# Hours for part time?

Nursing Students CNA/MA

Published

Hi,

Hopefully, this will be clarified soon if someone gets back to me from the hospital etc. I was looking over the pay wage, physical information etc that the women from HR sent to my email. It said, standard hours per pay period was 30. I believe the pay will be biweekly..so I wasnt sure if its 30hrs week or for 2 wks? I was hoping a week. Also are you usually guaranteed these hours? If you work in a hospital part time, how many hours do you get a week? I was "told" that I can bid for full time right away (I dont know when I will be officially considered an associate..after orientation the 23rd?) I was also told it doesnt have to be on the same floor, but it would stink to sorrta get useD to that floor and then move to another floor for full time...unless a full time position on days opens up on your current floor. Still also trying to find out about pay differential for weekends..I REALLY HOPE THEY OFFER IT!

You probably shouldn't have said that.

Dondie can I ask why?

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Wait...what did you get hired at the hospital as then? As far as I know almost every hospital wants you to be certified or they pay for your CNA class...

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Specializes in ICU.

Okay, I'm kind of with the OP on this one - my first nurse aide job was at a hospital, I was NOT a CNA yet (not required for working in a hosptial in my state), had NO healthcare experience. I asked a lot of these same questions about what to expect with hours and duties and stuff.

At my hospital, we work 12 hours shifts and part-timers only work 4 shifts per pay period (so 48 hours in 2 weeks), usually 2 shifts a week. That sounds about like your situation, OP.

For job duties, it'll depend on the type of floor you're working on. Lots of ADLs and vitals, charting and general running around.

Search on this sit or google "CNA duties in hosptials." You'll get a pretty good idea.

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Wait...what did you get hired at the hospital as then? As far as I know almost every hospital wants you to be certified or they pay for your CNA class...

As a nursing assistant, and as far as I know I dont have to take a class. I have somewhat healthcare experience..went to college for other health care profession.

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Okay, I'm kind of with the OP on this one - my first nurse aide job was at a hospital, I was NOT a CNA yet (not required for working in a hosptial in my state), had NO healthcare experience. I asked a lot of these same questions about what to expect with hours and duties and stuff.

At my hospital, we work 12 hours shifts and part-timers only work 4 shifts per pay period (so 48 hours in 2 weeks), usually 2 shifts a week. That sounds about like your situation, OP.

For job duties, it'll depend on the type of floor you're working on. Lots of ADLs and vitals, charting and general running around.

Search on this sit or google "CNA duties in hosptials." You'll get a pretty good idea.

At least I know someone else was all new to this at one point like me. My shift would be 7-3, but they dont pay you for the 1/2 lunch (I deff think the lunch should be longer, by the time you get down to the cafeteria). It will be a telemetry/med surg. floor. Yeah I tried to do some research online. So do you do rotating weekends, if so that means one week you only work Saturday and Sunday? Thanks :)

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At least I know someone else was all new to this at one point like me. My shift would be 7-3, but they dont pay you for the 1/2 lunch (I deff think the lunch should be longer, by the time you get down to the cafeteria). It will be a telemetry/med surg. floor. Yeah I tried to do some research online. So do you do rotating weekends, if so that means one week you only work Saturday and Sunday? Thanks :)

If you were told rotating weekends then its one weekend on and one weekend off. However, as you stated you are part time and you didn't get all the info you needed about the position so they can schedule you every weekend if they wanted to. In my hospital they schedule 6 weeks in advance and it changes if the need arises.

You HAVE to be prepared to be a team player. I switch schedules with other nursing assistants all the time and cover ones that have called out. You have to be flexible. Working in a hospital is very different from working as a medical assistant (what you are actually trained in) in a doctors office! Hospital work is 24/7 and they don't like people who whine and are inflexible with their schedule. The co-workers don't either. The whiners are the last ones to be asked to stay extra hours or come in when there is a call out.

Pack your lunch and eat it in the staff break room on your floor like many nurses and aides. You won't have to fight the crowds in the cafeteria. We're lucky to get 15 minutes to eat. Patients come first.

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Yes, I already know that my schedule will be rotating weekends, I was just asking if someone I was talking to else did the same. I still think that peolpe taking care of patients deserve proper time to rest...Im not saying it happens, BUT IT SHOULD!

