I have a question about Nursing Seniority. We are having a bit of an issue on our unit between the "old" nurses and the "new" ones. Or, as our people put it, the senior vs the junior nurses. Sounds suspiciously like high school to me. The nurses with the most seniority feel they should get the best shifts, the most and first choice vacations, less call time and less weekend time.
They are convinced they have earned these benefits, they are entitled to them, they should get them at the expense of everyone else, and all of the "new" or "junior" nurses should have to "pay their dues" just like they did. Never mind that some of these "junior" nurses have 20 yrs experience. There is no specific hospital policy stating that these perceived entitlements are true. I was just wondering what other people are experiencing, how they have solved some of these conflicts.
Leah Paul
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
||
search realityrn
sign up for weekly cartoons, tips, and blog posts
Register to win a pair of RX Medical Silver Fox Crocs
|
|
|
 |
November 8th, 2009 at 8:21 am
I think that vacation time should be awarded based on seniority. The last hospital that I worked at gave preference based on start date for vacations, and people were OK with it most of the time. This didn’t apply to hospital-approved holidays, however. Those were on a rotation regardless of how long you’d been there.
I don’t agree that the “senior” nurses should get less call time or weekends – that’s something that should stay the same regardless of years spent in the hospital.
Is this something that your entire hospital does, or is it just your unit?