Weekend rotations - getting away from every other.....

have you thought about having a wknd package vs a wk day package? My ICU went to wknd vs wk day package's with wknd gettin premium pay and various other incen...Now i work only durin wk, and we do no wknds unless there is a true scheduling crisis of some sort.

My scheduling moved away from every other several years ago. We did the math (days weekend is Sat/Sun, nights is Fri/Sat)--8 weekend shifts, # of staff, required number of staff neeed per shift. We discovered we could maintain adequate staffing with working only 3 weekend shifts instead of 4. To make it even easier, staff can "pick" which of those weekend shifts to work, they're not set in stone for infinity. Nights also has to work 1 Sun/schedule, days 1 Fri and 1 Mon. (It doesn't seem this complicated in real life.)

We have a mix of weekenders and normal staff on the weekends. Weekenders are there regardless and get premium pay. Normal staff work 4 weekend shifts per 4 weeks (each schedule). It can be Fri/Sat/Sun or every Fri, Sat, or Sun..whatever mix you want. Day shift weekends only count as Sat or Sun though (Fridays count for nights). That way normal staff don't have to work so many weekends because weekenders pick up the slack.

We do self scheduling and we have a few nurses who prefer weekends so I fill myself in for Tues, Wed, Thursday nocs and usually get it. I don't know how long it will last though since our contract says we have to work 4 weekend shifts a month.

Self scheduling and a rich weekend premium allow for working less weekends but the every other weekend culture of hospitals is very difficult to change officially. At our facility we can be required to work a maximum of 26 weekends but I don't know of anyone who actually does that as there are many who prefer weekends and will work more then the requirement. We do self scheduling and it works well for working less weekends. Police and firemen are also 24/7 and you could explore how they schedule but I believe they wind up working more then every other.

Another approach on a personal level is to look for a position that doesn't require weekends or weekends are an on call basis. That was eventually what I did when weekend employment became onerous to family life.

A few nurses complain that they are totally shut out of weekends where I work. Here is why:

1. Weekend pay plans. Weekend pay plans that some nurses wisely held on to when they got these positions and have stuck with for years.

2. I work at a university hospital and it tends to attract nurses continuing their education. One regular weekender is getting her masters' in nursing, another is in NP school, another is in law school. These nurses work almost every weekend to have time to go to school during the week.

3. Per diem staff fills up the last few remaining weekend spots. The weekend differential is high enough to be very financially rewarding.