Director wants to change all 12 hr shift nurses to 10 hr!!!!

[truejewel82]

Hi All,

Many of you who work 12 hour shifts know how that is one of the greatest perks of nursing. I received a bomb when I got the news that in 8 weeks they were changing our schedules to 10 hour. I currently work in a city hospital in NYC that is unionized. But, I heard that the union can't really protect us in this case if the issue is staffing. One of the nurses approached the director of Nursing and said that our 12 hour shift is a big key to retention and job satisfaction, he said he needed DATA proving the above claims, but otherwise just wrote her off. I want to rally the nurses together and fight this because it seems like a violation of sorts. Everyone is upset and the morale is low. People have other jobs, and personal life issues that would make working an extra day a burden. Anyone have any insights, ideas that could possibly help???

[old&improved]

I wonder how they plan to staff the 4 hrs that are left over in a 24 hour day? I know where I work they could not do this. Adequate staffing is tough as it is. I suppose if you work at a really large hospital with a lot of staff and staggered starting shift times you could do it. However, I would not be happy with this change either. Some hospitals require 6 12 hour shifts and 1 8 hour shift every 2 weeks which I wouldn't like either.

[MunoRN, RN]

I take it then that each assignment would have 6 hours of overlap coverage per day? The one additional shift required per 2 week schedule to keep a full time FTE basically unchanged would sort of suck, but personally I'd be willing to trade that for 6 hours of overlap time per day.

[yournurse]

I actually wouldn’t mind this. I’ve heard studies about the increased errors with 12hr shifts. I get where they’re coming from.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

One problem is, who actually thinks a 10 hour shift would be a 10 hour shift?

[LovingLife123]

What are their plans to cover that 4 hours? Would you have extra coverage? 10 hours shifts don’t make sense. 8 hour shifts maybe as they can be evenly divided up.

I’d personally be finding another job. I like my 12’s. Does your hospital pay a lot of bonus and OT? Is staffing hard to find in your area?

I’m trying to decide how this can possibly make more financial sense. That’s the only reason they are doing it. To try and save money, but I’m trying to figure out how that works when you have those extra 4 hours a day out there.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

37 minutes ago, LovingLife123 said:

What are their plans to cover that 4 hours? Would you have extra coverage? 10 hours shifts don’t make sense. 8 hour shifts maybe as they can be evenly divided up.

I’d personally be finding another job. I like my 12’s. Does your hospital pay a lot of bonus and OT? Is staffing hard to find in your area?

I’m trying to decide how this can possibly make more financial sense. That’s the only reason they are doing it. To try and save money, but I’m trying to figure out how that works when you have those extra 4 hours a day out there.

Staggering staff and then short-shifting during the "deficit" hours, maybe?

[Mqnurse45]

I can see why your upset, that would be a deal breaker for me, driving a extra day a week to and from work would be a issue for me. I like working 7-330 due to having lots of time every day after work or three 12 hour days a week still allowing for a life the other 4 days. I think they are going to end up with staffing issues.

[truejewel82]

7 hours ago, Jedrnurse said:

One problem is, who actually thinks a 10 hour shift would be a 10 hour shift?

Exactly, 10 hour shifts will become 4 12’s. According to them the census is low , with the shortage it doesn’t feel that way. What I actually think will happen is that we will end up working more. Its already an issue with 8,10,12 hour shifts now. I work in a big city hospital in the OR.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, truejewel82 said:

Exactly, 10 hour shifts will become 4 12’s. According to them the census is low , with the shortage it doesn’t feel that way. What I actually think will happen is that we will end up working more. Its already an issue with 8,10,12 hour shifts now. I work in a big city hospital in the OR.

AND you'll probably get attitude about putting in for "overtime". (Maybe that'll be different as you're working cases in the OR, but on the floor I could sure see that happening.)

[DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN]

13 hours ago, Jedrnurse said:

One problem is, who actually thinks a 10 hour shift would be a 10 hour shift?

When we’re short our 12 hour shift isn’t 12 hours. Twice a week at least.

[Nunya, BSN]

Do they want to get 40 hours/week out of their FT workers instead of 36? Maybe suggest six 12s and an 8 in two weeks? That would still suck but not quite as bad...