Are 12 hour shifts safe?

I'm sorry, I was spelling "Balard" wrong.....it's Baylor.

I HATE the 12 hour shifts. To me, this is something hospital administration has "snowed" nurses into believing is a great benefit when it actually most benefits the hosptial. For example:

- When have your ever really worked a 12 hour shift? Most of the time it is a 13 or 14 hour shift. And yet, do you earn overtime? Nope, because you probably never get to the over 40 hour mark to start earning overtime. Benefit goes to the financial administrator of your hospital.

- When you are off (trying to recover!) how many times have you received desperate calls to work extra shifts because the unit is short? Hospital Admin sees our "4 day off time" as a much expanded potential work force to be drafted PRN. And, sadly, so many nurses cave in and agree to work more, even when tired and still recovering from regularly scheduled shifts.

- When working your 12 hour shifts, do you get expanded times for "breaks" (the Tech's do)? Do you get to leave the floor and take a leisurely lunch break for at least an hour because you never get to take breaks? Nope. You just keep plowing on all day long, jumping everytime the call bells go off, or a doctor calls, or a transportation person needs help moving a patient, etc.... Do you get paid for the time you didn't take a break or lunch?

- How is your nurseatient ratio? If staffing is "short" a 12-hour shift can really be exhausting AND create great potential for error if you are carrying a high patient load. And when counting patient load...don't forget to count all the admissions and discharges during your shift. I once worked at a hospital that promoted the folklore that "we staff a 4:1 ration." The truth was that you never had less than 5 or maybe 6 patients on days. And, during that day it was not unusual to discharge 2 or 3 and get 2 or 3 new patients. By my count, this really means that I had anywhere from 6 to 9 patients that long 12+ hour day.

- Do you like working like a "coal miner" - going in in the dark and comming home in the dark? Are you overweight or nutritionally deficient because you eat main meals at 10 PM after getting home so late and fall into bed to repeat the process the next day?

- Is your family missing you at dinner or other family time events that usually take place prior to your late arrival after a 12-14 hour shift which is almost 50% of your life?

- Think of it this way.... why should you work yourself down so hard for 3 days a week that it takes you a day or two to "recover" from working so hard? Work should fit into your life so that it takes some energy but not enough to where you loose several days trying to rest up so you can go and do it all over again!

These 12+ hour workday situations are now so common that it is quite hard to find a position that offers 8 hour days. But I have found one and I am very happy to be living what I consider a "normal" working life.

Just my opinion. Thanks for letting me sound off!

I HATE the 12 hour shifts. To me, this is something hospital administration has "snowed" nurses into believing is a great benefit when it actually most benefits the hosptial. For example:

- When have your ever really worked a 12 hour shift? Most of the time it is a 13 or 14 hour shift. And yet, do you earn overtime? Nope, because you probably never get to the over 40 hour mark to start earning overtime. Benefit goes to the financial administrator of your hospital.

- When you are off (trying to recover!) how many times have you received desperate calls to work extra shifts because the unit is short? Hospital Admin sees our "4 day off time" as a much expanded potential work force to be drafted PRN. And, sadly, so many nurses cave in and agree to work more, even when tired and still recovering from regularly scheduled shifts.

- When working your 12 hour shifts, do you get expanded times for "breaks" (the Tech's do)? Do you get to leave the floor and take a leisurely lunch break for at least an hour because you never get to take breaks? Nope. You just keep plowing on all day long, jumping everytime the call bells go off, or a doctor calls, or a transportation person needs help moving a patient, etc.... Do you get paid for the time you didn't take a break or lunch?

- How is your nurseatient ratio? If staffing is "short" a 12-hour shift can really be exhausting AND create great potential for error if you are carrying a high patient load. And when counting patient load...don't forget to count all the admissions and discharges during your shift. I once worked at a hospital that promoted the folklore that "we staff a 4:1 ration." The truth was that you never had less than 5 or maybe 6 patients on days. And, during that day it was not unusual to discharge 2 or 3 and get 2 or 3 new patients. By my count, this really means that I had anywhere from 6 to 9 patients that long 12+ hour day.

- Do you like working like a "coal miner" - going in in the dark and comming home in the dark? Are you overweight or nutritionally deficient because you eat main meals at 10 PM after getting home so late and fall into bed to repeat the process the next day?

- Is your family missing you at dinner or other family time events that usually take place prior to your late arrival after a 12-14 hour shift which is almost 50% of your life?

- Think of it this way.... why should you work yourself down so hard for 3 days a week that it takes you a day or two to "recover" from working so hard? Work should fit into your life so that it takes some energy but not enough to where you loose several days trying to rest up so you can go and do it all over again!

These 12+ hour workday situations are now so common that it is quite hard to find a position that offers 8 hour days. But I have found one and I am very happy to be living what I consider a "normal" working life.

Just my opinion. Thanks for letting me sound off!

Working 8 hours make me feel like my day is compressed and I feel rushed, after all I have the same amount of patients working an 8 or 12 hour day.

It has been my experience that most of my medical errors have occurred towards the end of shift, when I am most fatigued, and this is with an 8 hr shift. I work with nurses that like to do doubles, and many times one has to help them because they are to tired, or one feels like one should help them. 12 hours shifts do not make sense to me from a health and safety point of view. As nurses we should realize our bodies need rest. We are health role models for other workers, so what kind of example are we giving them. I wonder if a study has been done comparing med errors by nurses that work 12 hr shifts versus 8 hr shift nurses. My guess is that is higher. So my question is..are 12 hour shifts good for your health, and the well being of your patients?