12 hour shifts...3 is plenty

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hi everyone :)

I am enjoying my job, but I find with working 12 hour shifts, obviously on your days off, you're tired and recovering. No surprise. And running errands, relaxing, whatever it is you do. Since I've already been through burn out in my previous career (nursing is a switch), I've realized long ago the importance of work-life balance. And peace of mind. We work to live, but often, it is the other way around.

I have no children either. I find it interesting that people outside of nursing think we have so much free time working 3 days a week. Well...yes, and no. The 12 hour shifts are more like 13. I'm not sure about you, but I need 1 to 2 days to recover and get some things done. How do the rest of you feel? And...this is not a vent. I'm just curious to see the responses. Thanks.

Specializes in geriatrics.

I like nights. But unless someone is sick or on vacation, I know I would not want 4 regularly scheduled 12s. That's the nice thing about nursing though. There are various options to suit our individual preferences. I'm very grateful that I now have some options.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hey, could be worse. Your facility could put you on a schedule that included 5 12's every other week. That takes days to recover from.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in geriatrics.

No thanks :) I'm done with the 60 hour work weeks. I did that for 20 years off and on. To each his own. Personally, I would not accept a job somewhere that required 5 12s. That's just me. In the end, you do what you have to do. I'm not willing to burn out for any job again, so long as I can help it. Before I decided to switch careers, I gave this a lot of thought.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac.

Im torn. I like 12's because we can self schedule and therefore I can save alot of my vacation time, because I can arrange my schedule to where I get many days off in a row. On the other hand I work nights and rarely get quality time with my kids. I find myself tired and very snippy all the time. I never want to do housework or cook, because i'm the only one who does it! My job is exhausting physically and mentally, so 12 hrs is more like 13+ and by then my back kills me! I would love to work days, but my unit is a nuthouse on day shift and i wuldnt dare subject myself to that madness. I would love to work 5 8's!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
No thanks :) I'm done with the 60 hour work weeks. I did that for 20 years off and on. To each his own. Personally, I would not accept a job somewhere that required 5 12s. That's just me. In the end, you do what you have to do. I'm not willing to burn out for any job again, so long as I can help it. Before I decided to switch careers, I gave this a lot of thought.

Hehe. I hear you. I no longer work for that employer. 60 hour weeks will burn you out fast.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I started out my nursing career working 3 12 hour night shift and only working every 3rd weekend. It resulted in 7 days off in between the last weekend I worked and the next day I had to work! I felt like I didn't even have a job, it was AMAZING. Only problem, the floor and people I worked with were HORRIBLE. So I left that 12 hr shifts and worked 5 8hr nights at my new job (that I love), and after a year working that I was so burnt out i could feel my personality changing, I had to drag myself to work. I put in for a transfer to a floor with 12 hrs and have been working that since Aug 2010. I am so much happier with my time off 4 day weekends are amazing. Just got off of a 6 day stretch and was able to pick up 8 hrs of overtime! I understand the being tired and having it being more than 12 hrs...but it does work for my family and I. I would never go back to 8 hr night shifts with only 2 days off in-a-row every 2 weeks, horrible schedule, and I'm not really a day person, so this works for me. Now if I could make up my dream schedule I would probably choose 4 10s with 3 day weekends every weekend, but this is the REAL world... :) So i'll be HAPPY with what I have. :redbeathe

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in geriatrics.

I am so not a day person! So it works nicely for the people at my work who prefer the day shift. I have always felt there is something inhuman about waking up at 5 am, :p

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Telemetry, Oncology, Progressive Care.

I love 12 hour shifts and enjoy my 4 days off. Well, right now, I am working nights so I don't really feel like I have 4 days off. Hope that changes very soon. I did have a manager once try to schedule me for 4 12 hours in a row and didn't understand why I said no to this. I said 3 was stretching it.

People who think you have all this free time. Whatever! I don't think so. Especially when I'm sleeping during the day recovering from my night shifts. I work 36 hours a week. Umm, that is only 4 hours less than those 9 to 5ers. Plus they can still get stuff done on the days they work. We can't do anything on the days we work those 12 hour shifts.

Then there's the infamous - nurses make a lot of $$$! Yeah, right.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in cardiac.

i'm working as a teacher and coaching at the high school level. during season i pull 15 hour days 5 days a week plus a few hours on saturdays. i'm looking forward to starting my nursing career and working 12 hours! it might be more mentally exhuasting but at least i know i have the stamina for it! one day off every week, i don't get much accomplished at all.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in geriatrics.

Also, I always keep in mind with respect to hours that the more you work, the more the taxman grabs. So, in the end, it isn't worth it to put in all kinds of extra hours. In reality, you will only see about a third of that extra money for all your hard work.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Surgical ICU, Pospartum/Well Baby.

I work weekend nights. 3 in a row. Our census goes up and down and has been down lately so most weeks have been 2 nights with me getting called off my last shift. I sign up for as many call shifts as I can and if I end up getting called in earlier in the week then I just get called off from my scheduled shift later in the week because I'd be overtime. Because of the inconsistencies of my schedule and my refusal to use my vacation to make up for when I'm called off, I've picked up a second job. Now I work 3 days a week at the hospital plus 3 days a week as a school nurse. If I get too many weeks in a row where I'm working 6 days I do start to get burnt out, but it's better to have that guaranteed money than to "think" I have a job and only be working 2 (sometimes even 1) shifts a week. I do not have kids and I have a lot of student loans. This is why I work as much as possible.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I wouldn't do 8's. Simply because I'd be tired of coming up to work again and again. I work nights and on the nights I work, I'm usually up around noon or 1pm. I go out and do whatever, play some ball, eat, see the gf, etc. then I'm off to work. And if I'm back the next night, sleep like 10-5. I usually do 2 in a row, off 1, then work my 3rd. Usually once a month I take a day of PTO in between. So I'll work Mon, Fri, Sat...then be off til the next Fri, Sat.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment