Don't get me wrong - I expected weekend and holiday work when I became a nurse. At my current job, I work every other weekend, Fri/Sat/Sun. The 3 shifts in a row are hard enough, let alone them being my entire weekend every other one. I'm usually there between 13-14 hours (again, I know that's often the case with a nursing job).
I'm just wondering how often others have to work over the weekends? I just found out 2 of my friends that work in hospitals and only have to work 2 weekend days per month.
I like my job but the schedule is difficult. Just looking to see if this is the norm or not. Thanks
For my unit, we're required to work three weekend shifts every 4 weeks (only Sat and Sun count). So, I try and knock out two of them on one weekend, then do just one shift the next, which of course leaves two totally free weekends. However, sometimes my NM spreads the shifts out and I'm working nearly one shift every weekend but that's nursing for ya I guess lol :)
Our schedules are pretty set, working 3 on 1 off 3 on, 7 off. So I always work the same nights, every other week, which ends up being every other weekend. It's a lot in that week working but then having 7 straight days off is great. And if we work any concurrent weekends (so if I picked up on my weekend off) we get premium pay. I'm curious as to why 3 in a row is so difficult, no judgment, as you get your entire week done at once and then have the rest of the week free.
If you work full time you should expect to work every other weekend, working only 2 weekend days per month only works if you are a 0.5 FTE, otherwise it's not really mathematically possible to work a number of weekend days that isn't in a direct ratio to your FTE. In units that can predictably have a lower census on weekends such as a surgical unit that's possible, or when there are nurses who volunteer to work more weekend days than their fair share its possible.
Personally I like to clump my shifts around my weekend on. What I don't like is to take that friday on and move it to being right before my weekend off, having to work until 0730 on saturday morning does make for a very good weekend off, so I'd much rather work F S Su.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Night shift weekends are my fave, very few procedures and few administrators.
In addition, many facilities offer tantalizing weekend shift differential pay that contributes to a noticeably larger check on payday.
I personally enjoy working weekends. I simply do not physically like pulling three 12-hour weekend night shifts in a row (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).
When I was in the hospital working nights, it was every third sat and sun. Fri night was not considered a weekend even tho, as a PP pointed out, being up until 0800 on your sat morning and needing to nap half your weekend away was no fun. There is no weekend dif either which is really blech. We also had to work 2 fridays and 2 mondays in a 6 week schedule.
Now that I am in urgent care, it's every other weekend. And definitely no weekend dif there.
Even as a part time employee (2 shifts per week), both those weekend requirements were enforced.
Where I work now, we have to work two weekends a month. There are many people that like working a Matrix of two days on two days off 3 days on 2 days off 2 days on 3 days off. They always know when they will be working.
every other weekend here as well for both facilities I worked in. If you want to avoid working weekends you pretty much have to get a job in a doctors office or something non-clinical. Healthcare is 24/7/365 so it's not really avoidable or realistic to only work weekdays, or even mostly weekdays.
Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.
I was so glad that at my last facility, the don scheduled us so that we'd have every other weekend off, regardless of seniority. I thought it was more than fair, since I saw other schedules where only long term staff had set weekends off.
I just wanted to add that two of my nursing friends who both work at different hospitals also have a set similar schedule to mine. So they also work every other weekend. It seems to be fairly common. My old hospital it was supposed to be every 3rd weekend, only we didn't have enough staff on night shift to work it that way so I worked random weekends, sometimes not the whole weekend.
Every other weekend is the expectation for staff nurses at both hospitals where I've worked. Mostly 8 hour shifts Sat-Sun, often with Friday or Monday added. When I did 12 hour shifts, it was usually Fri-Sat-Sun or Sat-Sun-Mon. Some RNs do a 36 hour weekend only option, depending on unit needs. I found that the blocks of 12-hour shifts resulted in "lost weekends" at home, and prefer the 8-hour shifts that I now work.
Conqueror+, BSN, RN
1,457 Posts
I work 12 hr nights and every other weekend BUT I am off Wed/Thu/Fri before my weekend and Mon/Tue/Wed after it. F/S/S would suck big time.