Rotas

Re: Rotas

Steven Batty — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:55:32 GMT

Thanks everyone. The ideas sound really good. we have tried a few different shift patterns allready (maybe we are not giving them a long enough trial)

I really like split shifts, I used to do quite a lot of them when SVN's were at college, but now there qualified I dont do as many :( (I miss my afternoon nap lol) A couple of our nurses live quite a way from the practice, so I don't think they will be up for this. We'll have a chat soon and see what will work for us. Thanks.

Also has anyone got ideas on taking holidays? Its because recently I am doing more than my fair share of the late shifts, to cover holidays, It's pretty hard atm because a couple of our nurses are new to the job, and not that confident to do late shifts on their own yet. That's why we are trialling new rotas.

Re: Rotas

Sal the 1st — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 12:45:32 GMT

[quote user="dinkyd"]

Have you asked your nurses if they have any ideas to contribute to your rota.You may find these are the best people to ask as they know how the practice works and may even have ideas of their own to contribute.Its all great for us to say what about this and this but we dont know how practice works

[/quote]

Yes I agree - I think this is so important in a good team that everybody feels they have some input in how things are done - even if their suggestion isnt accepted at that time, it helps people to feel valued and also it helps people understand how and why certain decisions that they may/may not like have been made.

Something that worked well for me in a similar situation was having the full time nurses do one day a week from 8.30 - 7 and the next day they worked only 8 - 12 so they effectively got a half day off but still worked their weekly hours. (this was decided by all the nurses BTW ) - so every day we ended with somebody getting a half day - unless we were manically busy which meant we never had too many staff around in the afternoon. Not sure how this would translate to your practice but it was very popular with ours

( this came from asking the nurses if there was something they really wanted in a working week - they said they would like a half day once in a while - so then we looked at how we could get one and not compromise the staffing levels it fitted in with the vets as well)

Re: Rotas

Cat Woman — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:57:38 GMT

Split shifts work really well for our practice - mind you all 4 nurses live within 3 miles of the practice, so that helps. It gives us at least 4 hours off in the afternoon - plenty of time for washing - shopping - film - lunch with friends - snoozing, or anything else you choose!

Re: Rotas

dinkyd — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:41:09 GMT

Agree Sal - had split shifts in my previous job - to be honest was a pain in the butt knowing you have to go back - i prefer to work a straight shift - found I couldnt really relax knowing i still had the rest of my shift to do in the afternoon.Also if you have nurses that have a bit of a distance to travel into work - would itreally be ideal for them.Have you asked your nurses if they have any ideas to contribute to your rota.You may find these are the best people to ask as they know how the practice works and may even have ideas of their own to contribute.Its all great for us to say what about this and this but we dont know how practice works- eg do you do your own OOH?Are your nurses required to be on call?By the sounds of they are not so this is maybe why you feel you are having nurses around doing nothing in the afternoon.

Re: Rotas

SmegSlayer — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 09:46:00 GMT

better than doing 8-7 with an extended lunch break! It's long enough to go home for lunch but not long enough to get a load of washing done

Re: Rotas

Sal the 1st — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:43:24 GMT

[quote user="Cat Woman"]

What about adding in some split shifts, say 8-12 then 4.30-7. Our rota has us doing a mix of early, late & split shifts every week.

[/quote]

do you like split shifts?

i tried this one place I worked and nearly had a mutiny in the first week! - but if you can get them to work and people like them they are a good solution

Re: Rotas

Cat Woman — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:02:34 GMT

What about adding in some split shifts, say 8-12 then 4.30-7. Our rota has us doing a mix of early, late & split shifts every week.

Re: Rotas

SmegSlayer — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:41:58 GMT

are the shifts u mentioned associated with a particular area e.g the 830-4 nurses are theatre, the 9-3 does clinics and kennels?

Re: Rotas

Sal the 1st — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 10:14:17 GMT

do you run nurses clinics? - if so are these run early afternoon and if not could some of them be run early afternoon when you have the staff around to cover them?

The reason I say this is if you can get more of the work done earlier in the day and leave less for the late nurse(s) the late shift doesnt seem so onerous and they are less likely to want to 'ditch'

hope that makes sense?

Re: Rotas

Steven Batty — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 09:46:59 GMT

[quote user="SmegSlayer"]

are lunches/breaks at set times or grabbed when possible and how long are they? obv ur busy first thing but when is ur busy afternoon slot?

[/quote]

lunches are grabbed whenever we can, and are half an hour long. and our busiest afternoon times are around 3ish, after school, and rush-hour. ta

Re: Rotas

SmegSlayer — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 09:31:30 GMT

are lunches/breaks at set times or grabbed when possible and how long are they? obv ur busy first thing but when is ur busy afternoon slot?