Creative scheduling ideas

[jhugh]

Hi, I work in the Emergency Department with about 45 nurses. We are looking to change our scheduling policy and procedures in to something more positive for the nurses and the nurse manager. I am interested in learning more about self scheduling or other creative scheduling solutions. If anyone is willing to share pros and cons of their scheduling techniques, I would greatly appreciate the feedback.

Thanks,

A fellow nurse :)

[geekgolightly, BSN, RN]

We do self scheduling. Six weeks at a time. There is a scheduling committee of about three nurses who take the time to look over the schedule, make sure that we are evenly distributed, make changes as necessary, and then the schedule is set. It works really well.

[jhugh]

Thanks for responding! How do people sign up for shifts? On paper or the internet? By seniority or rotating?

[mydesygn]

Currently, we place a blank schedule in the schedule book. Each nurse fills in their requested nights. They are expected to follow certain guidelines-3 weekend nights, on-call shifts etc.. PTO (Vacation) requests as well as requests off (time off that doesn't require use of vaction time) are turned in to the manager. Two weeks before the schedule is due to start, the request sheet is removed and the manager emails a draft schedule. All requests for change are considered and reasonable changes are made. A final copy is released a week before it is due to start. After this time, staff members are expected to ask co-workers if they want to change a shift etc..

PROS: staff can see others requests and will make changes to their own requests to try to balance, consistent process with established guidelines

CONS: time consuming for management, schedule "prima donnas" consistently complain about any changes made to their requests

I like the idea of the scheduling commitee and would like to modify our system abit and place the burden of scheduling on the staff. I think it is probably more difficult for the "prima donnas" to whine, demand and complain to their co-worker than it is to their manager.

[redshiloh]

Hey geek, do the nurses on the committee do this on their own time or hospital time? We do 'self scheduling', but the nurse manager has to balance it as most people only look at themselves and not the larger picture.

[geekgolightly, BSN, RN]

Thanks for responding! How do people sign up for shifts? On paper or the internet? By seniority or rotating?

on paper. and we have about fifteen nurses for day. we don't do it by senority. we are pretty good at self scheduling. with larger groups i think you would have to do it by teams or senority.