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Specializes in ICU.
At least I know someone else was all new to this at one point like me. My shift would be 7-3, but they dont pay you for the 1/2 lunch (I deff think the lunch should be longer, by the time you get down to the cafeteria). It will be a telemetry/med surg. floor. Yeah I tried to do some research online. So do you do rotating weekends, if so that means one week you only work Saturday and Sunday? Thanks :)

I've never done rotating weekends, but since your hours are 30 per pay period that makes sense that one weekend in the pay period you work 2 8-hour shifts, and then the other week you work 2 weekdays. What weekdays you work might be set the same every pay period, or they may change from pay period to pay period, depending on the needs of the unit.

And I wouldn't count on ever having more than 30 minutes for lunch. Most days, if your tele/med-surg unit is like mt tele floor was, you won't get a lunch. You'll have to grab a handful of something as you briefly run through the break room to pee maybe twice a day. The thing is, the patients need to eat lunch at lunch time, and you have to help them. I'm so busy between 11am-2pm that I rarely ate at a regular time...usually by the time I had time to eat the cafeteria was closed.

Taking a long lunch or leaving the floor when your patients need something will not endear you to your coworkers..and on the floor having a poor relationship with the other CNAs will kill you.

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I've never done rotating weekends, but since your hours are 30 per pay period that makes sense that one weekend in the pay period you work 2 8-hour shifts, and then the other week you work 2 weekdays. What weekdays you work might be set the same every pay period, or they may change from pay period to pay period, depending on the needs of the unit.

And I wouldn't count on ever having more than 30 minutes for lunch. Most days, if your tele/med-surg unit is like mt tele floor was, you won't get a lunch. You'll have to grab a handful of something as you briefly run through the break room to pee maybe twice a day. The thing is, the patients need to eat lunch at lunch time, and you have to help them. I'm so busy between 11am-2pm that I rarely ate at a regular time...usually by the time I had time to eat the cafeteria was closed.

Taking a long lunch or leaving the floor when your patients need something will not endear you to your coworkers..and on the floor having a poor relationship with the other CNAs will kill you.

I agree the patients are important, but I think that the employees taking care of those patients are just as important. If you dont rest, and havent eaten in hours, I think that can definitely have an effect on how you perform your job. I hear this alot that people dont get to take their lunch. Do you get paid when you dont relaly take yours? I think it would be smart, not sure if every place is the same, but they should have enough people on staff to not have to skip your break. If you really think about it 30 minutes isnt alot to begin with. I heard one hospital paid for your lunches and the break was 45 min or an hour..sounds nice right?!

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Specializes in ICU.
I agree the patients are important, but I think that the employees taking care of those patients are just as important. If you dont rest, and havent eaten in hours, I think that can definitely have an effect on how you perform your job. I hear this alot that people dont get to take their lunch. Do you get paid when you dont relaly take yours? I think it would be smart, not sure if every place is the same, but they should have enough people on staff to not have to skip your break. If you really think about it 30 minutes isnt alot to begin with. I heard one hospital paid for your lunches and the break was 45 min or an hour..sounds nice right?!

You will find administration does not at all agree with your first sentence. It'll be better for you to change that mindset now. It is ALL about the patients. Healthcare is more and more a customer service industry.

In my hospital you can petition to get paid for your "lunch" if you didn't take one (otherwise 30 minutes is automatically deducted from your clocked-in time every shift), BUT you have to get two witnesses - one being the charge nurse - to sign off on it. Which means if you took any breaks/ate anything, you're not going to get a signature. You have to really be running your ass off for 12 hours straight for a charge nurse to sign that sheet...they don't like to sign it because it indicates that as the charge nurse they weren't doing their job and making sure the staff got their breaks...even though they get ****** when you leave the floor to take a break. It's pretty stupid, really...you can't really win. It's easier to just keep a few easy quick snacks in the break room and just grab something as you run through each time.

Breaks are not a priority...at all. If you get one one day, great, enjoy it, but don't count on getting one next time.

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I will say that the above poster's experience is NOT everyone's experience. When I worked at the hospital, we were expected to take our break and were disciplined if we did not. Even at the LTC facilities I have worked at, it is understood that we are entitled to breaks, and the nurses do NOT give us a hard time about taking them.

Yes, there is the occasional busy day when I miss my lunch break, but that is the exception, NOT the norm. I almost always take at least my lunch break, no matter how busy I am. It's what I need to do to keep my sanity. Not getting breaks on a regular is NOT a universal thing, and it shouldn't be tolerated. There are labor laws for a reason.

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Specializes in LTC.

We are also disciplined if we don't take our 30 minute lunch breaks, and we have to be relatively on time too.

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