsewhere.

@Kimberly Griffin4804500565 these are all good points. You are not being difficult at all, truly appreciate you sharing your thoughts. That is how we work to being better is listening to your thoughts! Keep letting us know if you have more thoughts on this!

...and if your frozen for 14 days, you should be able to request shifts that are outside the 14 days...soooo really in essence, the freeze the way it is now is longer than 14 days.

Unfreeze me, please.this is a nightmare!!!

Let me look into your account @Kimberly Griffin4804500565 and see what I can do to help!

 

Unfortunately, you aren't able to schedule during the freeze, but all shifts already scheduled you are still scheduled for. 

I want to share my thoughts on this issue. Most companies that employ contractors avoid attendance policies because they don't want to muddy the line between a 1099 independent contractor and employee labor and the liability of misclassifying an employee. Nursa is the first business I've come across that requires its 1099 independent contractor to adhere to its attendance policy. 
Why not create an incentive for clinicians? A raffle every month for $500. The amount of raffle tickets a clinician gets depends on numerous factors that Nursa outlines.  Just a thought. 

@Nueva Koehler Good news, we are working on an incentive program for clinicians! We have had a few clinicians talk to us about it and we are seeing what would be best for everyone. We'd definitely love to chat more about this. 🙂 

 

Thank you for your thoughts here. We operate similarly to other gig economy 1099 apps such as Uber, Task Rabbit, Rover, Amazon Flex, etc that also have attendance policies. We do have to draw a line in the sand because at the end of the day it all brings us back to patient care. If a clinician isn't showing up for any reason without notice, then facilities are even shorter staffed defeating the purpose and only hurting patients. We understand also that things happen in anyone's life like illness, emergencies, personal days, etc. That is why we have extended the cancellation policy and facilities can give excused absences. We don't see it as set in stone, just a jumping-off point to the next thing. 

 

Keep the suggestions up! 🙂 

Maybe we can have a poll