How did the 12 hour shift begin?

When I worked, staffing the 3-11 shift was always a problem. I think 12 hour shifts eliminated that problem.

I have actually worked 5 days in a row, day after day of the same problem patients, running around knowing that I don't have a day off the next day to recover. Many days I would end up staying late to finish up anyway and would be tired and saving some energy for the next day's work that I never did much after work when working 8 hour shifts.

It is all a trade-off.

I guess either way, nursing is hard.

Um, I absolutely loved my 12 hour shifts. Now granted I'm single and had an easy commute, but I still often stayed late as a result of charge nurse duties. However, knowing that those glorious stretches of days off awaited me made it alllll worth it.

Now, fast forward to my new NP life and it is very different. Salaried so it is technically 40 hours a week that I'm paid for (academic med center setting) but realistically I get there at 730 before the patients start coming in at 8 and then on a reallllllly good/realllllly rare day I leave by 530. Typically it is pushing 630 by time I leave. This is not meant to me a woe is me commentary, and I know I'm not commenting in the RN realm anymore, but my point is simply that unless your shifts are truly very close to 8 hours they seem to just suck up more of your life.

Agreed. I now work 5x 8 hour shifts, which are actually 9. I'm more exhausted than I ever was working 12s because there's no recovery time in between.

I used to have one week off in my rotation every 5 weeks. Now it's two measly days.

I started out on 5 8's on nights, talk

about no life. And most nights we weren't out on time or were mandated to work a double and had to be back

that night. Fast forward 5 years and we were allowed to work 12's. It was such a relief!

Yes they are hard, but the extra time off is worth it to a good majority.

Going to back when it started, at least to the 80's, 12's were paid time and a half after 8 plus diffs, and it wasn't insane back then, I remember taking my breaks and being social.

These 12-hour long insane shifts that leave us tired both physically and mentally, and allow just enough time to get home, shower and sleep before going back to work-- and we hardly see our families during our work runs-- how did this all start in the first place? Whose bright idea was it?

While it might be convenient to only work 3 days a week, those three days are hard and take 2 days to recover from. It's not healthy long-term. By the end of a shift nurses are tired and mistakes can happen.

Any insight?

I used to work 8 hour shifts and I was tired at the end of my shift. I was rushed, and I was exhausted at the end of the week. I do better with 12 hour shifts. I guess, to each their own. I won't go back to 8 hour shifts as a floor nurse. EVER

In my other life, when the world revolved around 8 hour shifts, there was a push for 12s. It wasn't nursing.

The biggest reason was money. You can staff your organization with fewer people if you work 12 hr shifts.

Hiring fewer people, equals spending less money.

The bigger the organization, the bigger the savings.

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