RNs: How much vacation time do you get?

Nurses General Nursing

Updated:   Published

  1. Full-time RN, how many weeks off per year?

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      8 or more!
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      Not a full time RN (see results)

111 members have participated

Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

I love vacations. I couldn't find any polls on this and was curious:

How many weeks of vacation do you get per year?

Include: Vacation, PTO, personal days, guaranteed off holidays.

If you work 3 12s an get 6 days off, that is 2 weeks.

Do NOT include: Sick time, CME days, holidays that are not guaranteed off.

ONLY answer if a FULL TIME RN. (LPN, CNA, NP, etc feel free to start a poll, I'd be curious)

Other questions:

Is your workplace permissive about vacations?

Do they force you to use vacation days when you are called off d/t low census in order to keep FT status and bennies?

Who gets the prime dates? Is there a fixed seniority system? First come first served?

Whoever the manager likes most?

How far ahead do you have to ask for vacation?

Can you bank it until next year? Or is use-it or lose-it?

1 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Three weeks PTO. This includes if I want pay for any holidays I don't work, sick days and vacation time. When one takes out the common three days for sick leave and the typical paid holidays, this comes to one week per year. Very unimpressive.

1 Votes
Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

If I were to sign on as a full-time employee, it'd be roughly two weeks PTO. Not quite enough to convince me to do it over staying per-diem.

1 Votes

I don't actually know for sure, but I can't seem to use it except for calling out because they are so strict with when/how we can use PTO.

1 Votes
Specializes in Med/Surg, Rehab.

3 weeks of "vacation time". 6 weeks of time when you include all the other personal days and holidays. I work most of the holidays because I like the extra pay.

Now getting any of that time off seems to be the hardest part. You can't request more than a week at a time without special approval from the DON, and they don't seem to approve requests until the last minute.

1 Votes

I'm not in a hospital setting, but I'd only get 3 weeks PTO (vacation, sick, and personal days) and it was accrued all year, so you didn't start off January 1 with 3 weeks in the bank. It was hard getting time off because if one person in your office had that time off you were denied, and at the end of the year (mid-October) the clinical director would close off PTO requests for the end of the year. People would turn in vacation requests January 2 for the entire year, including one person who requested the week before or the week after Christmas off EVERY YEAR so nobody else could take that time. The other place I worked gave 2 weeks, but in order to use your PTO you had to request it off 2 days prior (couldn't turn in requests before then) and if you called out sick you couldn't use PTO unless you had a doctor's note. Wake up with a migraine and call out--no PTO. I had to BEG to use a day of PTO when my uncle died. The funny thing is I never had sufficient time built up because the doctor would close the office the day before a holiday and make us use our PTO or not get paid, even though HE was the one who decided to close.

1 Votes
Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.

13 days per year annual leave, 1 day per month sick leave, 1 day per quarter for personal time (29 days total) in addition we get paid holidays. They are very permissive about taking time off. It's heaven!

My last, job, though, yeesh, it was awful. I was part time (64 hours per pay period) and I earned 1 day per month, period. Also, it was prorated, so if you were out a week with the flu, you earned no sick time for that week. And it did no good to have time, you could never schedule time off. Manager from Hell would say, "I'll see what I can do." which is nice, but doesn't work if you are trying to make reservations. We had gotten to where we would ask way ahead of time, make our reservations, and if she didn't grant the request we'd just call in.

1 Votes
Specializes in OR Hearts 10.

Currently I earn 7 hrs PTO every two weeks which works out to 4 1/2 weeks a year. This is sick time, holidays, vacation all rolled into one. I think it goes up to 8 hrs at 10 years.

Vacation or sick you have to use PTO, LOA or leave early (work in OR so that's possible) PTO use optional. I think we get to use ours fairly.

Time off was the best part about working on the floor and doing 12's. We self scheduled so it was easy to have off 2 weeks and only use 36 hrs PTO.

1 Votes
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Depends on how long one has worked for the organization- more seniority = more PTB earned per hour worked. I average about 2 weeks plus 6 holidays per year if I take no time off, just shy of two weeks if I take more than a week's vacation. One nurse I work with accrues PTB faster than he can use it- well over a day per 2 weeks worked.

1 Votes

Ours accrues as a percentage of hours worked. I am budgeted for 64 hours a payperiod, but usually work 72 minimum so I get a bit over 3 weeks a year. We are not forced to use PTO except for vacay or sick call. If were stay out for low census, we can use it or not, that it up to us. We sign up about the 3rd week of January, but the schedule stays up all year so you can add to it any time as long as there is a spot for you. We are allowed to take up to 3 weeks at a time as long as it is not between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when you can only take two weeks at a time. Vacation scheduling has not been a real issue except with is can be unfair as to some people are allowed earlier access to it than others so the holiday weeks go to the same people all the time. The only issue I ever have is not with vacation scheduling, but with what I will call "life" scheduling. I get grumpy when the same people always have to have special work schedules to accomodate whatever is going on with them this week. I get annoyed by someone saying...I need Mondays off for class, I will be 45 min late on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I have to be off early Friday for a Dr. appointment.I am quite old school about it...job first, school fits in to job not the other way 'round. We are not flipping burgers here. I think we should support the pursuit of a higher degree, but there is a limit to how much accomodation anyone should expect or even ask for.

1 Votes
Specializes in LTC/Skilled Care/Rehab.

It depends on how long you have been working for my hospital. You start off with 24 days/year for full time employees. PTO includes sick days, vacation days and mandatory holidays (for employees who get holidays off).

1 Votes

15 hours per month =4.5 weeks/yr (I work 40 hrs/wk)

1 Votes
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