Cruising and working in healthcare can be difficult!

It's 19 days before I cruise, and I FINALLY have all of my shifts covered while I'll be gone. Now I can relax, yay!

When you work in healthcare like me, it's usually not enough to just ask for PLT. The shifts you'll be gone MUST be covered by another person, no matter what. I started asking around about 70 days before my sail date and just now have coverage. Times like this, I envy all of you who just have to submit leave time to your boss!

I know the feeling as I work as a nurse in a nursing home...they can't "close down" when someone takes vacation!!

glad all worked out for you!! have a great cruise!! :)

Marsha

Except we come back to all the work piled up on our desks that no one took care of while we were gone! That is very stressful also.

Wish I were cruising in 19 days, enjoy! :D

While my traveling companion's job may not be involve saving lives, it is equally hard for her to arrange leave. She works in the theatre which is a 6-day-a-week job and there aren't many people who can do her job. As they say, "The show must go on." She had to request leave 4 months in advance for a 4-day cruise.

Yep, I hear you loud and clear! My situation is slightly different though, since I give care in the clients home, and I can still go on vacation, even if there is no replacement worker. However, then, I feel like a real scumbag, leaving them to fend for themselves. I guess that is why I have only been taking one week off a year, for the last 8 years.

I know what it's like and I have solved my problem. After 27 years in health care I RETIRED!!!!!! Yay, what a great feeling!

I work in Healthcare as well...just behind the desk. (Billing and Accounting) I'm on the same cruise as the OP! 17 days before we leave...

Missing one day of work equals about 2 pounds of paperwork. :( I'm not looking forward to playing catch up after missing 6 1/2 days. I'll be gone for month end "close" too. *sigh* This cruise is more than worth it though!!! I'll deal with it... :D

It's 19 days before I cruise, and I FINALLY have all of my shifts covered while I'll be gone. Now I can relax, yay!

 

When you work in healthcare like me, it's usually not enough to just ask for PLT. The shifts you'll be gone MUST be covered by another person, no matter what. I started asking around about 70 days before my sail date and just now have coverage. Times like this, I envy all of you who just have to submit leave time to your boss!

I work for the airlines. Same thing. Getting my shifts covered now for November. I have to take 2 weeks off from work when I cruise. My shift rotation always starts midweek - so everyone that has weekends off, thank your lucky stars because it only costs you 1 week of vacation.

I work in a field where I have someone covering for me while I am out, but the flipside is that when that person is out, I cover for her. Which pretty much means whenever she is out, I work two desks. I've decided my next job will be the kind that I can leave work and come back to it when vacation is over. Then I won't have to do anyone else's work while they are gone!

I can definitely relate to that!!! My shift just got covered 30 days before my cruise, I was definitely panicking, cause if not covered, then my vacation would not have been approved :( Luckily they just hired some new PRN nurses that were willing to pick up! Enjoy your cruise :)

I work in Healthcare as well...just behind the desk. (Billing and Accounting) I'm on the same cruise as the OP! 17 days before we leave...

 

Missing one day of work equals about 2 pounds of paperwork. :( I'm not looking forward to playing catch up after missing 6 1/2 days. I'll be gone for month end "close" too. *sigh* This cruise is more than worth it though!!! I'll deal with it... :D

I know this feeling. When I first started working in EMS it was billing. I asked multiple EMT's to enter information into the billing computer for me while I was on vacation AND I wrote down every step for them too. Well the boss decided he didn't want them to mess it up so he didn't let them enter anything. (Didn't want them to print or transmit, just data entry so I could just double check before I did bulk printing and transmitting) Now I am one of the EMT's. I have said, stress is definitely in the office. Now when I take a day off I don't have to worry about the work building up.

I work for the airlines. Same thing. Getting my shifts covered now for November. I have to take 2 weeks off from work when I cruise. My shift rotation always starts midweek - so everyone that has weekends off, thank your lucky stars because it only costs you 1 week of vacation.

I work for an airline too. While I do gets lots of time off, I wish more cruises were like the Alaska ones where only one weekend was required. It can be difficult sometimes to get an extra weekend off to add to a week's vacation.

Glad that you have it all sorted out, happy cruising.

It's 19 days before I cruise, and I FINALLY have all of my shifts covered while I'll be gone. Now I can relax, yay!

 

When you work in healthcare like me, it's usually not enough to just ask for PLT. The shifts you'll be gone MUST be covered by another person, no matter what. I started asking around about 70 days before my sail date and just now have coverage. Times like this, I envy all of you who just have to submit leave time to your boss!

I work in healthcare and I wouldn't work in a facility that didn't allow me to take my vacation when I want.

We only have a rule that only one person can be off on leave at one time (I work in a smaller psychiatric facility)

The hospital system has floats they use when someone is short.

I'm very sorry for anyone that can't use their PTOs when they choose, it's not really fair :-(

Sorry for you!!!

Carole

I work in a hospital, we submit our vacation requests twice a year and the managers/supervisors work out the schedule. We never have to cover our own shifts unless it is not an approved vacation. The only time it doesn't get approved is if too many people want the same time off - then it goes by seniority. Glad you got your's worked out - but equally glad we don't have to go through that to get vacation time!

