Are 12 hour shifts going extinct?

[MunoRN, RN]

A hospital in my region recently announced all staff will be transitioning to 8 hour shifts over the next year, 12 hour shifts will no longer be available. The word from my Hospital and others in the area is that they plan on making this change in the near future as well.

As someone who's worked an 8 hour night shift schedule, I don't agree that 5 night shifts a week is less fatiguing than 3, but that's the argument they are making. I personally could not handle working a full time 8 hour night schedule when I did it in the past, although I handle 3 12's a week now just fine, and I was younger when I worked 8's so I'm pretty sure it would kill me if I tried doing that now.

Is it just my area that's making this move? If other areas have tried it, has it worked?

[PediLove2147, BSN, RN]

The hospital I work at has both 12s and 8s and I haven't heard anything about the 12s being eliminated. In addition, a hospital I interviewed at had no 8 hour shifts. You worked 7a-7p or 7p-7a.

It will be interesting to see how people respond to it and if other hospitals will follow.

Working 5 days a week in my opinion is torture. I don't know how M-F people do it. I enjoy my 3-4 shifts/week.

[DarkBluePhoenix]

They better not! That is one of the things I am looking forward to!

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

I dont have a choice. 12 hours and I love it! work 3 days a week, oh yeah.

[86toronado, BSN, RN]

Where I work, only certain units like ICU and ER work 12's. The problem the other units have is staffing the dreaded 3-11 shift... no one wants to do it. So eventually they break down and hire some 12 hour people to do it... personally I find 12's so much more appealing. I would never work 5 days a week again!

[Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN]

In New Jersey it is the opposite hospitals are doing away with 8 hour shifts in favor of 12's. I work for a facility that transitioned a few years ago to all 12's and it was very difficult to get the older nurses to accept the new shift hours but in the end they loved them. In the ER shifts are a bit different you have staggered shifts where staffing is determined by time of day, for example we have 6 nurses come in at 7am, another 2 come in at 9am, and another 2 come in at 11am, works pretty well.

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

Are they nuts? Who the heck wants to be at work 5 days a week??!!

cheers,

[honeykrown, MSN, NP]

At my hospital even though its 12hrs i still find myself working 5days a week during the first week and only two days during the second, although its spread out with the days off but thats how it comes out every schedule

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

I wonder how a move like that will effect staff turnover. SOOOO many nurses I know will tell me that the ability to work 3 days a week was a major influence on their choosing nursing as a career.

We have 8 hour shifts at my hospital to accommodate the folks who work 40 hours a week (2 8s and 2 12s) but there are still a ton of 12 hours shifts. I haven't heard of any places in the area going to only 8s (doesn't mean there aren't any tho).

[bleubutterfli]

MunoRN it is quite the opposite at my hospital. The floor I work on does a mixture of both 8's and 12's. But there are a couple of floors ( or at least the one that I floated too) that is 12 hour only. Personally, I like the option of throwing a 8 hour shift in the mix after doing 3 12's in a row ( gives me extra time to sleep) and if I group my days just right I can get 5 days off without having to use PTO time (I luv my nurse manager!!!)

[LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN]

I have 2 jobs, one is a SNF, where the nurses 3 months ago went to 12s, the CNAs are still 8s. I like the days off, but the 12s easily turn into 14-16s, but that is another discussion.

My other job, it is 8s, they just sent out a facility wide email with the possiblity of exploring 12s. If they had enough staff respond with Yes to 12s, they were going to form a group to discuss the pros and cons and then make a proposal. I responded with a YES! I would love it if they went to 12s

[LizAnn]

I have heard from management that it is easier to cover an 8 hour shift as opposed to an 12 hour shift, in the event of a call off. I wonder if that has anything to do with some places wanting to eliminate the longer shifts.