Anyone work 7days on/off?

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Aug 9

I know of a Critical Care Medicine PA that did something similar at our hospital. Most of the in-patient APPs work 3 12-hr shifts a week. Anything over 40 hrs a week becomes overtime (per union rules). He signed a waiver that he will work 6 12-hr shifts in a row over a 2 week period (rest of the days of that 2 weeks he is off work). The waiver allowed him to do this without having to be paid overtime for going over 40 hours per week. It worked for him because he lives out of state and has teaching commitments as a faculty at a PA program.

rn3052, ASN, BSN, MSN, CNA, RN, NP · Aug 10

Thanks for the reply. Here is MA there are a lot of positions that are going 7on/7off, an agreed schedule so it is not OT. I did have a colleague also look at a position in NH. It sounds great to have a whole week off, and the 7 on is 8-5 with no on call.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Aug 11

I used to, sort of. I was scheduled 12 hr shifts, did 3 on, 1 off, 3 on then 7 off. I loved it then, but I was also quite a bit younger and working a 72 hr week wasn't as physically demanding for me. Even several years ago I needed at least a day, sometimes two to recover before I had any energy. I wouldn't do it now.

CookieRoo9413, ASN, RN · Aug 11

If you were going to say it's 7 days of 12 hour shifts, I would say that sounds horrible. But since it sounds like it's only from 8 to 5, that sounds completely doable and worth it. I've never done 7 on 7 off, but I have done 7 shifts in a row (and more) where some of the shifts are longer (12) and some are shorter (6 to 10). My only reward was extra money and a day or 2 off. I say go for it. Sounds awesome to get a whole week off, and 8 to 5 is not bad at all! Best of luck to you!

NPdancer · Aug 11

This is my current schedule as a Hospitalist NP. I work 7 on 7 off. My shifts are 10 hour shifts. Not too bad. I love having my 7 days off and have racked up so much PTO because I schedule my vacations on my off weeks when I want to take them.

DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN · Aug 13

This is not in the NP context but the title caught my eye. Many years ago in the UK the typical night shift rota was 7 on 7 off, done on a Thursday to Thursday basis so with Sunday being the working week cut off, legal hours were never exceeded.

The 7 off was great, especialy when you added it either side of a week's annual leave. The 7 on could be gruelling, especially for older staff. I would imagine transferring this to a NP day shift issue raises added quality asssurance/tiredness issues when you don't have the "down time" you sometimes get on night shift? Early morning starts etc. Are you getting up at around 5am to be there 7 days in a row?

Are there any historical comparisons to be made with very old junior doctor's rotas? Back in the day before working hours directives, they had some gruelling shift patterns - and without the 7 off bonus.

floydnightingale · Aug 13

Sounds dodgy to me. In the US employees are either exempt (salaried, they can work you like a dog) or non-exempt (usually hourly). 'Non' means overtime rules apply, I'm unaware of exceptions to that. I did x-rays before nursing and they came up with a schedule over two weeks which was technically 4 hrs OT on one of the two weeks, like 36 + 44 to make 80. The schedule looked good to me and I fugured if it came down to it I'd complain but otherwise why not go with it. Years later a couple old x-ray colleagues got into MRI, I'd sit with them when I had a critical patient getting scanned, one day they told me I wouldn't get anything because I was part-time back then but they were getting paid. I didn't think too hard about it but not long after apparently they did an audit and I got a decent check. It wans't some fly by night operation, this place was on the level of a Mayo, you would've thought the hospital would've known better.