Plan ahead

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I don't get the mentality (or, more precisely, lack thereof...) behind scheduling nurses at the hospital.

Per diems submit their availability on each day of the upcoming cycle, waay in advance, I might add. Then, the scheduler takes about three weeks (c'mon, really, three weeks?) to produce our schedule. The schedule that will dictate our lives and income for the next month.

Then, we begin our work cycle and show up as arranged. The problem comes when there are staffing holes in the schedule. Big ones. And the charge nurses come around soliciting volunteers to work extra days. Today, for example, my unit is six nurses short. Six! That is just plain poor planning.

So, I am not working today. I am relishing the rest, the ease, the chance to not be on my feet for nine hours straight. And, I am a little smug at saying 'no' to coming in on a day off that has been a day off for nearly a month. Plan ahead, scheduler. It's your job. Learn to do it.

As they say, lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.