Kathleen Case

I'm in a group of staff nurses who are trying to improve weekend staffing at our hospital. We have just begun, and are seeking information about weekend staffing from other hospitals, and from other nurses. We have lots of questions . . . here they are: Do you have a shortage of nurses in your community? Do you have a w/e staffing problem? What are your w/e requirements - how many per month--8 hr shifts? 12 hr shifts? FT, PT, and PRN the same? Do you have some closed departments that manage their own staffing? Do you have a "weekend option" and if so, how does it work? Do you have mandatory "on call" just to cover call ins and if so, how do you rotate that call? If someone calls in on w/e, do you penalize, and how? What is the starting day of your pay period, and how many days is it? How do you define weekends - esp for 11-7 staff? Do you have a weekend bonus? Do you use agency staff to cover weekends? Finally--We haven't found any recent Journal articles re to weekend staffing (most are in the early 80's) --if you know of any good sources, please pass them along. THANKS!