Should Exchanges in Shifts be Limited?

In the early years of our nursing career, we have been trained to adapt to different schedules to suit our mainstream academic schedules to our hospital exposure as part of the curriculum. It is a standard to follow the 8 hours shifting schedules; morning (7-3), afternoon (3-11) or graveyard (11-7). Today, becoming a professional nurse, it still practiced to have a rotating schedules to ensure that services are offered 24/7 and to see to it that nurses are in tip-top condition to work as its life that we are dealing with.

As practiced in our institution, nurses are bound on a fixed number of duty days especially for contractual wherein they will work for 22 days in a month or 176 hours in other words, a total of 8 days Off per month. However, the number of working days can be lessened and the number of day off can be increased provided that you will work in a particular day for 16 hous when another party agrees to defer his work for that day and he will also agree to work in 16hours on the following selected dates. This scenario is called “Exchange in Duties”. 

The main reasons for shift exchanges are personal matters, attending an affair, not feeling well or to extend holiday or off days. For example, my Off days is 3 days but I felt its not enough so I look for a subsitute who can work for me in behalf the following day. 

However, many supervisors and seniors impose to limit the number of shift exchanges. They argue that its unfavorable because a 16 hours of duty can be so tiresome and in long run might affect the general health. Yes, it can be very tiring sometimes especially when that day will be jumpacked with volume of patients. In addition, some say that having off days more than 3 is a violation of Civil Service rules and regulations thats why limitations of exchanges should be strictly implemented.

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Anxious over IELTS

Over the past 3 weeks, I have been very busy with my reviews on the IELTS exam. This will be my third time taking the it and hopefully I shall have a band score of 7 in all components of the exam (Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking).

As you can see, I received some comments regarding my articles, at first, they praise me for what I have wrote but they also remind me to mind some few grammatical errors and sentence construction. I  believe the hardest thing for me in the actual test is the writing part, it is where my biggest anxiety falls because it seems I don’t some words to fill in and doesn’t have enough ideas to form. However, I put my trust to God this time, I pray that its His hands that will write for me this coming May 20th at Marco Polo.

By the way, I’m reviewing at The Study Aide Avenue (TSAA), the biggest IELTS review center in Mindanao. I must say that the staffs are very friendly, accommodating and willing to extend help to us. They have a wide range of review materials and flexible schedules at an affordable cost. Best of all, the professors are top-notch. It is conveniently located in the heart of the city, near University of Mindanao Bolton Campus along Ponciano Street. You can contact them through their website www.tsaaphilippines.com