Changing to 8 hour shifts

CTnewgrad826 · Feb 4, 2015

I'd consider it if I got every weekend off but I know 5 days in a row is really tough for any nurse. As for 8 hour shifts compared to 12, you will probably feel a bit more rushed then you did but it's definitely doable. I only do 8's now and I don't mind them but sometimes you just can't get everything done and I rarely take my meal break. What kind of job is this if you don't mind me asking? Hospital, facility, office?

JMoney · Feb 4, 2015

It's a hospital job. I'd be going from bedside nursing with a 4:1 ratio to recovery room with a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio. It's something I've always wanted to do. I'm over being a bedside nurse, so I'm excited about the change, just concerned about the lifestyle adjustment. I'm sure over time I could go to a 12 hour position if I wanted to. But I find 12 hour shifts very tiring now.

JWG223 · Feb 4, 2015

Ok I feel silly even posting this. I'm currently working 3 twelve hour shifts a week. I'm thinking about moving to a unit with 5 eight hour shifts. I'm worried this will be hard to adjust to. I'm used to have 4 days off during the week for appointments, etc.. But this new position is mom-fri with weekends off. Any thoughts?

Yeah.

Screw that. There is no way I would do this job if I only had 8 days a month that I wasn't required to show up at the hospital. 3x12 is great.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Feb 4, 2015

I absolutely cannot devote five days per week of face-time to patients. I've been there, done that, and have the burnout scars on my psyche to prove it. I can work five days per week in a role that entails no direct care, but five days in a row of dealing with patients and their families? Forget it.

Working three 12-hour shifts per week and getting four days off per week is the happy medium that ensures my survival in this harried profession better known as nursing.

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Feb 4, 2015

Sorry, three days in a hospital is enough for me. I'll do 12 hours a night forever as long as I can have my free days off.

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Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Feb 4, 2015

Some of the nurses from my ICU moved to the PACU and they love it! And recovering, extubating, and sending a pt to the floor is very different work than med-surg, so you could find that the five days feel different than five days in med-surg would. Would it be possible to take the new position and then cut back to 0.9 or 0.8 down the road?

CTnewgrad826 · Feb 4, 2015

Yeah I have no experience beyond med surg but it sounds a lot more doable in the PACU with a smaller patient load.

USA987, MSN, RN, NP · Feb 4, 2015

I left a 5 day a week (8 hrs rountinely turned into 9+) job in an office for 3 12s. I hated having to take PTO for a doctor or dentist appointment! Not to mention I would rather sear my skin off than going grocery shopping on a weekend.

imintrouble, BSN, RN · Feb 5, 2015

Five eights with a 1 or 2 /1 ratio would be great.

Five eights med/surg. Not a chance.

Penguin67 · Feb 5, 2015

Loved 8 hours shifts! Just when you feel like leaving, it is time to get ready for shift change and patient handoff to the oncoming shift. And if you ever needed an RN to stay over for 2-3 hours to help when short staffed, they are fresh enough to be able to do that, while you almost can't worry about helping the next shift when you work 12 hours. I also found that folks who might have been feeling a little under the weather (headache, cramps) would tough out an 8 hour shift, but call out for a 12 hour shift. Yes, you do work 5 times a week, but it is in small enough doses not to be as overwhelming as a 12 hour shift. You can still schedule appointments in the early morning (if you work 3-11) and in the late afternoon (if you work 7-3), and 11-7 shift can pick their sleep time around their activities. The evidence-based research findings also support 8 hour shifts as being safer, because the majority of errors are made in the last 4 hours of a 12 hour shift. But, to each his own on shift preference. It's nice that some hospitals give choices.

JMoney · Feb 6, 2015

Thank you Penguin67. It's nice to hear something positive. I'm exhausted working 12s. If I work 2 in a row, the day after I'm so tired I don't do anything. It'll be an adjustment, but if I don't go forward, I can never go back. I just worry about hair, mc appt scheduling but other ppl manage it so I can. It's nice to have 4 days off when trying to plan a vacation, but I don't travel too much.