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There’s No Place Like Work for the Holidays

As the rest of the world settles in for a long winter’s night, as visions of sugarplums dance in our heads, many healthcare professionals are hard at work. Keeping the nation’s healthcare system up and running isn’t easy but somebody has to do it.

Individuals who enter into a healthcare profession realize that they’re always on…even when they’re off work. Part of their calling involves making sacrifices for others, including leaving loved ones on Christmas morning or missing the lighting of the menorah on the first night of Chanukah. It’s a responsibility that comes with the job.

Naughty or Nice: Making the Holiday Schedule

One of the first steps to spreading holiday joy on a hospital unit is creating a schedule that’s viewed as being fair. Managers explain that the worst thing you can do is ignore the fact that the holidays are a special time of year, and that nurses are people too, people with family and friends. Nurses have particular needs and stresses just like everyone else. To be insensitive to that is just a major mistake. The last thing you want to do is put out a timesheet and that’s it, not allowing people to make changes or request days off.

The “take it or leave it” attitude on scheduling just doesn’t work. Seniority used to play the trump card when it came to the holidays but in many facilities this is no longer the case. This traditional style of scheduling has had a negative impact on staffing morale. So today, many managers opt for a plan that’s team based — something fair and firm. Often, this means putting out a holiday schedule as early as August. This allows more than enough time for shift swapping, rescheduling and facing any potential problems that need to be worked out.

No Reason to Get the Blues

Some hospitals offer incentives to work the holiday shifts, such as bonuses and a higher pay rate. But ultimately, nurses who are working the holidays try to make the most of it regardless of the compensation. In fact, some see it as a great time to work — it’s often slower than usual, which allows nurses to spend valuable time with patients.

Decorating the unit and adding holiday festivities help to keep the mood light and fun. Bringing in tasty treats and food to the nurses’ station can also make you feel like your spending this special time of year with your extended family (or your second family, so to say). Many hospitals try to make sure that the patients who can’t be home for the holidays enjoy individual attention and receive something special to make the season brighter. At some facilities the staff will decorate the patient’s rooms and allow strict visiting hours to fall to the wayside in order to make merry.

The Spirit of the Season

As joyous as the staff makes the atmosphere during the holidays there is still the reality of being in a hospital and working with those who are sick. Miracles and tragedies are all in a days work.

Stories can be shared of both the good and the bad. Families and patients who are on the fortunate side of the table will often show their gratitude many times over. However, with untimely deaths during the holidays the searing memories linger not only for grieving families, but also for medical personnel. Clinicians see it as their job to fix things that can help people. When this can’t be done, it creates an entirely different aura for the season.

Again… it’s all in a days work. The most important thing to remember, for all the healthcare professionals who are working the holidays, is that you are with people who understand you and can support you. Your colleagues are probably the best people to be around because they understand how emotional the job you do can be every day, especially on the holidays. Rejoice and be glad that you have the ability to touch so many lives.