Long shifts---how long is too long?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

How long are the nurses at your facility expected to/allowed to stay on duty consecutively? And how long do you think is too long, when judgment and abilties are too affected by fatigue to be safe? I'm hoping to hear from med-surg,

ER and OR nurses in particular.

Specializes in onc, M/S, hospice, nursing informatics.

I have worked a 7p-7a shift and then stayed over until about noon. Turned in to over 17 hours, plus an hour commute each way. I felt like I was dead, and slept for a good 12+ hours after that to recover. To me, judgement is impaired after more than 12 hours, especially if it's night shift. Our bodies weren't meant to stay up that long without renewing itself.

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I've done 16 hrs, but felt the same way as most people here, kind of zombie-like and double and triple checking everything..I've also done 5 12hr shifts in a row, and that is nuts.. by the last day I was just loopy! Of course I did these things to myself- CA doesn't allow mandatory overtime. I wonder how many of these situations happened because people were mandated to stay. Yikes.

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Specializes in Oncology.

I don't feel like 12.5 is that much worse than 8, or 17 is that much worse than 12.5. I've only done a few 17's though, and still wouldn't want to make those routine.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, OB, ER, Geriatric.

:heartbeatI work 12 hour shifts at a small hospital (16 beds) med surg, OB, ER. I find that I get clutzy and don't think strait after 13 hours on. Yes, we almost never are done after 12 hours!:redbeathe

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Specializes in still to decide.

Any shift I am on...lol

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Thank you for your replies!! What about if you are technically "on call" but then get called in and can't leave? I am wondering if this would change anything, especially from the viewpoint of any of the state BONs.

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Specializes in Med surg, Critical Care, LTC.

I work in PACU. The longest shift I have ever pulled is 24 hours straight - no breaks. It was a weekend I was on call, and we had one case after another in the OR - We have no 2nd call in PACU, so I had no one to call and give me a few hours of sleep. Even between cases, I was helping the OR, running labs, picking up blood for transfusion, running specimens, etc... It was absolutely brutal.

No, management does not care how many hours you work, just so you leave them alone. If I had called my manager or co-workers for a "break", I would have been on the poop list for a long time.

There is a law in my state, a person can work no longer than 16 hours before being given a 8 hour break between shifts. That is for "scheduled" work. The hospital gets around it by stating "you weren't scheduled to be on the clock, you were on call" therefore, we have to work as long as it takes - no one to break us. Perfectly legal. Totally sucks!!

Blessings

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