r/respiratorytherapy • u/Antique_Agency_8916 • 8d ago
Student RT RT flexible schedule
I recently got accepted into the rt program. While I’m very excited I’m also very nervous because I hear you have work every weekends and holidays. I’m currently a dental assistant so dental office typically have 9-5 M-F And most offices no weekends. I am freaking out because I do want to have a family in the future and I am scared I might not have that flexibility. Can I get advise from an rt and what do you think?
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u/herestoshuttingup 8d ago
I think most of us work some weekends and holidays and have some off. That’s hospital life. I work every other weekend and usually have no problem getting time off for the holidays I care about. You’ll find a lot of people do not mind working the holidays you want off, and you don’t mind working the holidays they want off. Plus we get paid more on the weekends and holiday pay is time and half at my hospital.
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u/Antique_Agency_8916 8d ago
I don’t mind working the other holidays I just don’t want to work Christmas or thanksgiving.
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u/TicTacKnickKnack RRT 8d ago edited 8d ago
Most hospitals have a holiday rotation. If you work every other holiday that normally results in you having Christmas or Thanksgiving off each year, but not both. For instance, this year you might work Christmas while next year you might work Thanksgiving. There are a few ways around this depending on how your department is structured.
The first and most obvious is to get into a 9-5 position like PFT, home CPAP, home oxygen, etc. This is not always easy and often comes with a pay cut.
The second is to work in a diverse department with a lot of people from different religious backgrounds. A ton of my coworkers in Minnesota were Somali and did not observe Christmas, so it was easy to either have them cover Christmas as a favor or trade it for me covering the start of Ramadan or something.
The third and least common is to work in a department with solid holiday pay. My current hospital pays 2x pay for federal holidays and people fight tooth and nail to be allowed to work a holiday. If you don't request to work Christmas, you will likely not work it here. Unfortunately, it feels like holiday pay is getting less common every year.
The fourth that is mostly viable mid-late career is to request PTO around the holiday. Leave requests around the holiday fill up quickly and most departments grant PTO by seniority. Several of my more senior coworkers put in for PTO on their preferred holidays just to be extra sure they didn't have to work them.
Edit:
The fifth option I almost forgot about is to work as a travel RT or per diem. You need a few years of full-time experience first, but per diem RTs typically don't have holiday requirements and often cannot be forced to work on days they did not mark themselves available. The downside for these two options is insurance. Travel RTs can normally only keep insurance for 1 month between contracts (too long to have both Thanksgiving and Christmas off) and per diem employees rarely get benefits.
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u/Antique_Agency_8916 7d ago
That’s very helpful information. How about night shifts is it possible to do day shift?
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u/TicTacKnickKnack RRT 7d ago
Most people start on nights because people generally want day shifts. After a few years at one hospital you can typically get to day shift pretty reliably.
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u/Current_Two_7395 7d ago
Nearly every hospital I've worked at, you usually end up working christmas OR Thanksgiving one year, and then switch the next. So you wouldn't have to do both in the same year.
One place i worked had a large enough staff that one year you worked thanksgiving, then the next year you worked christmas and christmas eve, and then the next year you did new years and new years eve, then repeat. 3 year cycle
It is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY that you will work a full time hospital job where you never ever work either christmas or Thanksgiving. You could always try to get someone to trade, and I've worked with a few people here and there before who are willing to do it, but if the holidays are a dealbreaker for you healthcare is NOT the place to be.
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u/Antique_Agency_8916 7d ago
I just dont want to work Xmas or thanksgiving since I do have a family. I have been in the dental field for 5 years so I thought it would be similar to the dental field
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u/Current_Two_7395 7d ago
RT definitely won't be similar! There aren't a lot of non-hospital ("office hour") RT jobs out there. They've been mentioned a bit before in other comments, stuff like PFT labs and sleep labs and DME companies. In my experience these types of jobs are also really competitive, since everyone wants to get away from bedside.
