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!

I work as a Nurse Tech, and I absolutely hate it! It burns you out and makes you hate too come to work to deal with that 12 hour shift. Some of the nurses I work with are beginning to hate being a nurse due to that fact that they feel over work and under paid.

They absolutely should feel overworked and underpaid. Nursing in my local has a $22/hr starting pay but it's about a $33/hr responsibility even for a new-grad. I quit nursing school, and one of the reasons, aside from the fact that I find motherhood insulting and repulsive, is that the culture of nursing always expects you to do things gratis and kill yourself for your patients and your job. It takes altruism too far, imo. Honestly, women who work in manufacturing and finance and tech and engineering are not treated like stupid mules the way that nurses are.

Nurses need to stop letting patients and administrators heap ever more work on them. I worked in business and manufacturing and engineering before I tried nursing. Nurses are fools to let themselves be worked like rented mules. Learn how to say No. Learn how to say "That is an unreasonable amount of work to expect me to get done in one shift, and I am going home now. Here's what didn't get done. See ya tomorrow." MAKE them staff correctly, by refusing to do the extraordinary every day. Do you think that the beancounters respect you for being too accommodating and servile. No, they don't. If you do more, they will just see that you can be exploited to do more and more, and when they ruin your back and your health, they will just bring in some young and foolish new grad and push you aside.

I agree about the 12 hr shifts..it's one of several reasons why I have not worked and am not interested in working FT in a hospital setting. Baylor, at least where I live, is now every weekend plus on day during the week - which is not a "deal" to me so for now, I'm starting, today, a part time home health type position. May not pay as much as FT but the flexibility & lower stress for me will be worth it.

... doing 3 straight doesn't work well for my family. My hubby and son seem to fall apart if I'm gone more than 2 nights in a row!

There must be a female personality that is a natural fit for nursing, and I definitely am not it. Are you SERIOUS, that your husband can't handle the household carpwork and the kid for more than 2 nights??! MAKE him do it, or let the household fall apart and he can just deal with a houseful of slop and chaos until he decides to do something about it himself. Why do nurses and mommies have to be such servants and martyrs. MAKE other people do their jobs, and draw a clear boundary line for where yours stops. And don't cross it. Let the other people sink or swim.

There must be a female personality that is a natural fit for nursing, and I definitely am not it. Are you SERIOUS, that your husband can't handle the household carpwork and the kid for more than 2 nights??! MAKE him do it, or let the household fall apart and he can just deal with a houseful of slop and chaos until he decides to do something about it himself. Why do nurses and mommies have to be such servants and martyrs. MAKE other people do their jobs, and draw a clear boundary line for where yours stops. And don't cross it. Let the other people sink or swim.

Actually, my hubby does a damned good job of taking care of things. I was saying it in more of a playful way.

The house isn't spotless, they may eat pizza or something else simple, but they do okay.

And nobody's forcing me to take care of everything, or be a martyr.

We do what seems to work best for our little family.

Having actually worked 5 eight hour shifts a week, I can say that I would never go back to 8 hour shifts again. The day shift seemed to have to fit a whole lot more work into a shorter span of time.

The time off after work doesn't amount to much when you are tired from a hard day's work and you know you have to be back at work the next day.

I have never worked 8's but the thought of being at work 5 days a week makes me slightly ill. :barf02: I work three 12's a week and even that makes me ponder the need to be medicated! I've often thought that if the hospital would mist Valium through the air vents every night, nurses and patients alike would be much happier. :woot:

At 911 we switched to 12 hour shifts.. except they broke it into a two week setting. You work 5 days one week and 2 another, that way they never have to pay overtime :banghead:. I guess that's why a ton of people quit... well.. there's no guessing.. that was exactly why people quit, and that left us short staffed and angry.

Honestly I WANT a nursing job that does 12s when I graduate, work three days, have four off. Maybe it's because I've never had a job that I had weekends off, or holidays for that matter. I'm used to it, and I prefer mid week off because then I can go grocery shopping without a huge wait, I can make a doctors appointment whenever I want, and I can actually get a lot done AND still relax.

The hospitals around here have both 8s and 12s depending on which floor you're on, it seems like 8s stay open longer though because once nurses usually switch to 12s they hated 8s, and it seems like management is having a hard time filling the 8 spots.

12 hr shifts is one of the best things about being a nurse. My problem is that once individuals from other professions here about working 3 12's they envision their working conditions on an 8 hr shift & become jealous or believe that nurses have it so easy. I'm pretty sure everyone spends at least 1 day to rest adequately..., and even more time if you are a night shifter whose body tries to switch back to day time hours....

When I was younger I liked 12 hr shifts, but now I hate them. What would be perfect would be a combination of 12's and 8's, two of each and that would give 3 days off. I currently work 8 hour night shifts with regular days off and I love it. I can't work nights with 12 hour shifts. I have time to eat, sleep, shop, go to the beach every day, do crafts, do things with friends, just basically have a life. When I worked 12's I was so damn tired and in so much pain that at least 2 of my days off were spent recuperationg. I think the facilities that offer different schedules are wonderful, what a great thing to do for the nurses - I am sure it helps with retention! The only think I won't do is work five 8 hr shifts with split days off. Give me Tues and Wed off every week before splitting my days off.

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I think I would despise nursing if I had to work 5 days per week.

Right now, I've just come off my third night in a row, and am back tonight. Sitting here finishing my Cheerios, typing at y'all, and heading out for a couple hours of errands on Tuesday morning while everyone else is working.

12-hour shifts are a huge perk of nursing.

Specializes in Med surg, Public Health, School Nursing.

Working 5 8 hrs shifts on a med surg floor would be horrible. I'm switching to 5 8 hrs shifts in a clinic setting and I can't wait to begin. 12 hr shifts are nice on day shift. I wasn't so tired, but when I switched to nights I barely have enough energy to do anything but eat and sleep. I can't wait for this change to begin.

Specializes in neuro/ortho med surge 4.

I don't like 12 hours because most days 8 hours is the limit I can deal with some people. I am mentally exhausted after 8 hours of constant thinking and problem solving. The physical part is hard too but the mental part for me is more exhausting. The 12 hours can turn into 14 hours at times also.

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