Every other weekend- what century are we in?

[lizva101]

Every other weekend is just inhumane. We are expected to be caregivers and give our lives to service --- yet -- we also HAVE to work every other weekend. We are still although healthcare providers, part of the human race , who have family, and other interests necessary to maintain a healthy psych. There would be a lot stress in the field if it wasn't about who can cut it and who can't, if it were more humane. Not to mention --- Come on people. This is a profession, not a rat race based on who can stay up for 12 hours and hack an every other weekend job. Give me a

break.

I am so fumming -- The only non every other weekend position is OR, PACU, or day surgery.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MANAGERS/LEADERS THAT THEY DON'T REALIZE THAT EVERY OTHER IS NOT GOOD FOR RETENTION.

I know the argument -- not enough staff. give me a break. Thats what per diem nurses are for. Make per diem positions less attractive, and gain more Staff Nurses. I mean come on, you don't have to be mensa to see the results increase retention, decrease nurse burn out.

Some prefer weekends -- great. Let them work workends people.

If it was a male dominated profession Let me ask You ----

Would they note that perhaps requiring every other weekend was a bit - shall we say nonprogressive?

Would they allow for every 3rd weekend option?

Just a point to ponder.

There are enough nurses, just not enough willing to work in an archaic work environment.

My next project -- To research effects of nursing morale, retention, performance by increasing some say over their schedule by oh 35%, specifically, reducing the number of required weekends. Think of it, half of lives (in weekend terms) are lost.

[rholman]

I am not a nurse yet but one of the things that attracted me to the profession is the flexability of their schedule. I work Mon - Friday 8 to 5 and I can't wait to work 3 12 hour shifts and have 4 days off. Working EOW or every weekend would be fine by me, however my daughter will be in college by then and I don't have a husband so I'm good to go, plus the extra money is a great motivator.

[lpnflorida]

To each their own. We were informed while in training 30 years ago to expect having to work every other weekend and to expect having to work most holidays. Can't say we were blind sided. There are other jobs available if what the hospital needs and what you want can not meet.

Speaking as someone who is experiencing not being able to get enough work hours in to be able to meet my 72 hours a pay period. I have no sympathy, I do however empathize that you would like to have more options

. Right now I just want to be able to work my hours to pay the bills.

[NursingAgainstdaOdds]

Looking at the thread responses, I can't help but wonder if your energies w/ regards to research wouldn't be better directed at seeing how a "self-determined" schedule might improve retention vs. running on the assumption that all nurses have the same preference w/ regards to weekends, etc.

I don't like weekends, and I don't like 12s. I think for my family a M-F 8 hour shift would be better, as my husband and I would have the same schedule and workload. As it stands right now, my schedule is all over the place, and my husband gets very little sympathy for being tired at the end of his 8-hour workday. LOL We can't afford for me to take the pay cut to work in a physician's office (plus, I'm not sure I would like it).

My unit seems to be working on scheduling issues. We have a "self schedule", but it's in its early phases, and there are a lot of problems with it still. Mostly related to not having enough staff. (Shocking, I know.) I did the schedule for the unit last month, and it was quite a challenge. I found that the more assertive nurses got the best schedule, less assertive nurses didn't even fill theirs in (GNs). I did my best to balance it out, and not let certain staff members take advantage of the situation.

We have an "every other weekend" rule, but I would prefer it if we could have the staff to have more options. I would like to work more 8s (LOL, feels like a vacation day), less Sundays (church), and not be required to work Christian holidays.

[Murse901, MSN, RN]

Unfortunately, there isn't a magical force that cures people over the weekend and prevents them from getting sick, so someone has to be on staff to take care of them.

I don't see how requiring every other weekend is "archaic". As a male, I don't see it as being "nonprogressive" as you stated (not even sure what being a male would have to do with this topic, really).

There are plenty of positions that do not require weekends. Maybe not at the specific facility or unit you want to work at, but you have to decide what's more important to you. You'll rarely find a position that has absolutely no cons.

What's more archaic and more stressful to me is having to work night shift for a year or longer before being able to have enough seniority to get a day shift position. But again, people are not magically cured at night, so someone has to be there.

[RN1989]

If you could come up with a viable plan to ensure staffing on both weekends and weekdays, I'm sure your manager and facility would be willing to listen. Be part of the solution, not the problem.