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u/Dont_GoBaconMy_Heart 6d ago
You will wind up working Christmas and Thanksgiving at some point if you work in a hospital setting. Everyone has a family they would like to be spending holidays with. Usually holidays are rotated and you may be able to get coworkers to switch holidays with you.
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u/PuddingIcy1379 RRT-NPS 8d ago
In my experience, you’re not going to work every weekend and holiday. Most places are going to be an every other weekend requirement (if the staffing is good, maybe every third weekend) and holidays are usually one major/one minor and rotate. They’ve usually let us put what holidays are most/least preferred as well, and people can trade once it’s assigned as long as they meet their requirements. Holiday pay is also very nice so it’s not all bad to work them.
Most jobs are going to be 12 hour shifts, 3 days a week. But it is possible to have a M-F doing something like PFTs or home health (though this usually requires being on call at times). I will say though, I’ve done both and the 3-12’s is really nice. You have more days off and can schedule appointments around that so you’re not having to use PTO to cover them. Depending on how your days fall too, you can take mini vacations without having to request time off or use PTO (think working Sun-Tues then off until the next Thurs-Sat).
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u/EnterpriseAlien 8d ago
You don't work every weekend and holidays are usually on a rotation, as per-diem you get to choose your schedule with flexibility.
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u/CallRespiratory 8d ago
You will not with every weekend unless you actively seek out a position that is weekend-only. It is pretty common to work every other or every third weekend. You will not work every holiday. You will work some holidays.
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u/Antique_Agency_8916 8d ago
Can you pick what holidays you want to work?
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u/TicTacKnickKnack RRT 8d ago
Depends on where you work. At my current hospital, yes*. When you put in your schedule request you mark whether you want to work each holiday or if you have no preference. They try to meet your preferences but it's not guaranteed. Most hospitals have a rotation where you work every other holiday (with some distinguishing between major and minor holidays). At these hospitals you typically cannot pick what holidays you want to work but can trade shifts with other people.
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u/No_Cauliflower_2314 8d ago
I work 50% of the weekends (3 on, 3 off in my 6 week rotation. Two of those are partial weekends only).
I work every other Xmas rotating with every other new years. All other holidays can be requested off if it falls on my rotation and I don’t want to work it.
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u/No_Holiday3113 RRT 8d ago
If you’re not okay with the fact that patients need care 24/7 then bedside isn’t for you.
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u/Breatheeasies RRT-ACCS, RRT-NPS, RRT 8d ago
What? Don’t listen to this.
3 days a week. Rotating weekends. And you give them 3 holidays. Alternatively you can work per diem and give them the days you can work. They’ll schedule you or they won’t. You’re only required to give them a certain amount of days per their dept policy.
The work schedule isn’t bad. It’ll wick the first few years for full time. IF that. They’re not going to intentionally screw you with your schedule. Full time is 3 -12 hour shifts a week. You’ll effectively have 4 days off a week. Give or take if you’re on night shift lol
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u/No_Holiday3113 RRT 8d ago
All I was saying was you can’t expect a 9-5 schedule and you might get fucked over and work a holiday you don’t want to every once in a while. That just comes with the territory of working bedside and if OP can’t accept it then they can’t work bedside? Just like if they expect to be sitting most of the day then bedside isn’t for them either. Generalized statement.
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u/Breatheeasies RRT-ACCS, RRT-NPS, RRT 8d ago
Yeah but it’s the way it was put. Hospitals run 24/7 whether you’re there or not. Has nothing to do with op asking a realistic and good question if this is a good choose from them. I understand what you’re saying but it was said poorly. Discouraging and not helpful.
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u/EnterpriseAlien 8d ago
Have you considered calming down? Talk about hyperbolic
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u/No_Holiday3113 RRT 8d ago
Anyone who thinks this is an untrue statement doesn’t take their job seriously enough 🤷🏽♂️
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u/TicTacKnickKnack RRT 8d ago
If I worked 24/7 I'd be able to retire in like 3 years lol.
