Scheduling Troubles

[RNhusky]

Hi,

I'm a new grad and I have been working for about 4months. I work for a hospital that has me scheduled for 40hrs M-F and e/o weekend. This is fine, however, I can only count on my weekends. The rest of the weekdays are scheduled randomly at either 12hr days or 8hr evenings. This would be annoying but not to horrible IF I got my schedule (4weeks at a time) more than a week before the next cycle starts. It's making me crazy - I can't make plans, I can't schedule appointments, I had to quit volunteering since I can't be there regularly. I have to watch the schedules like a hawk - they just swapped my holidays without telling me and flopped my weekends. Which led to three days of phone calls and arguments and only having half of it fixed... it's making me miserable and I'm getting downright depressed about it. I mean, this is my job, my career, and a huge part of my life... BUT, I feel like it shouldn't dictate my entire life. Currently, it is. I'm finally getting a little balance, but it's tough. I'm just angry an annoyed all time.

I've had it. Is this a common issue at hospitals? I'm considering finding other work after a year is up, but if it's all the same - I'll stay. At the least the pay is good and I like my co-workers.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

What kind of position were you hired for? 8hr evenings? 12 hour days? Flex time? Per Diem? If you were hired for a certain number of hours and a certain schedule, that's what you should work and I suggest you speak to the nurse manager or whoever does the scheduling.

Having a schedule come out every four weeks should give you enough time to schedule some appointments and make plans. Even if you only get your schedule a week in advance, you can still plan up to five weeks ahead of time. That IS typical of hospitals. It's very hard to schedule so far in advance due to time off requests and the changing census. Unfortunately there is usually no fixed guarantee that you will work a certain weekend or holiday, and that can be changed as needed.

Scheduling probably isn't so hectic at other facilities, but each one has their pros and cons. So while you might get better scheduling, you'll probably have to compromise in other areas.

[gcupid]

start working with a few agencies....