What do other hospitals do regard to scheduling staff for weekends?

[Metalchild]

Hello,

At the floor I work at, a lot of people are unwilling to work weekends, me included. I normally work beginning of the weeks and had agreed to work up to half of the Sundays as needed. But due to many who absolutely do not want to work Sundays, I recently ended up working most of the Sundays, and the new schedule shows me being scheduled to work every Sunday. I feel very stuck. The assistant manager and the new scheduler both know I am reluctant to work weekends but don't mind doing it once in a while as my contribution as a staff member. I've already sacrificed a lot having to forfeit many Saturday night activities and now feel like I'm being taken advantage of. I've had other people work in other facilities telling me such scheduling is not fair and that weekends should be rotated. Is that the case in most facilities or am I complaining too much?

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We schedule in 4 week blocks. We have to sign up for one full weekend (Sat-Sun), one split weekend (either day), 2 Fridays and one Monday.

I don't get people who go into nursing and think they don't have to work weekends or holidays.

[SinMiedo]

Our weekend is 1500 on Friday through 0700 on Monday. 12 hr nurses work every 3rd w/e; 8 hr RNs work every other.

No way would I work somewhere where I had to commit to every weekend, even if partial weekends. I have a family, with kids' sports and performances on weekends -- plus my extended family lives out of state. I am perfectly willing to work my share, but I am not willing to never have a w/e off. That doesn't sound reasonable at all, unless the RN agrees to it, e.g. for a Baylor plan, or for religious reasons wants Saturdays off and they're able to accommodate it for working every Sunday.

I have recently learned the hard way to make sure scheduling policies are absolutely crystal clear before hiring on. My current job was described as "3 8 hour evenings and 2 8 hour nights a week", which sounded great, although a bit vague.

Turns out, they neglected to inform me that the 2 night shifts would be Saturday and Sunday. Every. Stinking. Week. Nor did they let me know that I would never have 2 consecutive days off (I'm off Mondays and Fridays.)

There are no concrete staffing/scheduling policies here, so nothing says they can't schedule like that, I suppose. I very politely advised Mgmt that I would finish out this schedule, as it was already posted, but was not informed that it was an every weekend position and thus did not sign on to work every weekend. After this schedule is finished, if they require someone who can work that (gawd-awful, miserable, physically exhausting, trainwreck of a) schedule and are unable to change it, I will happily go back to travelling without a backward glance.

(Sorry for the vent... This just happened to be a subject that hit a nerve!)

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

My facility the policy is every other weekend, but my DON is incompetent and lazy so whoever she has on her *&^% list is whoever gets dumped in EVERY FRI & Sat or Sat & Sun for the month. It's too much work for her to change it every other week.. I get dumped on a lot since she and I are at odds with each other often.

[Zelda, RN]

At my hospital it varies by unit. On my unit, we are required to sign up for four weekend days in a 6 week period. We self schedule, so this can be four Saturday's, four Sunday's, two Saturday-Sunday's, etc (night shift weekends are Friday night and Saturday night, but same concept). We have a high number of weekend-option staff, so there is always a chance you'll get moved off your weekend day (and if that happens, you don't have to pick another one).

Other units do mandatory every other or every third weekend, but the way our unit does it works for us, and we are always pretty well staffed.

[marienm, RN, CCRN]

I'm at a union hospital, so you bet we have a policy! First, our pay-periods are 2 weeks long (starting on Thursdays). FT employees work 80 hours per pay period, with very few restrictions about grouping of days (you can't be scheduled to work more than 3 12s & 1 8 in a row without 24 hours off, but if you trade days to make this happen then it's your own business. I've definitely worked 3 12s, had 1 day off, and worked 3 12s again...72 hours in 7 days...and it is all straight time until >80 hours have been worked. We're not forced to do OT but it's often available.)

Anyway, every FT inpatient RN works either the 1st weekend of the pay period or the 2nd. If you work days or days/eves, that means Saturday & Sunday, and you're expected to work at least 2 Mondays and Fridays per month as well. If you work nights or eves/nights, that means Friday & Saturday (the day that your shift starts) and you're expected to work 2 Sundays a month.

Every year we have a bidding process where everyone gets to select their assigned shift and weekend for the next year. Bids are awarded by seniority, so it is possible that a more-senior person could bump a less-senior person off 'their' shift (not that common) or weekend (more common). I like the shift bid for some reasons- it means you're not stuck in one shift for your whole tenure, and you don't have to apply for a whole new position in the same departent you already work in just to change shifts. I don't love the prospect that someone could get bumped out of the only shift that works for them, but 1) this hasn't really happened...a couple people got bumped to nights but really didn't seem to mind and 2) we can always be assigned to work other shifts (with the right differential paid) based on 'unit needs' anyway so a certain amount of flexibility is required. That seems to be a like-it-or-leave-it deal.

[NuGuyNurse2b]

Same at my facility. every other weekend. and if you request one of your weekends off, you better believe you're making it up somewhere in the future when someone else wants a weekend off.

[RunnerRN2015, ASN, RN]

In my 2 previous units, we did have some weekenders who only worked weekends. That being said, we had weekend requirements, depending on whether you worked days or nights. One unit required 6 weekend shifts every 6 weeks for night shifters - you could work Fri/Sat/Sun nights 2 times in a 6 week period, you could work every Fri or Sat or Sun night, or any combo of weekend nights as long as you worked 6 weekend shifts every 6 weeks. For another unit, you had to work at least 2 Mondays (days or nights) and 3 weekend shifts (days were Sat or Sun, nights were Fri or Sat or Sun).

[bgxyrnf, MSN, RN]

With one employer, we do self-scheduling but must work at least 1/2 of the weekend shifts.

At the other employer, we have set schedules... which generally include every other weekend.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

Where I work each full time staff person has a regular day off and alternates every other weekend. No exceptions unless you trade it off with a co-worker and if you call off on a weekend you are scheduled you will automatically be scheduled the next weekend.

Hppy

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

We work every other weekend at my hospital.

[kp2016]

I once worked in a unit that had a very flexible policy on scheduling. You scheduled yourself and the manager finalized the roster by moving people as needed. Most of the people I worked with were very inflexible. They refused to work the holidays or do the late before a long weekend.

As I was willing to be flexible I ended up with all the shifts the others didn't want. I left the job after several years feeling very taken advantage of. With hindsight it was a problem I created for myself. Do not allow yourself to be given an unfair schedule once it starts it will just continue. The day the roster comes out have a closed door meeting with the person who made it and say that is not acceptable.

[WCSU1987]

Unless per diem every hospital I have worked as a tech...Nurses & Techs work weekends. Now it varies with nurse managers some are on call or if an issue call the manager usually. The PAs/APRNS rotate out being on call. The Doctors rotate working one weekend a month.