OR RN work schedule?

Specialties Operating Room Nursing Q/A

Hello or RNs,

Do you mind sharing what a work schedule is like for OR nurses at your facility?

From what I have learned so far, it seems that OR nurses generally work every day, start early in the day and end early. Is it dependent on the region (perhaps ruled by state mandates) or facility-specific? I wanted to get a clearer assessment of the varying schedules there are in OR nursing (including what it is like being on call, PRN, etc.). Thanks!

10 Answers

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Monday-Friday, 8, 10, or 12 hours. The day shift starts at 0700, with two nurses starting at 0830. Mid-shift starts at 1100 and ends at 1930. Evening shift 1500-2330. Every third-weekend combination of three shifts work/call, one additional shift of call per week. Two holidays per year, work, and call. Level II trauma center, so staffed 24/7. Only a few permanent off-shift folks, so below a certain level of seniority means rotating to mid-shift or evening shift.

I work Monday through Friday: no holidays or weekends. I work 10 hours/ day,  op, so I get one day off a week. I can request the day or have it rotated. Some days I get off early if I want to because my cases will finish up early!

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

People who work 8-hour shifts work five days/week, 10-hour shifts four days/week, and 12-hour shifts three days/week. There is no mixing of different lengths of shifts other than when it is the ten or 12-hour person's week to rotate to evenings (those are solely 8-hour shifts, and everyone has to take a turn).

It will be done differently at every single hospital. You have 8-hour shifts, 10hr, and 12's. You have people that might start at 630am and come in every hour up until 1500 to start their days. Some ORs are strictly Monday-Friday. Some ORs are open and staffed 24/7 and frequently do cases at all hours. If you work at a surgery center, you likely work 8-hour shifts five days a week and come in at 6,7 or 8a. It'll be different everywhere you work.

Specializes in OR.

Work 36-hour work week.

8-hour days.

8-hour evenings x max of 4 evenings in a row. One of these evenings will not have a call attached and will end earlier than the other evening shifts, but it still is an 8-hour shift.

The call is attached to the other evening shifts meaning that you are on call from the end of the shift until the am (on call for a total of 7 hours)

In a one-month period, you usually work mostly day shifts from 0700 to 1530 hours, with 1 or 2 sets of evenings in the month, depending on where you are in your rotation.

Work 1 to 2 weekends in a month as the schedule rotates through all of the staff.

Work the day shift or evening shift on the weekend that we are scheduled to work & the evening shift has the call attached.

Have a 0900 shift as well to cover the later scrubs, and work this about one in 14 weeks.

Are full-time jobs & permanent part-time jobs that work the rotation.

Specializes in Operating Room, Long Term Care.

I work from 6:30 am to 3:00 pm. We take calls every 6th working day and every 6th weekend, which includes Friday from 3:00 pm until Monday at 6:30 am. Things can change daily due to cases being delayed or because of add-ons. Thursday, while on call, I worked 20 hours straight. My supervisor did give me the next day off to recover, which gave me a three-day weekend off. A lot of time on call, I never get called in, so I can't complain.

At my facility, we have 8, 10, and 12-hour shifts, as follows:

8 hours: 0630-1500, 1030-1900, 1300-2130, 1430-2300

10 hours: 0630-1700, 0830-1900, 1030-2100

12 hours: 0630-1900, 1830-0700

We also have a call sign-up sheet where all RNs and Scrub Techs sign up for a number of hours each pay period, usually the equivalent of about 1 FTE (8 hours) per month.

Are 12 hour shifts in the OR difficult?

scrubs4life20 said:
are 12 hour shifts in the OR difficult?

Depends on the day. Sometimes it flies by so quickly, and I don't know where the time went. Then there are slow cases that leave me counting the minutes. Either way, 12 hours does leave me starving and dreading the evening workout. I switched to 10 hours, and it's better.

During the week that you work 12s, does that mean you work fewer days? (3 days vs 5) or do you still work 5 days and count any hours over 12 as overtime?

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