When nurses bring up the concept of a "set schedule" (days and/or shifts) the immediate almost universal response is "IT WILL NEVER WORK".
Why?
I have 3 law enforcement friends, who work for 3 different agencies. One is a memeber of a local municipal department. One works for a regional specialized unit. And one works for a large governmental agency. The commonality with nursing is that all 3 of these require 24-hour staffing with a predetermined number of staff.
In all three cases, newly hired/transferred staff request a shift, and a "weekend" of 2 consecutive days off. Assignments of shift and weekend days are made according to seniority and staffing needs. But in the end, everyone receives a more or less permanent schedule of a steady shift, and a consecutive work week and weekend.
On an annual basis, requests can be made to change shifts or change days off. These are reviewed and implemented if workable to maintain staffing and according to seniority.
I have a nurse friend who works every Tuesday and Friday, and every other weekend. I am so envious of her schedule! She can arrange to take classes, and when she wants to schedule something non-work, she already knows whether or not she has to work that day.
I had a friend who worked a similar schedule except hers was every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday all 12's and ZERO weekends. Talk about hitting the scheduling jackpot!
We work Baylor shifts so my schedule is slightly predictable. I work nights 12 hour shifts (3) Monday - Friday. I am always off Sat and Sun. We self schedule a month in a advance, but we don't always get what we want.
I would love to learn more about the summer off schedule from one of the above posters. How does that work. Do you work extra shifts to make up for the time you will be taking off. How do they cover those months if half the nurses are off?
gymnut
246 Posts
I had a friend who worked a similar schedule except hers was every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday all 12's and ZERO weekends. Talk about hitting the scheduling jackpot!