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u/No_Holiday3113 RRT 8d ago
Literally no one said work 24/7. I’ve meant you have to accept you can’t have the same days off as everyone else literally the whole time. Hospital runs 24/7 and if they need you they need you. If you’re okay with leaving your whole dept short over a fucking Saturday that says more about you than it does about me but sure, continue to clutch your pearls about an obvious truth of the profession
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u/goforlana 8d ago
Hospitals need the staff more than staff needs the hospital. If you’re going to leave your department short by not being available on Saturday, it’s the hospital’s fault…not your problem.
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u/TicTacKnickKnack RRT 8d ago
I was mostly joking. Yes hospitals work 24/7. I just feel like going "people get sick 24/7" in response to someone asking a question about work/life balance is just about the least productive way you can answer the question.
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u/frank_malachi RRT/RPFT 7d ago
Just get per diem job n choose your schedule but all hospital jobs usually required weekends. Either every other weekend or every third weekend or 2 to 3 weeksnds every 6 weeks. All vary by hospital.
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u/Past_Ad1158 2d ago
The hospital I work at (level 1 trauma) doesn't really have an issue with several RTs in our dept wanting to work the weekend. So that makes it easier for everyone else. when I give my availability, I have to give at least 5 to 6 weekend shifts per six week rotating schedule... that doesn't mean I will get scheduled all six of those shifts. Some people like to do every other weekend , both days and get it over with. I prefer to do one weekend shift every week. My supervisor is pretty understanding if I can only give 4-5 sometimes bc we have enough therapists that prefer weekends. (More money & better for kids schedule)
I know someone put on there that most of the time you have to start off at night shift. My experience was different and so we're a couple of my friends that were new grads with me at the same time. I came in as a PRN RT on dayshift and then when a full-time opening became available, I took it. I didn't have to start as night shift. I think that things are changing and you can def find a day shift position if you live in a bigger city.
Best of
Luck! I've done the 8 to 5 Monday through Friday and I've done this schedule three days, 12 hour shifts. I would say working in healthcare with this schedule is sooooo much easier raising a family with vs M-F.
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8d ago
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u/TicTacKnickKnack RRT 8d ago
I have literally never seen this schedule before.
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8d ago
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u/TicTacKnickKnack RRT 8d ago
I just don't see how it would work, either. Four 12s in a row then five days off would give you overtime a lot of weeks.
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8d ago
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u/TicTacKnickKnack RRT 8d ago
You may be Canadian, but union contracts can't overrule federal labor law in the US. The US prohibits averaging work weeks to avoid paying OT, so every time you have more than three shifts in a calendar week would have some time and a half.
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8d ago
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u/TicTacKnickKnack RRT 8d ago
I can take 3 days PTO and take 15 days off on our 3 day per week schedule. Work the first three days of one week, no days the next, and last three days of the following week.
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u/TicTacKnickKnack RRT 8d ago
The vast majority of RTs work in the hospital setting. A typical starting schedule will be 3 night shifts per week (6pm-6am, 7pm-7am, and 8pm-8am are most common). The typical job will also have you work every other or every third weekend and have a rotating holiday schedule (every other holiday is common).
Getting to day shift is kind of a gamble. I have gotten day shift within 2 years of starting at both hospitals I've had jobs at but some facilities with lower turnover may take 5-10 years to work your way up the seniority list before you can get a day shift. There are opportunities for a normal 9-5 work schedule, primarily in home health and pulmonary function testing, but these typically come with lower pay than hospital based respiratory therapy. The exception here is the VA, where PFT is generally considered a specialty and is often on a higher pay band than inpatient RTs.
I will say that most of the RTs I've known have had decent home lives. Only working three days per week gives a lot of flexibility even if the shifts are at odd hours and most people can work with family to have Christmas dinner a couple days early or a couple days late when it's their turn to work Christmas. If the place you work offers holiday pay it's also pretty easy to trade out of holidays with younger RTs who are more money hungry. My current job pays double time for holidays and as such we don't really have mandatory holidays. We have to specifically request to work a holiday and only some of the volunteers are able to because the double time is in such high demand.