Fairness

[Hink12]

Why in nursing do managers not understand inflexibility with schedule changes? Im married, w 2 kids, hardly any help, and 12 hour shifts dont allow me to get kids to school. My husband and family cannot help me. No daycare before school for one of my kids. So when i say i cannot work certain days, i cant. Who will take my kids to school? They cannot stand outside for 2 hours alone. But manAgement can change my schedule, without asking me. How is this professional conduct? How am i being treated professionally, when i know my responsibilities/ limits and i cannot help their staffing issues? Why is nursing so inflexible to a working mom?

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

It is easy to say but in reality this type of thing goes on everywhere. I know you are trying to help.

[Sour Lemon]

There bottom line is fulfilling their needs and that about sums it up. If you can't do it, they will find someone else who is willing to say yes. That is why in this field there are constant hiring's and firings. My job has stopped putting me on the schedule. I am supposed to get at-least 6 shifts a month because I am PRN. I fulfilled their needs when they didn't have enough staff but now they have hired all of these new full-time people so it is out the door for me. I asked my manager about this and all she had do say was they hired more people. I was willing to work the days no one wants to work. I will find something else and luckily am not pressured to do it right away. My husband does pretty well on his own financially. Sometimes management just doesn't want to accommodate staff. The regular full time people have been claiming that they can't take time off for medical appointments etc. They are told to find replacements, well I was there replacement and now they don't need me. The newbies are walking in all bright eyed and busy tailed but in due time they will most likely face the same situation. When I started all was well for the first two months but then a ton of people left. They like to say the are over staffed but they never are. They are actually short-staffed and like to have nurses work under that condition. They just want to save money. I know I cost more but when you burn out all of your regular staff it will end up costing you more money to replace them versus someone who doesn't work as much and can fill end where needed.

That is the nature of "as needed" work. Most places require that you be available for a certain number of days each pay period, but they don't guarantee that you'll be utilized. I've been canceled every day for months, at times. And most recently, floated every day for months. In exchange, I get a higher rate of pay and the right to choose my own availability.

It makes perfect sense to me that my employer would prefer an employee with open availability. I'm a semi-last resort and only more favorable than registry staff.

[caliotter3]

"...quietly start looking for another job..."

[RNNPICU, BSN, RN]

I would first want to find out why you are being switched. Is it to balance experience? Is it to due to higher acuity patients? I agree I would be mad if I was originally promised something but then management changed and any deal I had was out the window.

What does your employment letter say? Does it specifically specify that you would have those days off? Or, was this just a nice agreement you had with your old boss. Perhaps our new boss does not honor unofficial agreements.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

After i submit my schedule ( selfscheduling), they change it( dont ask about changes/ they know what i can/ cant do but dont care). 12 hour shifts work most days, but i just cant some days. Upon hire, i had this all in writing from previous boss, now new boss doesnt care . Shes made her own rules.

Self scheduling was a wish list when I worked in the hospital. The grid for the schedule was posted, the only thing filled in was your weekends, and everyone got to fill in their choices for what they wanted to work. Sometimes I got exactly what I wanted, sometimes I got a ton of unwanted evening shifts. If you work in a hospital as a staff nurse, it's a 24 hr operation, and most floors will say final scheduling is at their discretion. I would suggest looking into work outside of the hospital or night shifts which would allow you to bring your children to school in the morning, sleep while they're at school and then pick them up in the afternoon. When I worked in the hospital, most of the moms of young children I worked with worked nights.

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

True all schedules are subject to the ultimate function of the hospital, but when you are heartless in messing with someones schedule you create a toxic working environment,high turnover,poor morale.I bet your favorite nurse never gets her schedule changed.

[SmilingBluEyes]

I am a manager with grown kids. Believe me I get how hard working and raising young children is; been there. BUT it's NOT my problem you have kids that go to school. If you sign on agreeing to work certain hours/days, I expect you to be there the same as the person without kids, or older with no kids at home. Your home life is NO more important or urgent than anyone else's. If, I as a manager, am flexible for YOU I have to be for EVERYONE and I am sorry, but that ain't how to run a hospital or clinic. I need staff for my patients, bottom line.

So work it out. Go PRN, change shifts, or work it out with coworkers. But you can't expect any manager to do you any special favors because you decided to have kids and work full time. It's still up to you.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

When we had self scheduling, for every schedule we were allowed five "I definitely cannot work THIS day" X marks on the schedule. We weren't allowed to put those on national holidays. More than that, it was hit or miss whether you got the days off you wanted. This is pretty much just the nature of the beast that is 12 hour acute care shifts. If you need more than five days in a scheduling period, you are excessive in trying to tailor your schedule to your needs. I realize that doesn't change the needs, which means you have to change the job or hire childcare that is there during the two hour gap and gets the kids to school, whether that be a college student that comes to your home or sending them to daycare. Both will be expensive, but that is also just the nature of the beast. It isn't fair to everyone else to have to accommodate you five days a week nine months out of the year.

I hope you can get it all worked out. I don't see this as unfairness to be honest. Everyone has days they prefer not to work for a number of reasons. Yours involves your kids, but there are other solutions. That you do not like them or cannot afford both them and some of the other things in your life/your kids lives is just the way it goes and doesn't equate to "unfairness". Ultimately working it out is your own responsibility. That isn't said without compassion. Kids are hard. Single parenting kids is super hard.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Managements FIRST responsibility is to the patients.

And to the department as a whole, rather than an individual nurse's needs and preferences. I TRY to accommodate a particular nurse's requests for "Please don't schedule me on Wednesdays" but, per the union contract, the only guarantee a nurse has to her schedule is her assigned every other weekend off. Beyond that, I have to schedule for patient safety to make sure there are enough nurses on each shift. And while I try my hardest to accommodate requests, I can't always promise it.

[caliotter3]

I bet your favorite nurse never gets her schedule changed.

Truer words were never spoken.

[SaltySarcasticSally, LPN, RN]

Truer words were never spoken.

So true!! We have a nurse on the floor that I am about to leave that never has to work weekends, it's strange.

I think this happens everywhere. And PPs are right, they do not have to cater to your schedule just because you had kids. Trust me, I understand, I have 3 kids under 9. Daycare is impossible to find starting at 6 am. I have worked every weekend the last 5 months because I needed a set schedule due to daycare. Thankfully, my mother in law is going to start helping us, other wise I would have been stuck on weekends.

But that is an option for you possible, does your hospital do any type of weekend warrior position?

Sometimes I wish we could just do a set schedule, as in work the same set days every month and then trade with others as need be. It would make things so much easier! Most daycares do not want to deal with a rotating schedule every 6 weeks.

[osceteacher]

I have nightmares about my time doing the offduty, its not like management want to be this way. However I do sympathise as someone who had to work 12 hour shifts alongside my wife who is also a nurse and raise two kids, maybe its time to look for a job that isn't 12 hours?