on call for holidays?

[bonjovigirl]

So I am a new rn and this is my first rn job, at a mid-size hospital. we have the 1-5 order of preference for holidays off, which is cool , and I am new so I anticipate working the brunt of the holidays, which has already been made clear to me. That I understand. HOWEVER, if you aren't scheduled to work lets say Thanksgiving, you are officially "on-call" for another RN. If they have an emergency, or just call in for whatever reason, you have to go to work. You do not have any holidays officially off until 0645 that day. Sooo, if you're scheduled off on thanskgiving management has made it clear that you better not make plans that you can't cancel, that morning. No one "officially" has any holidays off. you two choices are work that day or be on call.

Is this the norm???

[Chad_KY_SRNA]

At my facility you request your days off two months ahead of time, then the staff with the most seniority are given the holidays off first. The fall is a busy time with lots of people trying to get off. In my home town we have the Woolly Worm Festival, vendors set up all down main street selling food, crafts, games, etc. There is a pet show, a car show, a parade, etc. That is this coming weekend, I work 11-7 all weekend long so I will get to go in the mornings or late afternoons but it's supposed to be cold and rainy. Then I guess they figured since I work this whole weekend that I should be off on Halloween. As far as Thanksgiving and Christmas go I will don't mind working 11-7 these days. Last year I worked 3-11 on Christmas and Thanksgiving and was miserable, mom brought my presents to the nursing home and I opened them on my lunch break in the parking lot. I miss seeing my relatives and plan on spending at least one holiday with them this year. Halloween is going to be spent with my friends.

[austin heart, BSN, RN]

Ugggg, what a crappy policy. We are a small unit and somehow the scedule is never really a problem. We do it ourselves and have always been able to work things out even with the holidays. And as far as calling off sick on a holiday, you better be DEAD!

[Plagueis]

That policy is ridiculous. Management apparently can't think of another way to ensure that people who are scheduled to work holidays actually work those days. I bet the people who came up with that policy have the holidays off, and are not on-call. The idea that employees can't make plans for their holiday, or on any day they are scheduled to be off, is unrealistic. :angryfire Are we supposed to sit by the phone on our days off and wait for our job to call us in to work?

[SmilingBluEyes]

OMG no we don't do this.For OBVIOUS reasons. We break up holidays into 6 hour blocks to work---it's less painful for everyone that way. Most of us elect to work the full 12 hour shift. It would get ugly working that way, like the others said. BAD idea.

[labcat01, BSN, RN]

So what would happen if someone called in "sick" and the on-call person called in sick too?

I like the six hour shift idea, myself

~Linda