4 hour shifts

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hi all,

I am just wondering if any one is familiar with this practice. The hospital I am thinking about applying to offers 4 hr, 8 hr, and 12 hr shifts. The 4 hour shift sounds perfect for someone trying to keep up on their nursing skills, but do not want to spend a lot of hours in the hospital setting.

I am wondering if they usually prefer experienced nurses for the 4 hours, and what could they possibly be doing. I wouldn't think this person would take a full load of patients for just four hours. What do you think? Thanks for any replies.

Specializes in NICU.

We do four hour shifts to fill in the gaps between nurses who work 8 hour and 12 hour shifts. They take a complete assignment.

I wouldn't recommend 4 hour shifts to someone without much experience. Newer nurses often spend hours just getting going on their patient assignments, and you don't have the kind of time with 4 hour shifts. You need to be organized and jump right into things, do as much as you can during the "four hour scramble" as we call it, and then report off and go home. I also wouldn't recommend an experienced nurse starting in a new place with 4 hour shifts because it often takes longer than that to get comfortable and really get to know the lay of the land.

Specializes in SICU.

My hospital does not offer 4 hr slots, however sometimes they are created due to other schedules. When someone comes in for just 4 hrs they take a full load. Just like the nurse before and after them. 4hrs can be tough because you don't have time to space the care out.

Specializes in ICU, CCU, Trauma, neuro, Geriatrics.

ICU skills help with the 4 hours shift as you are very task oriented when you work these fill-in positions.

I love 4 hours. Full patient load. The best thing about being the "fill in" nurse is you actually get to leave very close to the actual time of your shift ending. They don't want to pay you overtime and when its four hours you're gone.

You have to be organized because there is no down time to catch up on your charting, but chart as you go, patient by patient.

It works quite well in my hospital.

Yep, I do them all the time to "fill in" and it gets me some easy extra hours!! I'm with the people saying that if you're new you shouldn't jump into them....you do need to be a bit organized. I'm not saying that I stay until every little thing is finished.....if I have a bad morning it's the responsibility of my coverage to pick up where I left off....but in general I go in from 7am-11am and get one set of full head-to-toe assessments done, morning meds, then my usual mid-morning "tasks" (i.e. d/c chest tubes, wires, dressing changes, blah, blah, blah!) I love it! If it's a routine day then it's easy money! :) I think it also depends where the four hour shifts fall, too. I personally find 7am-11am easy, but 3pm-7pm is HORRID!! Very busy, I never get done on time. Good luck!

Specializes in LDRP.

Like others, on my floor, there are often 4 hour gaps. usually from 3p-7p or 7p to 11p, b/c of the unequal number of 8 hr and 12 h shifts lining up.

on teh other hand, one other floor that i know of offers on call shifts in 4 hour increments. if they have a 7a-7p shift, you can sign up from 7a-11a, 11a-3p or 3p to 7p. Of those, i like 11a-3p the best. morning meds all done.

you do take a full load, and if its a big/heavy load, it can be hard to manage in 4 hours time.

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