What do other hospitals do regard to scheduling staff for weekends?

[Metalchild]

Hello,

At the floor I work at, a lot of people are unwilling to work weekends, me included. I normally work beginning of the weeks and had agreed to work up to half of the Sundays as needed. But due to many who absolutely do not want to work Sundays, I recently ended up working most of the Sundays, and the new schedule shows me being scheduled to work every Sunday. I feel very stuck. The assistant manager and the new scheduler both know I am reluctant to work weekends but don't mind doing it once in a while as my contribution as a staff member. I've already sacrificed a lot having to forfeit many Saturday night activities and now feel like I'm being taken advantage of. I've had other people work in other facilities telling me such scheduling is not fair and that weekends should be rotated. Is that the case in most facilities or am I complaining too much?

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

Our weekend is 1500 on Friday through 0700 on Monday. 12 hr nurses work every 3rd w/e; 8 hr RNs work every other.

No way would I work somewhere where I had to commit to every weekend, even if partial weekends. I have a family, with kids' sports and performances on weekends -- plus my extended family lives out of state. I am perfectly willing to work my share, but I am not willing to never have a w/e off. That doesn't sound reasonable at all, unless the RN agrees to it, e.g. for a Baylor plan, or for religious reasons wants Saturdays off and they're able to accommodate it for working every Sunday.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

We have some, as I am, that are "weekend option" which means we agree to work every weekend for an extra dollar amount on top of the differential. There are 6 of us, I think. (day shift anyway). The rest have to work at least one weekend a month. They also have to work one Mon and one Fri. I work Sat/Sun and one other weekday.

We have a great group that have been working together quite a while. Different pace, different pts (we seem to get the Gen Med overflow instead of out ortho pts). I am old enough that I don't miss going out on the weekends. If I need to do something for my kids, both are covered by FMLA so I don't get penalized for taking off if I have to for them. I think I have called out one day in 3 years.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

A hospital where the staff doesn't care to work weekends? Do people in your town only get sick Monday-Friday??

[cleback]

When I worked 12s, I worked every 3rd weekend which was Friday-Saturday-Sunday. It worked well.

When I worked 8s, I worked every other Saturday -Sunday. It ducked because I usually ended up working every Friday night.

Now I'm PRN and am only required one weekend or holiday shift a month. Not bad...

No way would I work someplace that doesn't have a set policy on required weekend shifts, for the issues you are experiencing now.

[canigraduate]

Odd. Most places have rules about that sort of thing.

My current place requires 4 weekend shifts per 4-week schedule period and schedules you every other weekend. They also require two Mondays and two Fridays.

My manager has scheduled me every other Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the last year. I usually work M-F-Sa, Su-W-Th. It works out for me so that I get a long weekend and time to spend with my hubs.

If you are sick of working every Sunday, I would suggest to your manager that they add a weekend policy if they don't already have one.

[verene, MSN]

All of the hospitals in my area have weekend policies. Typical policy is to work every other weekend (1500 Friday through 0700 Monday counts as weekend time for earning weekend differentials).

[Tommy5677]

I remember having a supervisor on the 7p-7a shift who was a very gifted scheduler. The policy was every other weekend but here's what she did. She split them. One weekend your off, the next you work Sat. followed by the next weekend off and the following on Sunday. You always worked 3 in a row, got paid for 40 and every month everyone on the shift had an 8 day stretch off. Everyone should be that knowledgeable in scheduling. I think she took a class on it and we loved her for it. Every weekend off when working in direct patient care is a ridiculous expectation. You're in nursing, patient care extends into the weekends. Either your scheduler adopts one like cited above or you need a non clinical job. Just sayin'.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

As stated many times, 1st clarify what the weekend requirement is for your unit. In mine, it's 8-9 weekend shifts per 6 weeks for full-time staff (being nights, Friday, Saturday and Sunday all count).

If your employer requires every other weekend, perhaps you might prefer working a full weekend every other weekend rather than being obligated for every Sunday (which means your Saturday nights are not going to be spent partying!).

I am on a weekend plan (Baylor-esque) but my employer is getting away from that as the job market has changed tremendously from 10 years ago when they instituted the program. Even when we had a lot of weekend plan employees, we struggled to staff weekends. Everybody (who's not being paid ridiculous amounts) prefers to be social on the weekends when the rest of the world is being sociable!

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

I would think that this would be clearly described in a nursing or HR policy for your facility, or in your job description (part of expectations).

When I worked the floor it was every other weekend, and rotation among staff. It is my understanding that in my current facility floor staff are expected to work every 3rd weekend as we have some weekend option staff and the general days and nights staff just fill in to complete the weekend staffing numbers.

I'm in the OR now. We're staffed to run a certain amount of rooms or cases 24/7. Evenings have less staff than days, nights have less than evenings. Weekends days and nights have less than week day days and nights. We take call to cover when more patients need care than our scheduled staffing numbers allow for the time period. People take call for evenings, nights or weekends (plus our specialty call teams). Depending on how many folks are in specific rotations is how often your call falls. We can also "pick up" to work extra shifts when we're short staffed for a financial incentive. We can be called when we're not scheduled on call, and in the event of some mass casualty event (plane crash, etc) and with the approval of our admin on call they can start cold calling staff (this is true for other areas of the hospital too).

It's also notable that for example, our GI procedures (and other similar areas) staff only take call 8-5 on weekend days and do not staff their department on the weekends. Which means we generally do most of the GI procedures, cysto, etc cases over the weekend. We're also primary back up for L&D when they have too many deliveries and/or sections running (we'll get sent up to handle the c-sections). Alternatively, if all of the L&D ORs are running the next section at the same time comes to the Main OR. Some c-sections are deliberately done in the Main OR for access to resources (multi-traumas, cases where mom and/or baby(ies) may need to be put on ECMO, etc).

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

Where I work currently, you start working every other weekend as the normal. After a person has been there at least what seems like a couple years, they may request to do a weekday set schedule. Eventually, I hear you may get it....but the unit has a high turn over, so it is not instant. If you never had to do that, I consider you lucky for having a choice. I don't mind working weekends because it is quieter overall.

[Brie Francois]

At my hospital we rotate every other weekend. If for some reason I have to work two weekends in a row (doesn't happen often) then I will get two weekends off in a row afterwards.

[Wrench Party]

At my FT job, we have to work 4 weekend shifts in an 8 week schedule, weekend being defined as 1900 Friday to 0700 Monday. I do mine clumped together so I'd have more whole weekends off. It helps that we have several weekend option full timers and my facility recently increased our shift differentials.

At my per diem, I tend to pickup weekends because the unit is quieter and the $$ is worth it.