Assigned Scheduling- need help creating one

[bea90]

I work as a staff nurse on an intermediate unit. Currently our unit uses the "self-scheduling" method. However, signing up always causes a great deal of stress for the staff and even more for our assist.manager as she tries to make everyones desires fit together. Then when the schedule is put out, frequently we don't get all of what we signed up for, making the inital stressing futile. Additionally, the new schedule is frequently not put out until the week before it begins, making future planning practically impossible. While I do believe that self-scheduling would be fabulous, if I lived in a vacuum and all worked as it should, but unfortunately it just doesn't. It does not seem to be the right fit for our unit. So, myself and a peer RN began talking about transitioning to assigned scheduling. We approached our assist.manager about it and she thinks it'd be a great idea to try. It would eliminate the staff stress of picking days, the manager stress of trying to please everyone and would have the best bonus of being able to be available much a head of time. Currently, a survey is out to the rest of the unit to see how well it would, or wouldn't, be recieved. However, if it does go through, I'm trying to figure out the best way to actually attack the calendar. We all work 3 12hr shifts. Some staff are all days, some all nights and some 50/50. Also, we have about 4people per day shift and 4 per night shift that are only weekenders. Naturally we also have mostly full time staff, with a few part time and a few casual. Can anyone offer me some guidance on how to put together a set schedule? Suggestions on how someones own unit does the scheduling? I know there must be other units that make it work well. Thank you for your help.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

You can have a request system--meaning that if nurses want a specific day/vacation whatever, then they need to have it in and approved say 10 days before the schedule is out. Schedules are made a month at a time. Some even every 6 weeks. Coming into the holidays, you could require either Christmas or Thanksgiving, and there's a rotation--so whatever a nurse picks this year would rotate next.

It should be seniority based, then that way it is not a free for all. However, clear that if everyone wants Christmas off, that is not going to work.

List all your nurses, and what their usual schedule is. The days of the month across the top of your document. If they are not contracturally obligatied to be a "night nurse" or a "day nurse" ask if anyone has a preference. Sometimes day nurses would like to switch to nights, nights to days....get a sense of where everyone is on their current scheduled time. Then start plugging everyone in. Put a "R" on the days off that any nurse requests and has been approved for. The weekend people are the next easiest to plug in. Then the staff's weekend obligations (every other weekend, whatever). The rest is plugged in for what makes sense--another thought is to ask the night workers who likes all 3 together, then time off, or if some want a night a night or 2 off, then another night....and their may be day workers who want to do all 3 together. See if your 50/50 people like being 50/50 or is that just what is left when it is their turn to self schedule.....you may find they want to be one way or the other. If the nurses have some sort of continued say in how they are scheduled, it should be better received, and perhaps preferred over self scheduling. Where there are obvious holes, that is where you put in your part timers. What is left goes to casual.

Print out your chart and fill in by hand if you are visual and need to see all of this in front of you. Then fill in on an excel document, and post. (or if you like to do all on excel, then have at it.) Have a code--all "A's" are 7a-7p, all "B's" are 7p-7a.

Once posted, any changes need to be switches, that again can be requested on paper documentation that the unit manager approves.

The best thing that you could do is individual surveys....do you like working days/nights? Are you ok with your current weekend or is the other weekend better for you, and then the whole 3 days together or not....and see who says what--One of the worst parts about being scheduled is to be "stuck on nights" if you hate them, (or days if one is a night person). But even more so if you can't get the shift you want to have with self scheduling.

Let us know how it goes!

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

When the staff at on the unit I managed wanted to self schedule I made it clear that I make decisions on conflicts based on seniority and "need" they had a date to have it completed by (30 days prior to next schedule) or I made the schedule and I don't take requests.

The schedule worked every time.

[OCRN3]

The way they had it where I used to work is they had 2 teams team A would work Monday, Tuesday off Wednesday and Thursday work Friday thru Sunday, that same week team B work Wednesday and Thursday. Then rotate, every other week one team would work like 4 days and the next week 2 days. It works now and it's hospital wide. I hate working 3 in a row but this schedule has it's advantages. When someone needs time off you request in advance. I used to work self scheduling before and it was great too unless I got a bad schedule. Sometimes it was perceived as an unfair schedule.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

[HyperSaurus, RN, BSN]

We have a mixed system. Some of the staff is 'cyclic', working the same schedule pattern essentially (6 week long schedule) and some are 'variable', with the option to self schedule. We also have to put in in advance for any days we want to request off and will receive in writing whether the request was approved.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

There is a very thin line between "self scheduling" and "selfish scheduling".

One of the things I would encourage is to establish definitions & rules .. this will help. For instance, does one request = one shift? Or can someone try to request multiple shifts in "one" request? (I recommend the former rule). A good rule may be "each person gets one request each pay period - each person gets to put in his/her request before a second request can be made..... like 'draft picks' for NFL teams - LOL. People can trade requests, but can't 'save up'.

Vacations should be treated similarly; What is a 'vacation'? How many days/shifts are included in a vacation request? Require everyone to submit their requests before anyone can request a second vacation period.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Self-scheduling within certain parameters has worked well everywhere I've worked.

In a nutshell: you submit a schedule request. It must include fulfilling weekend shift requirements, required number of night/evening shifts if you are required to rotate, required number of Mondays & Fridays. Three specific request off days permitted per 6-week schedule. If you have a standing commitment such as school and need a certain day of the week off each week, this counts as 2 requests.

Vacations are scheduled on an annual basis in October/November: everyone puts in a request for 2 weeks - one summer week and one non-summer week, limit 2 nurses on vacation per week. Any conflicts are addressed individually - if no agreement can be reached then it defaults to seniority. The process is then repeated for the 3rd week, and then repeated again for staff who have a long enough length of service that they receive a 4th and/or 5th week. "Vacation" is understood to be an entire 7-day period Sunday - Saturday, though it's often possible to include the weekends on either end of the week, or you can choose to work days during that period to fulfill the requirements for weekends/Mondays/Fridays.

Holidays are handled in the following manner: 6 holidays recognized by the hospital -- New Years Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day. Memorial Day & Thanksgiving are paired. Independence Day & Labor Day are paired. Staff are divided into two groups - group assigned upon hire into the department. Year one you'll work Memorial Day/Thanksgiving ... the next year you'll work Independence Day/Labor Day ... and so on. In October of every year we schedule Christmas Eve/Day and New Years Eve/Day -- you must work 2 of those 4 days. Conflicts resolved by seniority. This just establishes who is working which days -- actual shift scheduling occurs with the normal 6-week scheduling process for the time period that includes those holidays.

Always room for some individual deal-making, as long as both parties still fulfill requirements -- i.e., you can buddy up with someone to trade holidays at the last minute, but you must still both work 3 of the 6 yearly holidays, and 2 of the 4 Christmas/New Years days. Or if you wheel & deal to trade away all your required night shifts or weekends on one particular schedule -- you'll need to make them up over the course of the next schedule.

It really is minimal stress. Hope this helps.