Anyone have experience and success scheduling health care staff into regular set schedules?
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Many of our nurses have set schedules, full time here is 3 12's. We are required to work every third weekend but many people get around this by working every Saturday or every Friday night (night staff) instead so they don't work the entire weekend.
I've worked here two years and we self schedule. There's only been once that I didn't get what I wanted. Extra shifts are easy to come by (but not required) and we get doubletime for them. When it's busy they offer double, when it's slow they offer the day off. I like my hospital but it's my first hospital job so I know it's a lot different in other places.
i wrote a program that schedules medical personnel equitably. In order to fill "holes" an administrator has to do what yo are doing. They don't rearrange the schedule, they find a replacement. I think that works best in the long run.
I am a nurse who has often worked in management positions that have included scheduling. I always loved this scheduling idea. Easy for staff and easy for me. However, you cannot imagine the amount of complaints and requests that schedulers get. I really don't know why there is such a problem with set schedules other than staying within a weekly or monthly staffing budget that doesn't include PTO replacements. The best system I've used was letting the employees do their own schedules with the understanding that everyone gets 40 hours and no scheduled overtime. People seemed more willing to cover each others shifts for changes, enjoyed a more flexible schedule and also had more job control. Also, all the little staffing issues seemed to get resolved without my interference. But this only works if you don't have a huge staff, employees personalities do not clash greatly and you don't have a micro-manager. Most places do not have these things. Good luck getting the schedule you want.
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