I’m a RN that has worked at the same hospital for the last 4 1/2 years. I was going through a high conflict divorce that lasted a little over 4 years. Through my old manager I was able to build a custody/work schedule that would allow me to be available to my kids on all the days I have off. I am on a fixed schedule at my hospital where I work every Monday and Tuesday and every other weekend. I have every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off. The requirement at my hospital is that I have to work every third weekend. I’m giving the hospital every other weekend. It’s really hard to staff every weekend. So I figured I was doing them a favor while they were doing me a favor.
New manager has been on the job for a little over 2 months now. I was told by my supervisor that she is taking everyone off of their fixed schedules and will be required to work the every third weekend. Some of these nurses work every weekend for them. I haven’t had a chance to talk to my new manager about all the difficulties that this will cause and how my young kids can’t be at home overnight without me. If they are, I have to automatically ask my ex wife (we are not on speaking terms) if she can take them or I would need to call off work to be with them.
I do everything for the hospital. I’m one of the highest ranking ICU nurses in the entire hospital. I can take any patient, no matter how sick they are. I can run the ICU as a charge nurse when my supervisors are off. I respond to emergencies in the entire hospital when a patient is crashing. I teach new nurses and incoming experienced nurses. I was thinking if they are going to do this to my schedule that I would tell them that I am no longer available for any of these “jobs” due to feeling unsafe as a protest. I plan on talking to my new manager first thing Monday morning. How should I go about this? Do I have any other options?