d-usa

There are a couple of ways that the VA handles OT that is different than the private sector, but for the most part it usually ends up being beneficial. In addition to the 80 hour rule, any shift worked outside of your scheduled shifts counts as overtime. Your unit schedule will usually come out a few weeks in advance and your shifts (aka: tour) will be certified. Even if you are scheduled less than 80 hours, any shift worked in addition to your certified tour is considered overtime. Most likely it is not something that will come up very often, but it means that if you are getting ready for vacation and are only scheduled 24 hours in a two week period (because you are taking vacation the other week) you can work OT and get paid OT pay even though you are not working the magical 80 hours.

I have worked in many different systems. I have worked in for-profit hospitals and non-profit hospitals. Regular and teaching hospitals, and religious hospitals as well. Even with the things that can be annoying at the VA it is the best system I have worked for so far and I would not go back to working for a "regular" hospital at this time. One of the biggest pro's at my hospital (not sure if this applies to all hospitals) is this: Doctors are employees, just like you. I find that in regular hospitals it seems that MD's hold a large amount of power over the nurses. Hospitals depend on the doctors to make money, if a doctor is angry and doesn't admit patients to the hospital then the hospital doesn't make money. So they have a certain degree of power if there is a conflict between docs and nurses. I have not really seen this at the VA. Since both doctors and nurses are actual employees of the hospital that power over nurses is not there and it seems like there is a lot less hostility between docs and nurses because of that.