full time RN's getting the shaft, and I dont mean the "cool" shaft either!

[hapeewendy]

take a glimpse into my horrible terrible no good very bad day! okay so its not that bad but I am in a quandry of sorts.

I am a full time RN and I'm going back to school part time (only one day a week)

I told the scheduling committee that as of sept 1 I can no longer work thursdays or any wednesday night shifts.....the disruption to my full time schedule ends up being 2 definite shifts per month missed (as I work every other thursday only)

and then 1 wednesday per month that will either need to be converted to dayshift or swapped to a friday.

You would figure this would be no problem, and that administration would applaud nurses wanting to further their education and better their practice. however I have gotten more stress about the schedule part of my going back to school than any other aspect...

I spoke with my unit administrator who stated that she was happy for me and that anything she could do to help me on my endevour she would,and then in the same sentence says "and of course you realize we still expect a full time committment from you"

to which I explained the shifts I will need to be switched and the fact that I would pick up two shifts on my days off to make up for the two thursdays a month I'll miss out on....she seemed fine, the staffing committee went on their way and started doing my shifts up for the next tour of duty and then whammo the U/A comes in and tells them to scratch what they have written that I owe it to the unit to work weekends (those weekends that I am normally off) because those are the unit needs and if they are facilitating the fact that I am going to school then I need to give a little too.......I spoke with some senior nurses about this who say this goes against our union agreement in that full timers are to be given every other weekend off and those slots are to be filled by the part timers. where I work the part timers rule the roost, it seems all assbackwards to me, so my question is, do I query this by going forward and asking human resources and the union about what my rights are with respect to having to give up my entitled days off or should I just see how it plays out

I'm all worried and stressed now, because in my opinion I did meet the units needs by offering to work on my other days off during the week....

blah I was starting to question if I've taken too much on my plate or not ,but this is something I really want to do..........

*Heavy sigh*

[oramar]

Wendee, if you go float pool or agency you will back at you desk doing what you usually do most of the time I bet. I have had freinds for which it turned out that way.

[Jenny P]

Wendy, you sid it yourself: "But our unit is a freak of nature to say the least. the part timers submit their availability and are placed on the schedule before the full timers, and then they try to fill in the blanks with whomever they can, be it part timers, full timers, pool nurses etc. out of our probably 30 part timers only 2 of them ever do night shifts, and rarely at that, so my unit administrator said she expected me to do mainly nights, which I have no problem with, but I still find it wrong to put me on every weekend because no one else wants to work the weekend and I get to be off every thursday....I GET to be off, like I'm gonna sit outside n catch sun everyday or something! ha "

Your unit has some strange quirks; and you may be happier and find life easier working either outside agency or hospital float pool the way they play games on your unit.

Please take care of yourself. Going back to school will not be a "peace of cake" for you if you are (as you just said) Stressing out about it for the past week.

I hate to say it, but I have also known other nurses that found that if their units won't grant them the nights off for school, they find life lots easier working in different positions where they ARE appreciated!

Good luck, and keep us posted. (And DON'T give up your weekends! You are young and single!)

[LaurieCRNP2002, MSN, RN, APRN]

Wendy

I agree with those who said to go into the float pool or agency. If you can do that without affecting your benefits, it is the way to go. YOU will have total control over your schedule. I tried to work FT nights one semester but really was unhappy with the way my schedule was turning out at times (lots of Friday nights on, no fun for a single person like me). So I went per diem and have been happy as a clam since then. Stand your ground and do what is best for you! Good luck

Laurie