Wanted: A Million Dollars. Small Bills Preferred.
For the first time in my adult life, I'm afraid of losing my job.
Not that it would happen next week. Or even next month. Nobody in the hospital has said anything, but then top-down communication in our department is not good. They never tell us things that we need to do our job, so why would they tell us something bad? Fortunately, our hospital is doctor-administered so as long as we keep the doctors happy we're probably safe. Hopefully.
Every year for the last five years they've been cutting budget fat and pretty soon they're going to hit bone. The worse the economy in SE Michigan gets, the greater the chance that the next cut will be slicing away people. Like me. And because we rely heavily on the auto industry for patients, we start losing money when people get laid off and can no longer afford elective procedures. We're the second best hospital in SE Michigan but we're also one of the most expensive, so as patients pay more attention to healthcare costs rather than quality, they end up at other hospitals.
I got a little more uneasy today. I've been hoping to switch shifts for a while but there's nothing available that I like better than the one I'm on. I'm finally desperate enough to apply for a transfer to an 8-hour midz shift, and what does my supervisor tell me? All shift changes are on hold. This is probably just a holiday season thing because she has so many people taking days off that one little shift change could ruin her whole schedule. But that's not the first thing that popped into my mind. I was thinking more along the lines of wholesale lay-offs and shift adjustments. Stupid pessimistic brain! Now I can't stop worrying. I really really hope I'm wrong.
Not that it would happen next week. Or even next month. Nobody in the hospital has said anything, but then top-down communication in our department is not good. They never tell us things that we need to do our job, so why would they tell us something bad? Fortunately, our hospital is doctor-administered so as long as we keep the doctors happy we're probably safe. Hopefully.
Every year for the last five years they've been cutting budget fat and pretty soon they're going to hit bone. The worse the economy in SE Michigan gets, the greater the chance that the next cut will be slicing away people. Like me. And because we rely heavily on the auto industry for patients, we start losing money when people get laid off and can no longer afford elective procedures. We're the second best hospital in SE Michigan but we're also one of the most expensive, so as patients pay more attention to healthcare costs rather than quality, they end up at other hospitals.
I got a little more uneasy today. I've been hoping to switch shifts for a while but there's nothing available that I like better than the one I'm on. I'm finally desperate enough to apply for a transfer to an 8-hour midz shift, and what does my supervisor tell me? All shift changes are on hold. This is probably just a holiday season thing because she has so many people taking days off that one little shift change could ruin her whole schedule. But that's not the first thing that popped into my mind. I was thinking more along the lines of wholesale lay-offs and shift adjustments. Stupid pessimistic brain! Now I can't stop worrying. I really really hope I'm wrong.