Doing away with 12 hour shifts?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Feb 20, 2008

12-hour shifts were actually implemented in hospitals to avoid the sky-high employee turnover rates during the undesirable 2 to 10pm and 3 to 11pm shifts. Any facility that would actually return to the 8 hour shifts without providing a valid reason has a fool for a manager.

sleepyndopey · Feb 20, 2008

My facility just got a new DON and she is talking about doing away with the twelve hour shifts. She's going to lose a lot of nurses.

SDS_RN, RN · Feb 20, 2008

I would think that a 12 hr shift would be more cost effective than an 8hr shift. If this manager did not involve her staff in this decision I would suspect a lot of unhappy employees and I would be finding a diff job as well. A lot of nurses like the convenience of 12's that's one of the few perks that come w/ the job. I think that it was very inconsiderate of the admin to decide this w/out any research as to how it would affect their staff. Go figure right, they know all!

Good luck to you I hope you find a better job.

mifligirl · Feb 20, 2008

I love 12 hour shifts, i think they are what keeps me from getting burned out in nursing. 4 days to regroup before i go back into the trenches. :yawn:

lauramae18 · Feb 20, 2008

What are they thinking? Take your skills and take your committment to patient care to another facility that will be glad to have you.

Our facility is doing away with 16 shifts. Our manager is resistant to our problem solving, and we're losing 5 staff members. I work 2 12's and 2 8's so I get squeezed because she won't permit creative scheduling and the 7p to 11p is always messed up.

allnurses Guide · Feb 20, 2008

The psych facility that I used to work did away with all 12 hour shifts because they had (and still have) such a problem with people calling in, and so it's apparently easier to find coverage for 8 hour shifts than for 12's.

queenjean · Feb 20, 2008

They can pry my 12 hour shift from my cold, dead hands.

If all facilities would go back to 8s, I'd probably leave hospital/facility nursing all together. I can't do this job 5 days a week.

bluefabian · Feb 20, 2008

Oh... I've worked 9-5, 8 hours and 12. Not much change because I end up doing overtime to cover for staff shortage, sometimes doing nights 5-6 times in a row or only two days off within two weeks.

Sad, my work is my life. He, he...

Quickbeam, BSN, RN · Feb 20, 2008

Interesting thread. I stopped hospital nursing when the facilties in my area all went TO 12 hour shifts. I only had 8 in me. Working full time, I just couldn't recover enough in the down time to take on 12 more. I get why people like them...I'm just owning that I couldn't do it.

It may be relevant that at a huge national nursing convention I went to in November, the issue of older nurses and shift hours came up. The keynote speaker mentioned that a majority of older nurses surveyed said that they would stay but 12 hour shifts were driving them out of hands on care. As soon as she said it, a massive, spontaneous applause occurred. And this is the type of crowd that never makes a noise. The event turned into a brainstorming session on what will keep nurses. They overwhelming priority issue was creating 4 and 8 hour shifts that people could handle.

Who knows? Maybe this is being promoted as a staffing solution. I offer my sympathies to the OP...it really is awful to have your life turned upside down by work hour changes.

PMHNP10 · Feb 20, 2008

is it so horrible to offer flexibility? many units do it and although I understand the staffing nighmare that comes with varied shifts, isn't it better to take on a bit of this burden than lose nurses, hence have to retrain new nurses take over the nurses leaving as well as fill the added spots required to cover the midday? this really shouldn't be an issue; as mgmt., if you take care of your nurses it really is better than the alternative

SDS_RN, RN · Feb 20, 2008

if you take care of your nurses it really is better than the alternative

amen to that one! :yeah: