Nursing oncall

[Endo nurse]

I work on an Endoscopy unit in the hospital which requires oncall obligations. Our unit has had a call rotation, which for the most part has worked. A specific group works every fourth weekend and one person out of the four is oncall for the weekend. For the weekday call we all picked specific days for each schedule, again in a fair fashion. The problem was one weekend group worked most holiday weekends, that's the way the rotation fell. Unfair, yes, let's change it. That was the last heard of it, until two months later our manager calls an impromptu meeting informing us all of the new call schedule. Surprise!! The whole next year of call has been made for the entire staff. We no longer get to plan call around our lives but rather have to plan our lives around call. Call was bad enough, now our entire year has been mapped out for us.

Here is the real kicker, we now have to travel between 3 hospitals at any given time during our shift to help other endo units who are all affiliated. They call it central scheduling. Some days when we aren't busy we are made to help sterile processing get organized and put hospital equipment away. I'm a nurse not a sterile processing tech.

I am not against change, I embrace it, but I feel taken advantage of just so my manager can move up the ranks. If you approach the manager with said concerns then you are met with defensiveness and a sense of "You are replaceable". I am really considering leaving the unit because of this.

Do I have a right to be bitter, or am I being overly sensitive about this? What are your thoughts?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

My facility has always provided the OR staff with their weekend schedule around October for the following year. The rotations do switch up a bit for holidays- each team is expected to work one summer and one winter holiday. It works. As for the sterile processing department, that would fall under the line of "and any other duties as assigned". We also have staff that float between three different buildings. What's the alternative- being sent home for low census and having to use vacation time or take it without pay? What matters is if you are willing to accept this change or you are going to make it the deciding factor in looking elsewhere.

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

Scheduling everyone a year in advance is bound to bite them in the rear at some point. Things come up unexpectedly, dates cannot be changed to match the schedule, or heck, people quit. Now, try getting someone to take on a position with this system in place if they hear about it before accepting the job...