Vacation - We need to find our own replacements

[StNeotser]

We have been told if we want to schedule vacation we will have to find our own replacements without the use of pool or the replacement nurse going into overtime. It's apparently been pretty difficult for the staffing office to do so now they are putting the responsibility on the nurses themselves.

We have also been told that we can no longer cash in our unused vacation hours and if our vacation hour bank goes over a certain amount we will not be able to accrue any more hours.

I think this stinks - why should we have to do the scheduling job too on top of everything else if we want time off?

I was just wondering if anyone else here has the same policy?

[shiccy]

Thanks for your responses everybody.

Apparently the staffing office will still attempt to find coverage for our vacations - I just called them. However, if they find it too difficult, then the onus is on the nurse to find coverage from other nurses who will not accrue overtime. I can understand vacation denials, ie; we already have four nurses in your dept taking vacation that week and their requests were put in ahead of yours but this is ridiculous. If the staffing office can't find "appropriate coverage" then how the heck am I supposed to? I work 16 hour baylor shifts, a coworker yesterday who wanted a Saturday off for her young sons birthday party can find one nurse willing to do 12 hours, but the facility will not let the fill-in nurse do the full 16 hours because it will put her into overtime - even though she is an on call nurse. So the vacationing nurse will have to work 4 hours before her sons birthday party. If the vacationing nurse was actually going on vacation she couldn't possibly come in and do the first four hours of the shift.

So the way this is worded, they'll attempt to find replacements if there's nobody else taking a vaca that week. If this is not the case, then that's BS. They can go short, then, honestly. If they don't have enough staff, this is not your problem nor your concern. It's something that THEY must rectify, not you. If they're going to be jerks about it, then tell them that you'll hold open interviews to bring more staff in yourself b/c they obviously are having problems with that personally.

I'm currently navigating our states Department of Labor and Employment web page - looks like it will take me all day to find the information I need.

My recommendation: Don't look yourself: Call them

Edited to add; We have not had low census. What we have had is a hare-brained management who thought it a great idea to build a $50m extension during a recession. Same management who is watching staff walk out the door every week to new employment still think because they are a non-profit that they are the greatest gig in town.

The only thing of input for this fact is the planning for these facilities happens and is typically funded for MUCH in advance (5+years of planning and designing. It'd COST them money to not build it in the end)

FINALLY, nearly EVERY state has rules and regulations for creating a hostile work environment. Fear of retaliation for suggestions, etc are things that you can definitely fight for with a quick lawyer'ing up. If you don't want to go that route, I highly suggest a new hospital, LTC facility, hospice, travelling nurse, community nurse, company (aka on-site) nurse, etc. etc. etc. ... find SOMEWHERE that will honor their promises and give you what YOU DESERVE!!

[rngolfer53]

I don't know guys?

I do think it is each individual nurses responsibility to make absolutely certain so that departmental needs are fullfilled so far as staffing the place goes... And I mean that!

I...

How about having sufficient supplies and equipment.............that's also vital to Pt care. Is it each individual nurse's responsibility to order supplies and equipment, not from the supply dept. but from the outside distributor?

The answer is clearly "no." It's a management function in all but very small organizations, and for good reason. Chaos would result and the costs of supplies would soon bankrupt the agency.

Same goes for personnel, unless management wants to turn over hiring to individual nurses as well.

[rngolfer53]

Thanks for your responses everybody.

Edited to add; We have not had low census. What we have had is a hare-brained management who thought it a great idea to build a $50m extension during a recession. Same management who is watching staff walk out the door every week to new employment still think because they are a non-profit that they are the greatest gig in town.

Just wanted to make a quick comment on this. A major expansion of physical facilities takes a lot of planning, signing contracts, etc. Most of the time, it can't be easily switched off or postponed without penalty because a recession comes along.

Your management indeed sounds hare-brained, but not so much for this reason.

[I love my cat!]

...and people wonder why there is such an incredibly high turn-over and burn-out rate with Nurses? I never, ever hear this kind of crap from any of my friends in other jobs. Ever.

If I were in this position, I would:

1. Start a Union

2. Get a MDs note for a leave of absence. No employer would dare challenge this unless they want to spend their time and money in court....and lose.

It is so sad that non-Union Nursing has come down to this.

[ShayRN]

I would have a very easy solution to this problem. Hi, I am Shay and I am calling off for the day. Let them scramble to find someone last minute. Staffing is NOT a staff nurse issue, it is a management issue. This policy really stinks.

[LLLLiiiFFEsaveer]

How about having sufficient supplies and equipment.............that's also vital to Pt care. Is it each individual nurse's responsibility to order supplies and equipment, not from the supply dept. but from the outside distributor?

The answer is clearly "no." It's a management function in all but very small organizations, and for good reason. Chaos would result and the costs of supplies would soon bankrupt the agency.

Same goes for personnel, unless management wants to turn over hiring to individual nurses as well.

NOW THAT IS JUST ARBITRARY, thanks...

Did you see my second post just above, on this page? I would rather keep our self-scheduling model than the alternative. It just seems that we do a better job for ourselves now that we are in charge of this task. Trust me... There are no comlaints from the nurses in our department in which this model has been implemented. We took charge of our own schedules, and get both the days on, and the days off that we want.

Of course, I work alongside some great people who are willing to switch/accomodate when needed... We make sure ourselves, that each shift is fully staffed. When we make up our schedules, we can see if we are still understaffed/overstaffed, and make individual efforts to help each other out. Even our techs are self scheduled. Yep, they wouldn't have it any other way either...

Just my take on this issue. Letting you know that we do not have your problem regarding vacation requests, etc... with the way we do things. Throwing it out there.

Our ED gets to see upwards of 300 smiling faces per day come through its' doors. So, you can imagine that it is not small, nor is its departmental workforce...

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

We did self scheduling too on my unit. But as far as vacations went, the vacation board would come out around march and it was first come first serve to sign up for your week off. (usually 4 nurses allowed off per week) So if you knew something was going on, like getting married and wanting to take a honeymoon, you better get your butt in there and sign up for the time you need to be away before someone else does. If staffing became a problem beyond that it was up to the administration to fill the slots. But if the situation was that you needed a particular block of time off that was already filed up with vacations, you had to make a deal to switch off weeks with another nurse. It actually worked out really well.

[nicurn001]

To those of you who can self schedule , you appear to have enlightened management , who value their staff and view them as inteligent people . Unfortunately , if you look through many of the threads on this forum , such management is few and far between .The result is either you have tired , angry , oppressed nurses who have been cowed into submission by there management and accept anything thrown at them or you have attempts to unionize a facility and all the problems that , that leads to , prior to a vote .

Although I am pro union , if you have a good ,receptive Administration who adhere to all applicable laws and enforce all their policies , at your facility you may not need a union , because this problem would not occur .Otherwise the only answer is to unionise , it's better to be canned for this ( though that is illegal [ but hard to prove])than as an individual arguing with managment about PTO.