[Hygiene Queen]

When you go into a job, you accept what the job is.

There are no miraculous recoveries for pts on weekends and holidays.

Someone must be there for them... if that's me, well, I signed up for it.

Weekends can actually be a sweet deal. No administration or not as many doctors riding up your butt.

You just plan your own fun for your weekend off... and you appreciate it more.

I can get more done around the house during the week days while the kids are at school. I can go to class and do homework.

It's part of the job. You work around it or find something else.

I know it sounds harsh, but that is the reality.

[tencat]

I totally understand why the OP is upset by the OEW thing. I think that self scheduling and finding out what schedules work best for your staff is one way to make people happier. Yes, someone has to work weekends. But I'd be willing to bet that there are enough employees who WANT that schedule due to all the reasons many of you have mentioned. Personally, 8-5 M-F is perfect for me as I have a school age child. If schedulers tried to see what people preferred, maybe more people would be happy. I know how difficult it is to make a schedule, but it might make it easier to let people give the scheduler some idea of when they like to work.

I worked in a small hospital where the DON scheduled, and even though she had several people who wanted to switch from days to nights, and wanted to work only weekends, she almost never honored those preferences. It was almost like she felt that she was boss, and if you wanted something, she made sure you didn't get it.

[rita359]

Sorry, but what did you think happened when you didn't see hospitals closing for the weekend? Actually if you have to work full time and have a family and need to do anything related to those gov. agencies, banks etc. you will come to appreciate those weekdays off.

[workingforskies]

If it was a male dominated profession Let me ask You ----

Would they note that perhaps requiring every other weekend was a bit - shall we say nonprogressive?

Would they allow for every 3rd weekend option?

Just a point to ponder.

If this were a male dominated profession, we would be getting paid at least twice as much as we get now, there would be pool tables in every break room, and the free turkey we get every Christmas would have a fat bundle of stock options stuffed in it.

In the normal supply and demand market, we nurses, (due to the nursing shortage), should be able to write our own tickets, dictate our salaries, our staffing levels and our perks. If you want proof of this dynamic look no further than the golden tickets that were handed out to all the computer geeks during the 'dot.com' era.

But "NO", that is not happening. And, in my opinion, it is due in large part to the estrogen dominance in our field. We don't fight. We do not argue. We don't give an upraised middle finger to a boss as we walk to our next job that WILL pony up the compensation. Instead we, collectively, sell out. We take our low pay, we get ourselves wrapped up in the drama du'jur, we allow our so called leadership to basically prostitute us for the "good of the team". (Insert smiley face icon here)

Health care costs have far outstripped the rising pace of inflation over the past 10+ years. Yet nursing pay and compensation has not. I can think of no other time in labor history where a collective group of laborers had such potential power yet absolutely refused to collectively wield it.

Imagine if one group of nurses in one single market stood up and told one health care organization to pay them double or they were going to diffuse into the competition and leave them hanging? But no, we can't cut that cord. We have to be loyal to, essentially, a corporate overlord. We don't want to drive an extra 15 minutes, we like our schedule, we work really close to our kids school. WHATEVER!

Sorry for the rant but every time I think about this issue, I seriously want to stab myself in the eyes.

[natrgrrl]

I can understand how EOW interferes with life in general. I have a husband and 4 kids. My DH also works shifts but has to work EVERY w/end. My kids are getting the raw end of this deal because with both of us working w/ends no one is available to take them to their bday parties and extra curriculars. Not fair to them but the only job I could get was EOW. If I want to pick up extra shifts, it will be weekend shifts.

It's not the ideal situation for many of us but nothing in life is ideal. I do think that seniority should have something to do with the amount of w/ends you have to work. Once you have worked on your floor for 4 years or so, you should only have one w/end a month. If you move to a different floor, you should have to start over.

[UKPedsRN]

Every other weekend! You guys need to thank your lucky stars you get every other weekend off - in most facilities here in the UK, you would be lucky to get one weekend off Q 3 months!!

Anyway, I think sometimes weekends are better to work as usually there is less hassle and a touch more money

[AuntieRN]

I too hate the 5 day a week work week. I like doing my 3 or even 4 12s and getting the extra days off. I even get to take a weeks vacation and never touch my PTO time. I also dont mind the weekends. As previously stated we get a lovely weekend diff and there are less procedures being done. I work just about every weekend and have for 2 years now.