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Baptsim of Fire
Jun. 14th, 2009 07:23 pmSo, at the end of 3 weeks on the new job I scheduled myself to take the 'on-call' for the weekend. This means I'm responsible for filling any spots where caregivers call in sick or a client needs more help, etc. I was on-call 24/7 at the previous job for 6 months straight with only one week off, and it was not a big deal. Usually.
The challenge began Friday because the scheduling person had requested the day off a long time ago. She left me 4 slots to fill. This place has over 200 caregivers listed in the roster, so filling those spots shouldn't have been difficult. Granted, because I don't know any of the caregivers or the clients yet, I planned to read the file on each one that I was going to call, just to be sure my picks were good matches. The scheduling software system is the same one I got up and running at the previous job, and I have a very methodical way I staff, so I was sure I could do this.
I started work at 8 am Friday. I left work at 1:30 am Saturday.
The initial clue that I was going to have a harder time than I thought was when I began reading the caregiver files. I came across more than one where the notes had an old complaint about the worker and the line "do not use"--but these caregivers were out on assignments. Then there were the files that had a caregiver's name, address, phone, and hire date of sometime in 2008--and nothing else. Then, as I am searching for possible caregivers I want to call, the phone calls started coming in. As fast as I staffed one opening, it seemed that 2 more caregivers weren't going to make their weekend shifts. I made my last call at 9:45 pm, and then started documenting everything--every call--in the system. Before I could do that, however, I had to set up a code system like the one I had set up at my previous job, because no one had set it up here. I had realized right away that this company, while using the basic function of the scheduling software, had no idea of how to use the functions that really make the job easier--they were recording lots of data on Excel spreadsheets because they didn't know/didn't trust their new software.
Starting Monday, this is going to change. Enter updates in the system first, and then, if you don't trust the system, put it in Excel for peace of mind. In a month I bet they'll have given up their security blankets.
Meanwhile, I finally got everything satisfactory and went home. Every client had a caregiver through Saturday afternoon; I had a lot of messages out on cell phones to finish staffing the weekend, and I had 4 hours sleep when the phone rang with the first call of "I'm sick, I can't go to my client today" at 6:30 am Saturday.
I'm not even going to start with the annoying emergency pager that gave me fits, or the glitch that caused my remote connection with my work computer to make the scheduling software icons inaccessible. Or the brain lapse that had me schedule 2 caregivers for the same client at the same time, which I found out when they called Saturday morning to ask what was going on.
It is now 7 pm on Sunday and evey client has a caregiver through tomorrow, I have all my notes in the computer. and the phone hasn't rung (knock on wood) since 4 pm.
I could keep working from my remote connection to flag problems for discussion tomorrow. But I think I'm actually going to read the Sunday paper and chill and pray the pager doesn't go off any more tonight.
The challenge began Friday because the scheduling person had requested the day off a long time ago. She left me 4 slots to fill. This place has over 200 caregivers listed in the roster, so filling those spots shouldn't have been difficult. Granted, because I don't know any of the caregivers or the clients yet, I planned to read the file on each one that I was going to call, just to be sure my picks were good matches. The scheduling software system is the same one I got up and running at the previous job, and I have a very methodical way I staff, so I was sure I could do this.
I started work at 8 am Friday. I left work at 1:30 am Saturday.
The initial clue that I was going to have a harder time than I thought was when I began reading the caregiver files. I came across more than one where the notes had an old complaint about the worker and the line "do not use"--but these caregivers were out on assignments. Then there were the files that had a caregiver's name, address, phone, and hire date of sometime in 2008--and nothing else. Then, as I am searching for possible caregivers I want to call, the phone calls started coming in. As fast as I staffed one opening, it seemed that 2 more caregivers weren't going to make their weekend shifts. I made my last call at 9:45 pm, and then started documenting everything--every call--in the system. Before I could do that, however, I had to set up a code system like the one I had set up at my previous job, because no one had set it up here. I had realized right away that this company, while using the basic function of the scheduling software, had no idea of how to use the functions that really make the job easier--they were recording lots of data on Excel spreadsheets because they didn't know/didn't trust their new software.
Starting Monday, this is going to change. Enter updates in the system first, and then, if you don't trust the system, put it in Excel for peace of mind. In a month I bet they'll have given up their security blankets.
Meanwhile, I finally got everything satisfactory and went home. Every client had a caregiver through Saturday afternoon; I had a lot of messages out on cell phones to finish staffing the weekend, and I had 4 hours sleep when the phone rang with the first call of "I'm sick, I can't go to my client today" at 6:30 am Saturday.
I'm not even going to start with the annoying emergency pager that gave me fits, or the glitch that caused my remote connection with my work computer to make the scheduling software icons inaccessible. Or the brain lapse that had me schedule 2 caregivers for the same client at the same time, which I found out when they called Saturday morning to ask what was going on.
It is now 7 pm on Sunday and evey client has a caregiver through tomorrow, I have all my notes in the computer. and the phone hasn't rung (knock on wood) since 4 pm.
I could keep working from my remote connection to flag problems for discussion tomorrow. But I think I'm actually going to read the Sunday paper and chill and pray the pager doesn't go off any more tonight.
