self scheduling

Renee' Y-Y · Feb 25, 2004

Don't know that you are still checking this post, but here is some advice:

Have requirements that must be met by all personnel signing up:

a.) Must work 4 weekend shifts/month - and then spell out what a weekend shift is - Friday 7p-Monday 7a

b.) Must have so many RN's every shift.

c.) Must have so many nurses per shift.

d.) Must sign up evenly - so that you don't end up with 8 nurses on one day & 2 on another.

e.) May consider some sort of sign-up order - although my experience has been a posting of when the schedule will be available to be signed up on & then "first-come-first-get".

f.) When problems do arise, make it clear that if employees are not flexible enough to fix on their own, that the manager or person in charge of the schedule will fix it.

When you do your sign-up chart, only alot as many spaces as needed for the number of nurses needed every shift.

My experience has been very positive with self-scheduling...but everyone needs to play fair...& of course there will be those who don't. If you make the rules very clear though, it's hard to cheat.

Katnip, RN · Feb 25, 2004

The above post had most of the best ideas. A couple of others:

Creat a sign up sheet that has blocks of time and on each, how many nurses are required, once it's full, someone has to pick another day.

To determine who signs up when, you could divide people into 2 or 3 teams, depending on how many nurses you have, then rotate them...team1 signs up for the first few days, then team 2, then team 3. Next scheduling period team 2 signs up first.

If possible, make the sign up sheet accessible online so people don't have come in on a day off to sign up. This is particularly good for people who commute long distances.

Once the draft of the schedule is done, then there could be a period of a few days when switching around can be done for cases like birthdays, doctor appointments, etc.

Self-scheduling does require a lot of organization and that the sign-up period is well monitored and done in a timely manner, but on a unit with people who are accustomed to working well together it can be a great help.

Kate RN · Mar 19, 2004

I am looking forinput to help with our scheduling as well. We ahve had a sort of self scheduling in place for some time. There had been block schedules before that,a nd before I came to work here. So the ones that have been here that long do not want to go back. However we are not being successful with the self scheduling model either. People do not move once they have filled things in. It goes by senority which is fine but then the same people get moved around to accommadate holes in the schedule- or staff mix issues so that not all inexperienced or new to us nurses are staffed on the same day. There is so much frustration. There has been a vote to change the current model. I am having trouble finding information about either block schedules and how they are being set up- or really anything other than software to do any of it. I do not think we really want to give control to a program either.

Any kind of input is going to be a good thing.

To make it more interesting we have a mix of 8 and 12 hour shifts- and the resulting 4 hour left over shifts- and some every other and some every 3rd weekend.

Thanks

Kate RN · Mar 19, 2004

I am looking forinput to help with our scheduling as well. We ahve had a sort of self scheduling in place for some time. There had been block schedules before that,a nd before I came to work here. So the ones that have been here that long do not want to go back. However we are not being successful with the self scheduling model either. People do not move once they have filled things in. It goes by senority which is fine but then the same people get moved around to accommadate holes in the schedule- or staff mix issues so that not all inexperienced or new to us nurses are staffed on the same day. There is so much frustration. There has been a vote to change the current model. I am having trouble finding information about either block schedules and how they are being set up- or really anything other than software to do any of it. I do not think we really want to give control to a program either.

Any kind of input is going to be a good thing.

To make it more interesting we have a mix of 8 and 12 hour shifts- and the resulting 4 hour left over shifts- and some every other and some every 3rd weekend.

Thanks

Loquax · Jun 15, 2004

I have worked on two different units (one cardiology ward and one neurosurgery intensive care unit) which both used self scheduling. I'm a great fan.

We actually used a computerized system (called TimeCare) which I'll try to describe. The process of creating the schedule is divided in two parts: first everyone enters their personal schedule they actually want. We used to do the schedule for two months at a time or something like that. It's possible for everyone to block a number of shifts (called 'veto') if you simply can't work (cause it's your birthday, you've got your nitting evening school every tuesday or whatsoever). That all ends up in a draft schedule.

When all individual schedules are entered, there will be an excess of nurses some shifts and a shortage on other shifts (the manager have to set up the limits: every Monday morning we need five nurses, every Monday afternoon we need three and so on). That's the second part of the process: everyone voluntarily changes a few shifts to make the schedule fit. If there still are differences and some shifts are unmanned, the boss makes the last few changes.

The system is very easy to use indeed, and many Swedish hospitals uses it. It's actually translated into English as well (see their web-site: http://www.timecare.se/documents/documents.php?category_id=105).

Best of all, it gives you the freedom to make you own personal schedule. I used to concentrate my work in order to get a whole week off, and that was just splendid.

/Anders

palesarah · Jun 15, 2004

I have worked on two different units (one cardiology ward and one neurosurgery intensive care unit) which both used self scheduling. I'm a great fan.
We actually used a computerized system (called TimeCare) which I'll try to describe. The process of creating the schedule is divided in two parts: first everyone enters their personal schedule they actually want. We used to do the schedule for two months at a time or something like that. It's possible for everyone to block a number of shifts (called 'veto') if you simply can't work (cause it's your birthday, you've got your nitting evening school every tuesday or whatsoever). That all ends up in a draft schedule.
When all individual schedules are entered, there will be an excess of nurses some shifts and a shortage on other shifts (the manager have to set up the limits: every Monday morning we need five nurses, every Monday afternoon we need three and so on). That's the second part of the process: everyone voluntarily changes a few shifts to make the schedule fit. If there still are differences and some shifts are unmanned, the boss makes the last few changes.
The system is very easy to use indeed, and many Swedish hospitals uses it. It's actually translated into English as well (see their web-site: http://www.timecare.se/documents/documents.php?category_id=105).
Best of all, it gives you the freedom to make you own personal schedule. I used to concentrate my work in order to get a whole week off, and that was just splendid.
/Anders

We do something very similar only it's not computerized. When scheduling time rolls around we each fill in our desired schedule on a blank calendar; one nurse collects the schedules and collates them into a master schedule. We then have a scheduling meeting where any needed changes for short shifts/skill levels are made. The schedule then goes to the "time keepers" for approval (only night shift self-schedules; day shift is scheduled by the "time keepers"), per diem nurses are given the chance to sign up for any empty slots and then the schedule is published. I love it; I wish all shifts on our unit self-scheduled because I think we'd get the final schedule a little sooner. Since the day shift does not self-schedule and we have a mix of 8 and 12-hour people, we alternate between NOCs setting the schedule first and the time-keepers working around us and the time-keepers building the day/evening schedule and us working around them. It all works out in the end though.