Call Schedule

[ArmyWife,RN]

Hi All!

I was wondering how your unit handles the "on-call scheduling"? There is a big issue about this on my unit right now and it's causing tension between the day shift and night shift. I feel very stressed about this because I work the swing shift and I hear it from both sides - not to mention, I've been dragged into the scheduling issues..."oh, she can be on call from 15 - 19" or "she can take call from 19-23" (this is usually done so someone else can get hours or something of the kind)

I'm new both to nursing and on this unit and I don't want to cause waves, but some people involved are teetering on the edge of ...okay they are...doing un-ethical things and others are getting cheated out of hours. Are all units this disfunctional or is there a good way to do this?

Thanks,

A.W.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

When I was a nurse manager my "on call" schedule was pretty much handled like the regular schedule. Everyone was assigned and scheduled for "on call" time. It was then up to the nurses themselves to swap on call time with each other. If someone doesn't take the responsiblity to make out the initial scheduling there will be anarchy among the staff.

I didn't check before posting this, but haven't you posted before about scheduling problems on your unit? Who is actually scheduling, one person or all of you on the staff together? One person has to ultimately decide on whether the schedule is fair or not. If no one is doing that then there is an awful chaotic situation going on where you are. If your unit is the only one having this kind of disorganization over the scheduling and it is causing so much aggression among you, I think someone needs to (1) first, tell your nursing manager about the problems this is causing, and then (2) go to the administrator who supervises your nurse manager and let that person know what is happening among the staff nurses on your unit based on what your manager has told you to do. The reason I'm suggesting these things is because it sounds like your manager is not properly managing her duty of staffing. It sounds like she's delated the task of staffing to her nursing staff without providing direction on how to do it properly and assessing how it's going. Makes me think that she doesn't know a lot about the fine details of staffing herself.

[USA987, MSN, RN, NP]

Ours is similar to the above. We can choose a "permanent" call slot from the ones that are open. If I need it off I have to request it early enough or find someone to cover my call time.

It works okay...