I had a similar situation pop up just a couple of weeks ago WRT my cruise.

I also work in healthcare (hence the name RNvattes ;) ) and I work nights.

Technically speaking, my the week for night shift begins on Saturday night, and ends thus ends on Friday night (making it so the next Saturday is the start of a new week).

But who has a vacation week that goes Saturday to Friday? Most traditional vacation weeks go Sunday through Saturday.

Not realizing this (I only just started as a part timer after being per diem - and setting my own hours - for 10years), I made plans to go on Fascination that departs on a Monday and returns on a Saturday. Flights home out of JAX are few and far between, and we actually don't depart until 5pm to return home.

Needless to say this means I will still be 30,000 feet up when my shift starts. When I noticed this, I was told I needed to get my own coverage...and for those of you who work weekends you know that getting weekend coverage is a challenge (because everyone else works weekends too, and we all cherish our off weekends something fierce).

Huge sigh of relief when I got a few people to patch together and cover my hours. Because either way, I wasn't going to be there... it just was a matter of if anyone else would be (and whether I would be marked down accordingly for the absence).

Except we come back to all the work piled up on our desks that no one took care of while we were gone! That is very stressful also.

 

Wish I were cruising in 19 days, enjoy! :D

And we get to hit the ground running since the work pile is never gone ;)

I am actually the person in charge of determining our hospital's projected census and staffing concerns for my shift - Then I have to decide where to send our Float Pool RNs, LPNs, techs, secretaries, and sitters within that shift.

It's on my mind often that I spend my days finding coverage for everyone else's sick calls and vacations but no one in the Float Pool can work my position. I think a grand total of five people actually have my position title, so that's all I have to work with when I need time off. The Nursing House Supervisors are in the same boat, but I guess that's what we get for being the "go-to" people within the hospital!

Unfortunatly I don't have seniority at work. My solution is to book a cruise a couple of years in advance. Everyone knows when I am going and no one has the nerve to try to touch it. Boss decided to get married during my next cruise. I was afraid it would mess things up for me, but I guess even she knew she couldn't touch my cruise. One other time a boss got called away for my cruise week. They actually brought someone else to cover me from another city to cover me. For me the solution is to always book early.

I feel your pain and I work in accounting. I can't go anywhere the week before the end of the month or the two weeks after due to month end closing and reporting. That leaves one week a month and I catch flack for taking that week off most of the time. Oh well taking next week off for our cruise and whomever doesn't like it can lump it. :)

Wow, I can't imagine having to try to get my shift covered! That would be so stressful and a pain in the butt! We make our own schedules and people ask to use their time when they want. The manager approves and if we have gaps in our schedule we just have a call schedule where people have to sign up but are free to choose when. Its usually only about 8 hours extra a month! I am PRN so I just don't put myself down on the schedule that week and no worries! Love being PRN make way more money than my base pay would be, set my own schedule and rarely get flexed on my floor! Maybe suggesting a call schedule would help ease things for everyone!

Wow, I can't imagine having to try to get my shift covered! That would be so stressful and a pain in the butt! We make our own schedules and people ask to use their time when they want. The manager approves and if we have gaps in our schedule we just have a call schedule where people have to sign up but are free to choose when. Its usually only about 8 hours extra a month! I am PRN so I just don't put myself down on the schedule that week and no worries! Love being PRN make way more money than my base pay would be, set my own schedule and rarely get flexed on my floor! Maybe suggesting a call schedule would help ease things for everyone!

I soooooooooo miss being PRN!!!!

Our hospital instituted a policy last August 1 that removed the PRN incentive pay (I lost $6.00/hr!!) AND a policy limiting PRNs to no more than something like 400hrs a year. I couldn't afford to work so few hours (even though I do not need the benes I get working a coded position) so I had to take a part time position. So I work fewer hours (I still lost 24hrs a month), get paid less per hour, AND lose my flexibility in scheduling. True that I do get PTO now, but I only earn about 4hrs every 2 weeks....

But hey, I still have a job (which is more than I can say for a lot of other people who were more severely impacted by the new budget!)

I work in healthcare as well - in the background - as a Medical Transcription Quality Auditor - I check the quality of the medical reports on your medical records for our clients. So, although I can take off - when I return I will be playing major catch up!

I work in Healthcare as well...just behind the desk. (Billing and Accounting) I'm on the same cruise as the OP! 17 days before we leave...

 

Missing one day of work equals about 2 pounds of paperwork. :( I'm not looking forward to playing catch up after missing 6 1/2 days. I'll be gone for month end "close" too. *sigh* This cruise is more than worth it though!!! I'll deal with it... :D

Geez, how did you manage that? My mom died last year during a month-end close, and my boss about had a heart attack becuase I would be out of town for few days.

It's easy for me. I put in for the PTO and then when it's approved my shifts get added to the PRN pool. :) A PRN employee picks it up, if they DON'T and they can't fill the shift, that truck doesn't go out and we are short an ambulance and everyone else runs more calls.

What isn't easy for me is putting in for my PTO a year in advance and they wait 'til the month before to approve or deny. It get's a little antsy towards the end.