Nurses need vacation too ya know!

[tpcharlotte]

hi fellow comrads! i work in a radiology department and we are trying to reconfigure our current vacation request. as of now we only get to come in once a year and request off for the entire following year (barbaric i know ...) does anyone else out there work in this type of department? how do you all handle vacation requests? all the nurses in my unit work either 5 8hr shifts or 4 10hr shifts. any suggestions??

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

I don't work in that situation, but have a question. Just because you have "always done it that way" does not mean the method cannot be changed. Can you recommend to your supervisor a better way of making requests? Hope you guys work it out

[tpcharlotte]

well the thing is i'm new! ha! so from what it seems like they have always done it this way to "force" those who are not planners to be planners. the thing with that is a lot of people don't have to be planners because they don't have children or even a spouse i.e. myself. we do have some plans in the works as we just put together a new vacation committee to rewire things, but some people are resistant to change, especially when what's current works for them and they always get what they want d/t seniority...screw the rest....

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I'm OR, not radiology, but I think that we have a system that works fairly well. We have what we call "prime time" vacation, which is Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, plus the week of Christmas/New Year. Staff gets divided into groups by seniority. Each group has a week to submit their requests. They also post a calendar that lists who has off each week (max of three nurses per week) so that those with lesser seniority can see which weeks are already filled and plan accordingly when it's their turn to request. It is limited to one week of prime time per person, although there have been deals, and more than one bottle or two of wine has changed hands, where someone who doesn't plan to take a summer vacation will request off for a week and then "gift" it to someone else. There are allowances for special occasions, such as weddings and honeymoons (the staff's own, not one they're a guest at) where someone with lesser seniority will be granted vacation before it's their turn. Should someone miss putting their request in during the week they're supposed to, they then go to the end of the list and are much less likely to get the week they want. For non "prime time" vacations, it's first to get the email to the scheduling committee, first served.