per diem hour logging

[swamprat]

So I work per diem and I am usually very efficient time wise where I wrap things up including charting by the end of my shift and I leave on time. Had a shift recently busier than usual helped out picked up that 1 extra patient too late - well you all know the story. Ended up extending my 12 hr shift to 13 hours. Now, as a per diem I write my hours worked down on a time sheet that gets signed off. Poor form to write 12.5 hours instead of my scheduled 12 hour shift? What are your thoughts? Part of me thinks yes but part of me is like why the heck would I have to log my hours if they already know what I am scheduled to work this month.

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[EctopicFetus]

I would write the time you are there and then an explanation why you stayed over.

 

[BJJVP]

I think the right thing to do would be to log 13 hours with an explanation of why you left late. I would think that the physician you helped out appreciated it and would back you up.

However, personally, I wouldn't log in the extra hour because I am too stupid to do what's right.

 

[miacomet]

Who cares if you look like a douche? You work it, you should get paid. Done.

 

[Apollyon]

Who cares if you look like a douche? You work it, you should get paid. Done.

Exactly. You get paid for all hours worked. Period.

 

[Angry Birds]

Who cares if you look like a douche? You work it, you should get paid. Done.

Why would he look like a douche for logging an extra hour that he actually worked? Especially when he is normally efficient and leaves on time?

 

[miacomet]

This kind of overly-nice, guilty attitude is why we are losing to midlevels.

 

[miacomet]

So. Another story. A snooty SDG in my area (which is nearly all SDGs) has a site that no one likes to work at. No one. They are in general a much sought after group and are used to getting their way, but they really needed moonlighters. Like really, really needed them. They offered me a per-shift rate, which I politely declined. They sent me an explanation of why I should do this. I politely declined. They explained they HAD to pay me per shift. I politely declined, saying I understood, but that I had to get paid hourly and I was sure they had many other great candidates who would happily take this spot. Of course, they didn't, and I got my way.

They eventually got some suckers to cover the job a year later. And I moved on to a better gig. I do think they held a bit of a grudge, but who cares?

 

[southerndoc]

I use Harvest to track my consulting time (medical direction, peer review, etc.). Things are billed in 15 minute increments. You can either keep a log on paper or electronically, and I prefer electronic. Harvest has a website you can log hours and an iOS app.

Having said that, most professional services bill in 15 minute increments. If you stayed 46 minutes late after a shift, you would bill for an extra hour. If you are paid by the hour and you stayed 13 hours, you should bill for 13 hours unless your contract states that you are only paid for scheduled time. If that is the case, you should sign every single patient out at the 11:55 mark and get out of there at 12 hours.

 

[swamprat]

Thanks for the info guys I’ll look at my contract I honestly dk what the deal is with hours logged but I’ll levae it as it is and see what comes of it at the end of the month.

 

[USCDiver]

What if you leave early?

 

[TooMuchResearch]

What if you leave early?

Who leaves a single coverage ED early (unless there is overlap)?

 

[emergentmd]

I never asked for more hours. When they new guy comes, I am gone no matter what. If I have to wait to dispo a pt, then that is on me and my issue. When I leave early, which is way more often than staying more than 15 min later, I don't take away hours.

 

[USCDiver]

Who leaves a single coverage ED early (unless there is overlap)?

The OP didn’t specify a single coverage ED. I’ve worked several places that brought in per diem/Locums docs to work in a separate area staffed only certain hours a day. If my area is only staffed until 11pm and I’ve got everything wrapped up by 10:30.... sometimes I’ll sit around twiddling my thumbs until 10:50 so I don’t feel bad, but sometimes you gotta get outta there!

 

[TooMuchResearch]

The OP didn’t specify a single coverage ED. I’ve worked several places that brought in per diem/Locums docs to work in a separate area staffed only certain hours a day. If my area is only staffed until 11pm and I’ve got everything wrapped up by 10:30.... sometimes I’ll sit around twiddling my thumbs until 10:50 so I don’t feel bad, but sometimes you gotta get outta there!

Good point. In my world, 12 hours = single coverage so my brain just assumed.

 

[emergentmd]

The OP didn’t specify a single coverage ED. I’ve worked several places that brought in per diem/Locums docs to work in a separate area staffed only certain hours a day. If my area is only staffed until 11pm and I’ve got everything wrapped up by 10:30.... sometimes I’ll sit around twiddling my thumbs until 10:50 so I don’t feel bad, but sometimes you gotta get outta there!

My Locums hourly place has set times. There is overlap so noone ever picks up pts an hr before their shift is done. If there is nothing to do, everyone leaves.

Why are you waiting around twiddling anything. There are no punch clock. We are adults.

 

[deleted109597]

Why are you waiting around twiddling anything. There are no punch clock. We are adults.

We might be. But the companies we work for aren't. If they paid me to be there 12 hours, I'll be there 12 hours unless the other doc sends me home. The reason for double coverage is in case something comes in 30 minutes before the end of the shift or whatever. All of us hate it when the hospital flexes the "extra" nurses off and then it gets busy. If the doc sends me home, they can get mad at the mirror. If I go home on my own, they can get mad at me.
OTOH, the "time clock" is more for the "getting paid if you stay late". I've never been able to get any of the CMGs to do this. Even if you're literally coding someone. One (Envision) told us that if we picked up new patients after the end of the shift that they would look at it on a case by case basis. But if they came in 1 minute before, even if you code them for 2 hours, they aren't paying.
This is where we are, and this is probably why this guy is asking for advice.

 

[emergentmd]

We might be. But the companies we work for aren't. If they paid me to be there 12 hours, I'll be there 12 hours unless the other doc sends me home. The reason for double coverage is in case something comes in 30 minutes before the end of the shift or whatever. All of us hate it when the hospital flexes the "extra" nurses off and then it gets busy. If the doc sends me home, they can get mad at the mirror. If I go home on my own, they can get mad at me.
OTOH, the "time clock" is more for the "getting paid if you stay late". I've never been able to get any of the CMGs to do this. Even if you're literally coding someone. One (Envision) told us that if we picked up new patients after the end of the shift that they would look at it on a case by case basis. But if they came in 1 minute before, even if you code them for 2 hours, they aren't paying.
This is where we are, and this is probably why this guy is asking for advice.

Well, at my locums everyone stops picking up an hr before their shift ends to clean up. Once cleaned, you leave. We are double/triple covered so when the next guy comes on, there are technically 3-4 EM docs.

I have been known to offer docs to leave 3-4 hrs before their shifts ends. If its quiet, and there are two docs there what is the point of this doc picking up 1 or 2 more patients? I just got on, fresh, have no patients. I should be able to pick up 10 patients in an hr if needed.

 

[deleted109597]

Well, at my locums everyone stops picking up an hr before their shift ends to clean up. Once cleaned, you leave. We are double/triple covered so when the next guy comes on, there are technically 3-4 EM docs.

I have been known to offer docs to leave 3-4 hrs before their shifts ends. If its quiet, and there are two docs there what is the point of this doc picking up 1 or 2 more patients? I just got on, fresh, have no patients. I should be able to pick up 10 patients in an hr if needed.

Sounds great.
So you're saying you've never been burned by someone going home before their actual schedule? You've never had worthless PA/NP types leave because the fast track wasn't staffed? Never had too few nurses for the number of critical patients? I mean, yeah, I can pick up 10 an hour too, as long as none of them require procedures. Those are the only actually tough patients to manage time wise. Everything else is cake.
I want the body so that I don't have to try and resuscitate 2 patients. It's been some time since I worked in a shop that had more than double coverage. It sounds like it works where you are. It doesn't here, or where the OP is asking.