Assist with a schedule

[litbitblack, ASN, RN]

I work at a Cert alz ltc center. The Don IS looking at trying to go 12 hour shifts without overtime. We have 4 suites with 15 res. rooms. One nurse for each suite and 2 cna's. The total License # for the 12 hour shifts are 8. 4 for days and 4 for nites. except we have one nurse who does part office and part floor so 2 of her days would be on the floor. so really it would be 8.5 nurses. It would probably be 6a-6p. They want to do an hour lunch so they would do a normal 7 day work period in two weeks and the lunch deduction would decrease the overtime to 0.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Two things...does any nurse really have an hour to take for a meal break? Probably not. And, if there is a call out, it is much more difficult to fill a 12 hour shift than an 8 hour one. We have mandatory overtime if we can't fill a shift....we went from 12 hour shifts back to 8 hour one for just that reason. I can mandate someone to stay for an extra 8 hours but I can't make them stay past that.