How did the 12 hour shift begin?

Editorial Team / Admin · Apr 7, 2015

[h=1]The Nursing Debate: 8-Hour Shifts vs. 12-Hour Shifts[/h]

The 12-hour nursing shift dates back to the 1970s when it was used as a way to retain staff during the national nursing crisis.

RNperdiem, RN · Apr 7, 2015

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.

anon456, BSN, RN · Apr 7, 2015

I guess either way, nursing is hard.

RNJill · Apr 8, 2015

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.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Apr 8, 2015

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.

allnurses Guide · Apr 8, 2015

I love my 12s, (although at the moment I have to do 8s as I am on light duty). Even on the floors, it just seemed to give me enough time to do more for my pts than I could on 2 8-hour days. I had less pressure to get things done by 1400, and I got my charting done as I went along. In the ER, the 11-23 shifts get hit the hardest, working the busiest 12 hours of the day, but on nights I still love them.

After this many years, I work parttime, 24 hours a week instead of 36; gives me 5 days off. Wouldn't've changed a thing if I hadn't had to. But I fully intend to resume my 12s as soon as I can.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Apr 8, 2015

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.

Libby1987 · Apr 8, 2015

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.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Apr 8, 2015

I am very fond of 12-hour shifts. Management will need to pry them from my cold fingers.

For my personal sanity I'd prefer to not see needy patients and demanding families five days a week. I prefer to not see managers or colleagues five days a week. I simply prefer to not be at work for an entire five days a week.

My scheduling preference entails condensed schedules such as three 12-hour shifts or two 16-hour double shifts. The three 12-hour shifts allow me to have four days off each week, and the two 16-hour double shifts enable me to have five days off in a row each week.

But dealing with five 8-hour shifts a week at the bedside, a.k.a. the peanut gallery? It is a form of hell on earth for me. I've been there, done that, and have the burnout wounds on my psyche to prove it. I certainly won't work five 8-hour shifts at the bedside again unless homelessness was on the horizon.

I would work five 8-hour shifts at a flexible desk job. I would not work five 8-hour shifts for any role that involved floor nursing or direct care.

CelticGoddess, BSN, RN · Apr 8, 2015

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

caliotter3 · Apr 8, 2015

Either way, I can get tired or sick and tired depending on how things are going. What I do not like about 12 hour shifts is when the employer does not want to pay the resulting overtime. I work in a state that has overtime after eight hours. Employers love to whine and wheedle and guilt trip to get employees to sign waivers of the overtime pay. That takes away the incentive to ruin my time off and my health for profit.