Am I the only one who hates 12 hour shifts?

Nurses General Nursing Nursing Q/A

Based on some things I've read on this website, I know that I'm not, but I just cannot STAND how 12 hour work days consume my life! There is no time to do anything besides work on those days and prepare for the next work day. I would be so much happier if I could switch to 8s or 10s or even some combo of 8 and 12s... I need to be able to exercise and take care of myself in order to be happy at work!

Mostly I just needed to rant because I know I can't address this yet as a new grad, but has anyone else felt this way and taken action to get a better schedule? Better hours would make work a billion times better!

Specializes in psychiatric nursing.

I'm at a LTC facility working 8 hour night shifts and it is horrible. There is no time for anything except working or sleeping. We work 10-11 shifts in a pay period. I totally prefer 12 hour shifts with 4 days off per week. Then maybe I can have a life.

Specializes in Perianesthesia nursing.

Back in 1983, when I graduated as an RN, the shifts were for 8 hours, days, evenings and nights. It was @ ALL hospitals @ the time in the US. The corporate hospitals and non-profit hospitals then in the early 1990's decided to end 8 hour shifts and do 12 hour shifts for med-surg, ICU, etc. It so intense. I loved 8 hour shifts. I don't like 12 hour shifts. The pharmacists and MD's still work 8 hour shifts currently, but RN's are working 12 hour shifts. Non-profit hospitals are the same as corporate hospitals!! It's SOOO FRUSTRATING to work 12 hour shifts and feel like the nurse-patient ratio is intense!! I HATE NURSING!!

Specializes in Public Health Nurse.

After working full time and then going to school at night part time to nursing school, I think I am used to the 12 hour shifts by default....now I just need the job to prove it..... LOL.

I work 12 hour shifts and I feel like I don't get enough sleep because I live 45 minutes to an hour away from work. When you factor in the time it takes to get ready, the drive, and the actual hours worked, it seems like the whole day has gone by. And since I have to leave earlier to arrive on time, I miss my children during school season. I work night shift and I'm gone when they get home from school and by the time I make it home in the mornings, they're already gone to school. 8 hour shifts would allow me to spend more time with them.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Back in 1983, when I graduated as an RN, the shifts were for 8 hours, days, evenings and nights. It was @ ALL hospitals @ the time in the US. The corporate hospitals and non-profit hospitals then in the early 1990's decided to end 8 hour shifts and do 12 hour shifts for med-surg, ICU, etc. It so intense. I loved 8 hour shifts. I don't like 12 hour shifts. The pharmacists and MD's still work 8 hour shifts currently, but RN's are working 12 hour shifts. Non-profit hospitals are the same as corporate hospitals!! It's SOOO FRUSTRATING to work 12 hour shifts and feel like the nurse-patient ratio is intense!! I HATE NURSING!!

In 1983, I started working 12 hour shifts as part of a pilot project to determine whether nurses would be happier with 12 hour shifts or with sticking to 8s. Before the project was even finished, nurses were begging to be allowed to work 12 hour shifts. I've been very happy with my 12 hour shifts for the past three decades!

I questions, though, if you hate nursing so much you have to scream it, would you be happy on ANY shift?

Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
Back in 1983, when I graduated as an RN, the shifts were for 8 hours, days, evenings and nights. It was @ ALL hospitals @ the time in the US. The corporate hospitals and non-profit hospitals then in the early 1990's decided to end 8 hour shifts and do 12 hour shifts for med-surg, ICU, etc. It so intense. I loved 8 hour shifts. I don't like 12 hour shifts. The pharmacists and MD's still work 8 hour shifts currently, but RN's are working 12 hour shifts. Non-profit hospitals are the same as corporate hospitals!! It's SOOO FRUSTRATING to work 12 hour shifts and feel like the nurse-patient ratio is intense!! I HATE NURSING!!

This is a huge, inaccurate generalization.

I have yet to work in a hospital which was ALL 12-hour nursing shifts.

Your point - your personal dissatisfaction - can be heard without the hyperbole and inaccurate generalization.

Specializes in Home Hlth, Psych, Nsg Hm, Plasma Med Sup.

One of the nurses at our (very busy) outpatient dialysis clinic recently worked from 5A to 1A (the next day) - 20 hour shift. I put in my first 18 hour shift. We're somewhat better staffed this month. Great thing is that time goes fast! Some of us have been working 70+ hours/week. Work ethic of the nurses I work with is amazing. Most of the nurses are non-American and their husbands are stay-at-home fathers. They always said dialysis was a different world. So as far as shift work is concerned, it's not very predictable.

I have worked both, and I have to say that I also HATED 12s. 12 hr nocs especially sucked, I never felt rested. I once even fell asleep standing up taking a temp (leaning on an isolette)! 12 hr days at holiday time always made me cried, because I missed everything with my family. As I got older, 12 hrs in a NICU were impossible, I just couldn't do it physically. So you are not alone. Unfortunately, 12s seem to be cost effective for hospitals, so don't think they will be going away. It is my personal opinion that people working 12s (even those who love 12s) get much more cranky and make more mistakes towards the end of the day.

I fail to see any huge inacurrent generalizations, or for that matter hyperbole. I don't know what part of the country you work in, but where I live it is hard to find a hospital that offers any but 12 hr shifts! In the early 80s it was almost impossible to find a hospital that offered anything but 8s. When our hospital switched, the explanation was that it would be cost saving.

Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
I fail to see any huge inacurrent generalizations, or for that matter hyperbole. I don't know what part of the country you work in, but where I live it is hard to find a hospital that offers any but 12 hr shifts! In the early 80s it was almost impossible to find a hospital that offered anything but 8s. When our hospital switched, the explanation was that it would be cost saving.

Throughout the whole entire hospital?

Only 12 hour shifts in ... the OR ... PACU ... ambulatory surgery ... admissions testing ... procedural areas ... radiology?

It seems unlikely, as these activity in these units clusters around daytime business hours.

And the poster I quoted did make the sweeping generalization of "all" hospitals in the entire US.

Rudy - and when my hospital started a pilot, we were given a choice to work 8 or 12. None of those who stayed on 8 begged to go to 12, and in fact when we were forced to because it was more cost effective and made staffing similar, most of us cried. You love them great; not everyone feels the same way. I have to say, that after almost thee decades, 12 hr shifts were a contributing factor to my retirement; I was no longer able to physically work for that many hrs and a commute. I sense that kjtravelin is frustrated and tired and not getting much support, but a lot of disdain, from our oh so compassionate nursing community (snark).

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

My first job had combined 8s and 12s, rotating all 5 shifts. It was an absolute nightmare, and rarely did you get your 4 days off in a row. During your "day rotation", you rotated 7-3, 3-11, and 7A-7P. During nights, rotate 3-11, 11-7, and 7Ps. You could do a 12 on Tues, 3-11 on Wed, and be back at 7A on Thursday. NO thank you! I switched to all "nights", but still had the 3-11s.

I liked 3-11s when I was single, and after getting married and having a kid it meant she was only in day care for a few hours in the afternoon. But didn't see a whole of hubby at the time.

When he died, I tried 8 hour nights for a while, but it was too much, trying to take care of the kids while working that many shifts; 12s have been the best for our family for over 20 years.

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