The challenge of juggling a health care job, managing a home and caring for children can be daunting. And, with the nursing shortage, hospitals are seeking creative ways to help employees balance the demands of family and work and still provide quality patient care.

For many, the answer is flexible work schedules.

The Shepherd Center in Atlanta has been offering flexible scheduling for nearly 15 years, allowing nurses and other allied health professionals to work various combinations of shifts that will provide family time or allow time for additional education.

The Baylor system was developed several decades ago by the Baylor University School of Medicine to make weekend work attractive. Nurses received premium pay for working weekend shifts.

In the early days, these nurses didn't receive the benefits of a full-time employee; the increased pay was reward enough. Over the past several years, the program has been adapted in a variety of ways: some hospitals offer three 12-hour shifts per week so that nurses qualify as full-time employees and receive full benefits. Others offer four 10-hour shifts.

At Shepherd, nurses are paid a premium for working weekend shifts. Although they work 24 hours in a weekend, they receive credit as having worked 36 hours, allowing them to have benefits as full-time employees.

"Our nurses and techs wanted 12-hour shifts and so that's what we did," said Betsy Fox, director of human resources at the Shepherd Center. "They schedule through their nurse unit managers to assure that all shifts are covered."

For example, one nurse may work Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, another may work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and still another may work Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

"When a nurse with children works two weekend shifts, other family members can watch the children," Fox said. "Then the nurse only needs to find care one day a week. It can save them money and offer a better quality of care."