Is this a fair holiday schedule

silverbat · Oct 16, 2018

You do what anyone else in the medical field, law enforcement, etc., do. You suck it up and work. You plan your holiday when you can. You may have 2 Christmas', etc.

I can't think of any hospitals I have worked that considered Halloween or Black Friday as a " holiday".

Many years my family had Christmas/ thanksgiving with my parents or his- sometime in Nov or Dec.

you know a kid that would turn down 2 christmas's?

If you work those holidays this year, do you rotate off of them next year?

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Oct 16, 2018

Halloween and Black Friday are not considered holidays. Just another Wednesday and Friday that needs to be covered.

Working nights is tough, I get that. " I got Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve." You have Christmas day and New year's day off . No hospital schedule is going to allow both the eve and the day of the holiday off.

GeminiNurse29 · Oct 16, 2018

Last year, I worked Xmas eve, Xmas day, NYE, and NYD all on 8 hour nocs. My rotation was brutal. I was off thanksgiving Bc I was on maternity leave still. The year before, I got thanksgiving day off but not the weekend.

Hopefully you get at least one of the holidays off next year.

HeySis, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2018

Every hospital nurse as worked a ton of Thanksgivings and Christmases... its part of the job. Black Friday and Halloween aren't considered holiday's. When my kids were little they didn't look at the calendar and know what day it was so if I had the 23rd off I told my kids it was Christmas eve on the 22nd... or we'd do the same a couple days late. I've eaten Thanksgiving dinner at noon when I worked the 3-11 shift that doesn't exists in most places anymore. It is what it is. We make adjustments and enjoy our holidays anyway.

ICUnurse990, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2018

This probably isn't what you want to hear, but yes, that sounds like a fair schedule. At my hospital, the "holiday" for night shift is considered the shift going into the holiday, not the actual date. So the night before Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, etc. are holidays but Thanksgiving, Christmas Day night, and New Year's night are not. In the past, we worked the holiday shift for our assigned holidays and the shift before or after the holiday shift for our holidays "off." (So if you were assigned Christmas, you worked 12/24. If you weren't assigned Christmas, you worked 12/23 and/or 12/25.). We later agreed to work the holiday shift and the shift of the actual holiday on our assigned holidays in exchange for not working either on our holidays off. (So if you were assigned to Christmas, you worked the 24th and 25th.). That's pretty much up to unit policy, but what you're describing doesn't sound unusual.

Halloween and Black Friday aren't even part of the holiday schedule, so that's kind of a moot point.

I know it's a bit of a rude awakening the first year you work holidays as a nurse. There's no way to sugar coat things; you will miss holidays, you will miss events, and you will miss family time. That said, you will figure out that Christmas can be celebrated on Dec. 26th, you can still get together with friends and family if you plan creatively, and nobody does a holiday potluck like a bunch of nurses.

pixierose, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2018

That actually sounds like a fair schedule.

Like others have said, Halloween and Black Friday aren't scheduled holidays - you can probably request those days off in the future (or attempt to). But yes, as a nurse you're going to work holidays. And sometimes you'll work more holidays than more senior nurses.

(last year-my first year-I worked Thanksgiving day, Xmas day, and NYE ... plus July 4th, Labor Day ... then Halloween and Black Friday because I didn't try to ask for those two days off)

Both hubby and I are nurses ... the holiday is what you make it, not the day itself.

cleback · Oct 16, 2018

Sorry. Do you have kids? I'm thinking that's why you want Halloween off. Are the nonmajor holiday requests based on senority? If not, maybe you can trade with kidless folks. As a childless young adult, I couldn't have cared less about halloween day (all the parties were usually the weekend before) or black Friday (get more on cyber Monday).

For the major holidays, my hospital counts it as the night with the most hours falling within the holiday day. So Christmas would start 7pm on Christmas eve, because the majority of the hours would fall on the 25th. But honestly I get what you're saying ...and that's one of the downsides of night shift. You can't really have a normal holiday with family. Any way your facility defines it, you're either working the night before and exhausted for the actual day, or you work that night and have to leave festivities early. My advice would be to switch to days at the next opportunity, however impractical that advice may be.

AdobeRN · Oct 16, 2018

It sucks but it is what it is when working in healthcare. When I was working in the hospital I thought our manager was fair with trying to accommadate all of our schedules - We either had to work Thanksgiving day + day after or we worked NYE + NY day and we worked either Xmas Eve or Xmas day but not both unless you chose to do so. That way at least you wern't missing out on all the family holiday stuff.

cleback · Oct 16, 2018

It sucks but it is what it is when working in healthcare. When I was working in the hospital I thought our manager was fair with trying to accommadate all of our schedules - We either had to work Thanksgiving day + day after or we worked NYE + NY day and we worked either Xmas Eve or Xmas day but not both unless you chose to do so. That way at least you wern't missing out on all the family holiday stuff.

My old manager tried to do this once. I think it makes the most sense for night shifters... and really, anyone attempting to travel for the holidays...But days shifters threw a fit.

psu_213, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2018

We either had to work Thanksgiving day + day after or we worked NYE + NY day and we worked either Xmas Eve or Xmas day but not both unless you chose to do so.

I worked one place where we worked Xmas eve and day OR NYE and day. I really liked it--it allowed you to have at least one real holiday...rather than, "well I can't really stay up on NYE because I have to wake up at 5:30 to go to work on Jan 1."

Everywhere else I've worked, nurses worked either Xmas Eve or day AND NYE or day. It seemed that most people preferred that, but it really doesn't allow any sort of travelling for the holiday.

Either way, its the nature of the job to have to make the sacrifice to miss holidays with your family. Over time, there will be holiday schedules you think you go hosed, there are going to be other holidays where you have the much rosier schedule.

jaderook01, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2018

I work 3, 12 hour night shifts. We are required to work 2 out of 3 holidays. I got Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. 12 hour night shift. The new schedule came out and I'm scheduled Halloween, Thanksgiving day, 12 hour night shift, and Black Friday. I guess the 12 hour night shift on Thanksgiving day is not considered a holiday, the Wednesday night before is the holiday. No family time for holidays this year! What a sucky schedule!

That does sound awful. On my unit we have a rotation. Group A has to work Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Day; Group B has to work Black Friday, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve; and you switch off the next year. I already know what holidays I'll be working every year.