I'm currently a nursing student and things have been...interesting lately. After seeing nurses in my acute care clinicals and browsing this forum I've come to the conclusion that 90% (Yes, 90% exactly) of nurses are either feeling horrible, terrible and in some cases miserable.
So I have to ask those who work/worked 12 hour shifts: How do you feel about it? What is the experience like?
I'm sure a lot of it depends on what sort of unit one is on, but it seems dangerous to me for someone to work that long while caring for six or seven patients. It must take a toll on the ability to focus...
I will admit, I do have "12 hour brain" especially after three straight twelves. BUT I do love seeing positive outcomes in my patients when I am with them for 12 hour periods.
After doing 4 years of 12 hour shifts, I'm happy to be working a "normal" 8-hour day. I'm home every day by 5pm to see my kids, eat dinner with them, help with homework, and hell....even go to the gym! I get an entire hour for lunch that doesn't involve eating while charting and I get to even use the bathroom more than once a shift. True, I work in a completely different environment (outpatient psychiatric clinic) than when I was in the ICU but when I was doing 3 and 4 shifts of 12 hours at a time, I would spend my first day off recuperating from my work "week". It sucked. And it was never 12 hours.....because my shifts were from 645pm to 715am. I never got out of there on time; more like 7:30am, sometimes as late as 745am. Then, the drive home of 30 minutes. Add to that the drive in of 30 minutes and now you are talking 14 hours away from home. No thanks!
And my arthritis wasn't too happy with it, either Now that I work shorter hours, I'm able to care for myself a little better and my body feels better. I don't feel the burn out that I was getting close to in the hospital setting. True, I miss the longer time off, especially when I would work my weeks back to back so I could get a huge stretch of time off without having to use annual. That was NICE! And I don't like having to juggle doctor's appointments around a 5-day work week. But those are very small prices to pay for feeling "normal" and getting to do things every day that I didn't get to before. I felt like I would go days without seeing my kids (and in reality, I did). It felt like all I would do was work and sleep, work and sleep. If I were single, maybe 12's wouldn't bother me so much. But for me and my 3 kiddos, working 8's is much healthier.
I work 2-8's and 2-12's in an ICU. The 8's seem like 1/2 days and the 12's seem normal. I think it's better for the patient's.....you get a "feel" for them and don't have to wait till you have changes in VS etc. to realize something's going on. No, there is no leaving the unit, no lunch without answering bells between bites, or charting etc but that's life in an ICU. Sometimes a 12 goes by in a blink other times the clock just doesn't seem to want to move forward. I did 12's throughout my childrens lives. I just looked at the positive....when I got home, they were washed, in the pj's, homework was done and I got to cuddle them, hear about their day, read them a story and tuck them in. It is what it is...you just make the best of it.......always.
I far prefer 8 hour shifts. Much better for my kids to see me, much better physically for me to handle.
Plus, full time in my neck of the woods is 4 twelves, 4 off. Two days, two nights, 4 off. So, really your first day "off" is the day you get off at 7am and then have to sleep for a few hours. I don't really consider that a day off. I find 4 twelves in a row very grueling.
Working 3x12 is one of the biggest benefits to being a nurse. We have nurses in their 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's who all manage just fine on the 3x12 schedule - and not one of them would change back to straight 8's.
If you manage your life appropriately, you can get the requisite sleep.
A bit of a smug comment here. I manage my life quite appropriately, thank you. I get home at 8, get to bed at 9, and am still COMPLETELY drained when I have to show up the next morning.
I work in an ICU. I alternate weeks. 1st week i'll do 3x12, next week is 4x12, then 3, then 4...etc. When I was first starting 12 hour shifts a few years ago I hated it and was so tired that i felt like I couldn't function by the end of the shift. Now that I have worked 12's for a few years in a row i don't believe I would ever want to go back to 8hour shifts. And, like I saw earlier, a 12 hour shift rarely ends up being 12 hours. I work night shift and clock in at 1845 and it's rare if i'm ever out of the building before 0830. In the past I have worked 3x12 and 3x12 2 weeks in a row and still managed to get overtime due to long reports, Drs not being on time in the morning, having a late admission...etc. Currently ICU RNs are mandated to work 12 hour shifts unless special arrangements are made - but even if I was given the option I think I would stay how I am.
Now that I work shorter hours, I'm able to care for myself a little better and my body feels better. I don't feel the burn out that I was getting close to in the hospital setting. True, I miss the longer time off, especially when I would work my weeks back to back so I could get a huge stretch of time off without having to use annual. That was NICE! And I don't like having to juggle doctor's appointments around a 5-day work week. But those are very small prices to pay for feeling "normal" and getting to do things every day that I didn't get to before. I felt like I would go days without seeing my kids (and in reality, I did). It felt like all I would do was work and sleep, work and sleep. If I were single, maybe 12's wouldn't bother me so much. But for me and my 3 kiddos, working 8's is much healthier.
CS1234
5 Posts
I will admit, I do have "12 hour brain" especially after three straight twelves. BUT I do love seeing positive outcomes in my patients when I am with them for 12 hour periods.