Does anyone else have issues with working 12 hour shifts? I have been a nurse for four years and I am still exhausted from working 12 hours (not to mention doing two or more in a row). I know, I know, we get more time off...but I find that I have to spend my first one or two days off getting over the fatigue and I generally end up feeling better just in time to go back to work!
Please tell me how you feel (am I alone here with this?) and what you do to combat it?
i worked 12's about 6 years ago and didnt like them much. Went per-diem and did days only and now am back full-time on orientation. Just graduated and orientating to RN position. The 3 nights of 12 in a row kill me. However, lucky me they just had a 8hour day/night rotation come open so that is where im headed after orientation.
I have to consider also that i have two early teen girls(both in Jr high next year) and i have to be home to at least see they are in bed at a decent time during the school year. I'm not as tired when i work 8's either.
Maybe someday ill find that daytime/no night/no weekend/no holiday job. LOL If they still have them out there.
I think the desire/ability to work 8's or 12's is directly related to the person doing/not doing them and their lifestyle. Which by the way will change throughout our careers as nurses.
I worked 12 hour shifts since my nursing career began in the 1980's. By doing this I was off 4 days a week. Two years ago I switched to a nursing job that allowed me to work 8 hour shifts, Monday-Friday with holidays off. Oh what a welcome relief! No more weekends or Holidays!
Well the "relief" lasted two years, and I have found because of changes in lifestyle as I grow older, and children growing up, that I didn't like going to work five days a week. Even though they were only 8 hour days, it felt like I was going to work EVERY DAY of my life! I had no time to see the family who now live in other areas of the country, I had no time for hobbies, no time for anything besides going to work Monday-Friday.
So back to the 12 hours shifts, I have returned. I don't think I will ever want to do those 5-day-a-week-8-hours-a-day shifts again! Love the 12's because I don't have to work every day of the week now!
So what it boils down to is this: We (fortunatley) are all different people with different needs...some like 12's some like 8's...we also as individuals will find those "needs" change through the years and fortunatley, nursing is diverse enough to accommodate those changing/evolving needs.
I'm in your camp. I love my 12-hour shifts. When I worked 8s, I felt like there was not much continuity in my patient care (L&D). Plus, I drive 30 minutes to my job and don't really want to do that five days a week.
I just got off of 3 12 hour shifts in a row and have been totally exhausted all day. I got a call to see if I would work some extra today and said no, I was too exhaused and I'll be darned if I didn't get called later with the same request. I couldn't believe it! I work the day end of the 12's and it has been grueling 3 days. Leave me alone already!
Just working 8 hr shifts on nights, I wrecked my car 3x in 18 months. You could say I didn't tolerate the sleep dep.
12's left me grumpy and feeling like life contained three things: work, sleep and days off, but woe betide if your family actually NEEDED you on one of those days of work. Still, lots of people like 'em. I wouldn't consider returning to the hospital if my only option were 12's.
I work mostly 8's now, work some 12's. I love 12's, it's always been my favorite. Used to work weekend option in the ER, worked a 16 on saturday (7a to 11 p) then worked sunday (7a to 7p) unless we were short-staffed then I worked two 16's. I like 12's the best tho. I kept falling asleep on the WAY TO work on wekkend option.
I used to work 12 hours shifts in the ICU, have worked days and nights with 12's, and I got to hate them. No way I could do more than three in a row, and by the time I recovered, it was time to go back to work. Have worked for an RN for 16 years, and finally have the perfect job, in a hospital too! Outpatient Surgery Center, working PACU, 7 - 3, Mon - Fri, weekends and holidays off, and no call!!!!!!! It's great!!! I can leave early if really necessary too, we call it an EO, or early out!!!!!!!
I guess I just consider myself lucky to be in a profession where I have a choice of 8s or 12s. Most professions don't have the option. Personally, I love working 3 12s and having the extra days off, but that 3rd 12 is rough, and anything more than that, at my advanced age, is out of the question!
My workplace has been trialling 12 hour shifts for the past 3 months and I have had enough - I'm going back to the old 8 hour shifts from next week. I've found the 12 hour shifts incredibly drainingand they just seem to go on for ever. 12 ours is a very long time to just sit at the end of a bed in PICU. I've also found that i'm way more exhauted after 3 12 hour shifts than I ever wa after 5 or 6 8 hour shifts. But he big thing I'm looking forward to is havng my late shifts back - I'm not a morning person and I SO miss being able to start at 2:30 - that's the ideal kind of day for me!!
I also am a natural night person, and so is my wife. With that in mind I arranged my schedule to work 6 12's on with eight off between them. I work the last 3 nights of a payperiod and the first three of the next. After the last one she usually gets me up after about 4 hours or so of sleep and we hang out at home that day. After that I am right back on a day schedule for anything we want to do. I guess the ability to switch around like that came from my military career, we often flew for 10-13 hours with only a 10 hour break until we went again. That and we could go at anytime of the day or night.
I would hate to have to work 5 days in a row to get my 40 hours, just shoot me now!! Esp since I can work 6 and get my 72. Then I get my mini vacation, every other week.
Specializes in General, Trauma, Military (Spec Forces).
Our unit gives you a choice of 7.30am to 3.30 pm 1pm to 9pm or the long day 7.30 am to 9 pm. Thats 12.5 hours paid time 3 of those reminds me how old I'm gettiong )
)
meownsmile, BSN, RN
2,532 Posts
i worked 12's about 6 years ago and didnt like them much. Went per-diem and did days only and now am back full-time on orientation. Just graduated and orientating to RN position. The 3 nights of 12 in a row kill me. However, lucky me they just had a 8hour day/night rotation come open so that is where im headed after orientation.
I have to consider also that i have two early teen girls(both in Jr high next year) and i have to be home to at least see they are in bed at a decent time during the school year. I'm not as tired when i work 8's either.
Maybe someday ill find that daytime/no night/no weekend/no holiday job. LOL If they still have them out there.