[twotrees2]

Originally Posted by Morettia2

I work 12 hour night shifts..I hate it. and we are mandated as night shift to work one weekend night Friday , Sat. or Sunday, 4x's a month, with no weekend diff....no matter how I tweak my schedule It's aways the same,If I don't work 3 -12 hour shifts in a row I know that I won't have a few days in a row off but 3-12 hour night shifts on my floor is more like 3 -14 hour shifts, b/c we are critical care Interventional Cariology/CCU step-down and at 0400 or 0500 as you are about to start gathering AM Meds, and doing 0600 Blood Sugars there is always a pt. or 2 that has a problem that requires a RRT or Code, and it's always at the worst time or there's always a prolem at the start of shift at 1900 that backs you up for the rest of the night. so this schedule It dosent leave us night shift RN's with much time b/t days off. MY hosp. schedule weeks go Sunday to Saturday as being one complete week, yes it's 7 DAYS if you work DAY shift and days are only req. to work 1 weekend day a month with shift diff. which we don't get on nigh shift even tought we are req. to work weekends 4xs a month.With nights you carry over so it's not really 7 DAYS, Ok you work sunday(start of the work week)..have off Monday which is shot b/c you will sleep all day have off tuesday wed thurs (which is nice) BUT, this is the catch..if work friday sat sunday but that sunday starts the next work week so friday and saturday are part of the 3 12's req. in the first week and that sunday,the 3rd 12 in a row, is part of the new work week, yea it's confusing I know and took me a while to get the hang of scheduling. so you have to have a weekday in that sat-sun work week to complete the 3 12 hour shifts/week.. and you never want to schedule one of your shifts on a wed on a tuesday or wed..and if you do you end up with what we call the "devil's schedule" which is so hard to explain it would take forever but it's almost like working every other day on night shift for 2 weeks but complicated and worse. God forbid I have something Important to do on a weekend b/c I have to arrange my schedule to the "devil's schedule" just to have the time, and that creates a ripple effect for the next 2 weeks of work causing me to work in a 12 hour shift pattern that is physically exhausing, with no real time off b/t shifts. The last time this happened I ended up with asthamatic bronchitis steps away from pneumonia and almost ending up as a pt. my self. I notice when I am on the "devils schedule" or if I work 3-12's in a row I find my self forgetting things, irritated with everything, eating poorly, my townhouse looks like a bomb hit it, b/c I know that sleep is my priority for that time being, I loose weight which is great ,right, but when I eventually get back to my regular groove I gain it back, which is terrible on my body, I am so tired some days that driving to and from work is a total blank..days and nights start to mesh together.And when I arrive to work at 1900,get report, and start my rounds the unit is in total chaos 90% of the time,usually we are understaffed with nurses and CNA's, we might have one CNA at night if we are lucky(while days havd 3-4 CNA's) for 36 bed critical care unit this is AWFUL at night, we are the largest unit in the hospital with the least amt. of staffing b/c no one wants to work on our floor b/c they know how horrible it is we have CCU nurses pulled to us when we are LUCKY and they despise our floor, and lately we have had more codes and RRT's then anyother unit in the hosp. This is a LARGE inner-city hosp. with no nurses union to back us.If pt is transfered to us from the CCU most likely the pt. will go right back to the CCU b/c we don't have the staffing we should. And if you see the night shift nurses we are all exhausted with blood shot eyes from running all over the unit with a 6:1 pt. ratio of critical pt's. as where days have a 4:1 or 3:1 ratio and the majority of day RN's tell us how great the unit is during the day and ask why are we so tired at night. I also see the day RN's leave by 1930 on the dot, and it is rare that the night shift RN's leave by 0730, but usually by 0830 or 0900. I know alot of this has to do with my hosp. but working 12hr nights at my hosp is making me feel and look like a train wreck..I don't want to loose my license, so I am interviewing in the ICU next week...wish me luch so so long of a post

i must be tired causethis just blew me away in confusion - when we worked 12's we also were req as was everyone else to wrk everyother weekend ( which is 4 weeknd days per pmonth) but it sure didnt sound like yours. they scheduled us - and if it was our wekeend we workked sat sun ( fore the noc shift) period and they scheduled us accordingly in betwwen - and manytimes yeah we got stuck 3 days in a row and at time even 4 which was rough- i do know that after i was done i looked it up and seems to me if i recall right one can get scheduled as many days as 10 in a row as they are req to give you off 2 days every 7 - however if they woshed to be jerks they could have gave the 2 days at begin ofthe 10 and end - dont know if that was hospital or state or what policy - just found it amazing thy could have done that if they so chose. i dont know if that meant 12 hour shifts too - i just recall 8 hour shifts being mentioned- its been yrs since i even cared to look.

where i work now they have gals who work only 12 hour shifts all weekend - every weekend., dont know why anyone would want to do this ( they arent getting 24/40 like some do - they work EVERY weekend) thats all they do- and they have a waiting list lol. they love it.

i guess my best suggestion would be look for a different job before you wear yourself out. manyblessings.

[sarahrain]

I got to work 15 hours once or twice in a week depends on the census. It does make me feel tired especially in the evening. And my night offs sometimes were substituted with overtime. Generally, I prefer to have quality of life rather than work and work.

[axl3_tac]

for me, it's not how long you've worked for the client but rather on the quality that you give in caring for the client. anyway, we are for the safety of these people who really needs our ample time and concern. it's not about money but it's about the love, care, and patience......

[pantheon]

Originally Posted by axl3_tac

for me, it's not how long you've worked for the client but rather on the quality that you give in caring for the client. anyway, we are for the safety of these people who really needs our ample time and concern. it's not about money but it's about the love, care, and patience......

I agree with you on the care of the patient but what do you mean by" it's not about the money?" Just curious.

[axl3_tac]

nurses who are for monetary gain are deemed to be dangerous people because the quality care and standard of nursing will prejudice. same thing if nurses are doing nursing care for the sake of money the very people who will suffer most is the patient. nursing is a noble profession, yet it would be a detrimental to all patients if these some people who are for the monetary gain will destroy their life.

[pantheon]

Originally Posted by axl3_tac

nurses who are for monetary gain are deemed to be dangerous people because the quality care and standard of nursing will prejudice. same thing if nurses are doing nursing care for the sake of money the very people who will suffer most is the patient. nursing is a noble profession, yet it would be a detrimental to all patients if these some people who are for the monetary gain will destroy their life.

Hello, I agree with you about giving great patient care but I also want a nice salary for busting my butt off. Basically, I'm not in nursing for the money.

If money was my main concern I would of gone to law school! I do expect to obtain a decent salary however and I do. But I've earned it.

There is nothing I won't do for my patients unless it's illegal!

But I have seen nurses that barely see their patients and are in it for the money. That is pathetic and they should be fired. So what I'm saying is I agree with you. Pantheon

[Drysolong]

Originally Posted by Quickbeam

Different opinion. I've been an RN for 21+ years (always full time). I could never tolerate 12 hour shifts. I felt like I had 8 good hours in me. The few times I was forced to work 12, I just felt that it took too heavy a toll.

I left hospital nursing when my last hospital eliminated 8 hour shifts. I can see how some people would like them especially part time/when you are younger. None of my age peers that I know (50+) enjoy them. I now do community health, 10 hour days but no patient care.

Just my opinion. Glad you are all happy.

It would be hard for me to work 12 hours on a job I didn't like (i.e., my pre-nursing jobs) Personally, I could not bear working a 5-day week again. Unless I just couldn't find anything else, I wouldn't work an 8 hour shift full-time. So much for my personal needs and wants.

I "enjoy" taking good care of my patients, helping them progress toward healthy goals, BUT this is a JOB that allows me to pay bills and contribute to the well-being of my family and myself. I would not do it for free (unless I was independently wealthy).

I don't have much experience, but IMHO, 12-hour shifts contribute to greater continuity of care and development of a more caring, trusting, and personable relationship with patients.

[TLCinCICU]

I can't help but believe that 12 hours shifts benefit our patients because of the improved continuity of care. If the nurses covering a patient are working only 8 hours each over 2 days, there have been 6 shifts (from the start of one day until the end of the next). That's 5 report periods where minor bits of patient information might not be passed on to the oncoming nurse. In contrast, those same 2 days have only had 3 changes of nurses. The possibility of such information errors only increases with the length of stay. In a week, 21 different shifts have covered a patient if those shifts are only 8 hours. 14 shifts have covered if those shifts are 12. That's a 33% decrease in the number of times care is transferred from one nurse to the next.

The trick is in making sure we get adequate rest between shifts and take proper breaks during those shifts. Too bad so few of us are really wired to TAKE those breaks, being the need-driven caregivers we are...

[MassED]

Originally Posted by psychnurse1998

It has been my experience that most of my medical errors have occurred towards the end of shift, when I am most fatigued, and this is with an 8 hr shift. I work with nurses that like to do doubles, and many times one has to help them because they are to tired, or one feels like one should help them. 12 hours shifts do not make sense to me from a health and safety point of view. As nurses we should realize our bodies need rest. We are health role models for other workers, so what kind of example are we giving them. I wonder if a study has been done comparing med errors by nurses that work 12 hr shifts versus 8 hr shift nurses. My guess is that is higher. So my question is..are 12 hour shifts good for your health, and the well being of your patients?

12 hour shifts make sense from a scheduling staff point of view, but not what is best for patient safety. When a nurse is loaded with patients, orders, monitoring, charting, and not able to urinate or eat when they need to.... it's just a bad situation.

[MassED]

Originally Posted by psychnurse1998

Great post..now..that is a cool shift.11am..to 11 pm...That would let someone sleep , and get some night sleep to boot. It seem to make more sense...

I work 11am-11pm and if you want to jump into the fire with both feet the second you hit the door and it doesn't end by the end of your shift, then that's the shift for you. It's exhausting, but I've also worked 9a-9p, which is better for normalcy of your life. It's different in the ER than working on the floor. If these shifts were offered on the floor, I would take it.