Many hospitals and other types of healthcare facilities made the conversion from 8-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts many years ago, mostly due to difficulties staffing the 3-11 shift. This article will discuss the 3-11 shift and other random issues surrounding shift work for nurses.
NursesGeneral NursingArticle
One of my patients, a hard-nosed nurse who retired from the profession after more than 30 years of duty, struck up a conversation with me not too long ago about shift work.
"What hours do you work?" she interrogated. Her New Jersey accent was notable, especially considering the fact that southern drawls are the most common intonation in the geographic region where I live and work.
I replied, "I work from 6 o'clock in the evening until 6:30 in the morning."
She chimed, "Those are hard hours, but they seem a hell of a lot better than the 3-11 shift. I worked the 3-11 shift back in the days when all TV programming would cut off at midnight. Once midnight struck, all of the channels would repeatedly play the instrumental version of the Star-Spangled Banner. Nowadays cable TV has shows and movies 24 hours a day."
"I used to work the 3-11 shift," I added. "In fact, I worked those hours at my very first nursing job after graduating from school. Personally, I wouldn't go back to working that shift unless I was about to become homeless."
"You crack me up," my patient laughed. "I got off that shift as soon as possible. It took up most of my afternoon, all of my evening, and part of my night. I was glad when the hospitals finally went to the 12-hour shifts."
This recent conversation got me thinking about shift work. Many hospitals made the conversion from 8-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts many years ago, primarily because of difficulties maintaining adequate staffing on the 3-11 shift. The main issue with going back to 8 hour shifts is keeping the 3-11 shift covered because relatively few nurses like to do it full-time anymore. This shift is simply not conducive with family life, especially if one has school-aged children. In addition, many childless singles (myself included) do not particularly like this shift.
To be fair, there are people out there who absolutely love working the 3-11 shift. Moreover, some nurses contend that they cannot handle 12-hour shifts due to fatigue during the last four hours. Also, a study or two has implied that 8-hour shifts are actually safer.
12-hour shifts have their benefits because they eliminate the need for one additional shift change per 24-hour period. This may improve continuity of care since errors due to skipped information are reduced as the result of two nurses receiving report in a day instead of three. Likewise, many nurses prefer 12-hour shifts because they enable one to have up to four days off per week. Besides, 12-hour shifts may help to simplify staffing at healthcare facilities because only two shifts need to be covered instead of three.
I now work 12-hour shifts because I prefer them since there's no way I'd want to be at the bedside five days per week. Anyhow, I was never able to establish a routine while working the 3-11 shift. If left to my own devices, I awakened at noon, slowly got ready for work, worked the shift, then arrived home sometime before midnight and watched television or did mindless internet browsing until 4am before settling down to go to sleep. I was able to create a solid routine when I worked midnights (11-7am) or days (7-3pm), but my time largely went to waste when I worked evenings.
In summary, many healthcare facilities went to 12-hour shifts for specific reasons that revolved around their struggles to staff the 3-11 shift. Countless nurses love 8-hour shifts and many others are fond of 12-hour shifts, so it would be ideal if facilities devised a happy medium to satisfy all parties.
