Veteran night shift RN - Being forced to rotate shifts

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Dear Nurse Beth,

I have been a nurse for 12 years and have worked the night shift for 9 of those years.

There have been a number of changes since our hospital has been bought by another healthcare system. The main concerns; Budget and patient satisfaction. That is all any supervisor, CEO, administrator can talk about. I work in a Pedi Hospital in the recovery unit. For the last 7 years my shift has been 6:15pm-6:45am.

We have a new manager in the PACU, and she is ALL about budget. She looked at the past year and decided that since census went down between 1am and 7 am we no longer needed 2 night RN's.

She wants us to rotate our schedules so that one week we work from 12:30p to 1A, and then the next week our normal night shift. 3 out of the 4 RN's covering this shift are unable to work the 12:30p-1A schedule since it conflicts with our children's schedules. I offered to take a cut in hours and work 4P-2A every other week, since my husband was able to get his job to agree to let him leave early every other week Mon, Tues, Wednesdays so that I can make it to work on time.

I emailed this to my supervisor, and to our department head. (Our department head is on vacation until this Monday) My supervisor did not even respond to my email. I spoke with another night nurse who requested almost the same thing, but she works Fridays. Our supervisor informed her that, that is not what she needed.

She needed an extra RN during the week at the hours stated to help with lunch relief. That RN was in disbelief and informed her she was unable to work that shift. Our manager then informed her that she needed to present this to our department head, but that she needed the coverage for lunch. I don't know what else to do. I myself can not get into work any earlier than 4pm. Can they try and force me to work this shift? I don't know what else to do.

Thank you for any advice you can give me.

Dear Shifting it Up,

An employer can change shifts based on volume, or any other criteria.

Having said that, asking nurses to give up a scheduled shift and work rotating shifts is a big deal. It would be nice if they at least acknowledged the associated health risks of rotating shift work or the upheaval it causes in your personal life.

Your new manager is clearly just trying to do what she is told by the new administration. When challenged, she pointed to the department head. Your manager is not the power player here; the department head is.

Offer Solutions

Emailing the department head to offer a solution is not sufficient in this situation- better to request a face to face meeting and present solutions as well as concerns. You were on the right track by being flexible and offering a solution.

Is there another nurse who would share the shift with you? i.e. She/he covers the first half (and lunch breaks) and you cover the second half. Or could the 4 nurses covering this shift get together and come up with a schedule as a group that meets the employer's needs?

Your Options

You can't be forced to work” this shift, or any shift. You have been presented options and have to choose whether or not to accept them.

If you work in a union environment, then preferred shifts can be awarded by seniority.

Best of luck, and sorry. It's really unwise on the employer's part when they don't make more of an effort to empower their staff and include them in decisions.

Nurse Beth

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Specializes in Oncology.

Nurse Beth, in the beginning of your answer, you said the hospital can change their shifts for any reason. At the end of your answer, you said he/she can't be "forced to work" any shift. Can you clarify?

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Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

She means that as a free person, you cannot be forced to work anything. That would be slavery.

On the flip side... without a contractual agreement, an employer can change the terms of the employment to fit their needs whenever and however they want. You don't have to like it. You will either accept the change and work it or you will no longer be employed.

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.
She means that as a free person, you cannot be forced to work anything. That would be slavery.

On the flip side... without a contractual agreement, an employer can change the terms of the employment to fit their needs whenever and however they want. You don't have to like it. You will either accept the change and work it or you will no longer be employed.

Right, what Miiki said. The hospital can change it up, but the employee can accept or reject the terms. Meaning choose to work or not work for that employer.

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I agree about the union. Never have I wanted to be a part of one like I do now. So the verdict is in. I was allowed to work the 4p-2a every other week. We'll see how this goes. I am not happy about losing hours. Our new shift goes into effect at the end of the month. I am currently looking to see if there is something else that works better with my schedule/home life. There have been changes to some of the day staff schedules as well, and they too are highly dissatisfied with the work environment. We are seen as numbers, and not as Nurses, the primary caretakers of our patients. Thank you so much for your help.

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I agree about the union. Never have I wanted to be a part of one like I do now. So the verdict is in. I was allowed to work the 4p-2a every other week. We'll see how this goes. I am not happy about losing hours. Our new shift goes into effect at the end of the month. I am currently looking to see if there is something else that works better with my schedule/home life. There have been changes to some of the day staff schedules as well, and they too are highly dissatisfied with the work environment. We are seen as numbers, and not as Nurses, the primary caretakers of our patients. Thank you so much for your help.

no union, no option, other than to leave.

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Specializes in Orthopedics, Med-Surg.

I told my bosses when I started that I would work whatever shift they wanted me on but they had to choose. I acclimated my body to staying awake during those hours and refused to do a rotating shift. And I didn't either.

Calling me when I was off duty was problematic for them as I didn't answer the phone or return voice mails until the period of time they wanted coverage for was already pretty much gone. They knew I was ducking them but what could they do? I was always there when I was scheduled and I didn't come in late.

Would they rather have part of a weeks' shift covered or none of it?

I had a nurse manager who used to call me on a regular basis during the middle of my sleep period. "What are you doing?", she'd ask. "Sleeping.", I'd answer. "Must be nice to sleep all day!", she'd say. "Must be nice to sleep all night!", I'd think.

Finally, I'd had enough of being woke up 2-3 times a week. She called one time too many and I answered very groggily and then proceeded to cuss her out in a full and imaginative way. Coming from a military family, I probably abused the English language in ways with which she was not accustomed to hearing. It felt great. I dropped back to sleep.

The next morning, I saw her come in at the end of my night shift. She wanted to see me for some reason. It appears I cussed her out yesterday. I put my most innocent look on my face and denied any knowledge of the event. She must have called when I was dreaming! Best of all, I got away with it and the mid to late morning phone calls ceased.

Anyway, the point of the story is to work one shift and don't make yourself available for any other. It's very hard on the body as well as any outside life.

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I loved the story from above!

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To the OP this sounds awful to me. I work day shift and if I was told I had to work days one week and nights the next I would have to put in my notice. In my opinion that seems like an unhealthy cycle. I would do it if I knew absolutely for sure that it was only temporary and to help staffing out in a bind but this sounds more like a permanent schedule change. Can you talk to hr about it? Maybe there is another position in the facility that you can take in order to stay on nights. I would be very unhappy if I was in this position. Good luck!

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Good luck. When we are seen as numbers, and not nurses, patient care suffers.

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Specializes in Family Practice.

That is insane!!! I guess with my no nonsense mind I would have handed my 2 week resignation. I can't stand buffoonery!!!

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I agree about the union. Never have I wanted to be a part of one like I do now. So the verdict is in. I was allowed to work the 4p-2a every other week. We'll see how this goes. I am not happy about losing hours. Our new shift goes into effect at the end of the month. I am currently looking to see if there is something else that works better with my schedule/home life. There have been changes to some of the day staff schedules as well, and they too are highly dissatisfied with the work environment. We are seen as numbers, and not as Nurses, the primary caretakers of our patients. Thank you so much for your help.

Unions aren't always the answer. I'm in one- an expensive one- and it's useless for most things that are important. We go over ratio just like the non-union hospitals and they do nothing!!

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