How long do you stay at work after your 12 hour shift is over?

michaelzinn · Feb 14, 2017

I usually stay at most 15-30 mins after end of shift. Unless there was something acute that happened to my patient.

vintage_RN, BSN, RN · Feb 14, 2017

I usually leave within 15 minutes of the end of my shift. If something insanely crazy happens, I might stay an hour past. Only 2 times have I stayed 2 hours past when I had a code happen at shift change or something. There are nurses I work with who never take breaks and still stay 1+ hours past their shift every day....I seriously don't understand them or their time management.

allnurses Guide · Feb 14, 2017

I usually leave no later than 15-20 minutes past my quit time of 7am.

It always seems to depend on how busy we've been on the floor, of

course, but also the nurse's experience level... those two things

usually determine how late a nurse stays to chart.

I've been a nurse going on 14 years and have learned much about

time management, so I never leave more than 30 minutes past

shift change, even after the busiest night.

Oh'Ello, BSN, RN · Feb 14, 2017

Zero minutes. Unless I get an admit or am coding a patient in the last hour of my shift.

rural-rn-15, ADN, BSN, RN · Feb 14, 2017

I'm relatively new. I work in a small rural hospital where I am almost always the only nurse on the floor; I have to mix my own IVPB medications and do my own lab draws, do not have a computer in each room, and our EMR software is dreadful (it takes a *minimum* of 25 minutes to enter a shift assessment). So my time out depends on a lot of factors. If I am able to get my AM med pass done without a billion interruptions, and I'm able to sit right down afterward and chart my assessments -- if I have four or five patients instead of six or seven -- if not EVERYONE has two or three IVPB abx a couple of times on my shift -- if the hospitalist doesn't sit there popping out new orders every fifteen minutes for three to six hours -- if the computees aren't slow -- if nobody takes a nosedive -- I can be out as soon as report is over. There are days, though, when all of those things happen along with two or three admissions and two or three discharges (for which almost all of the paperwork is my responsibility, thank God for a good CNA and clerk, though), and I don't have time to chart about all the stuff I'm doing until night shift comes on and takes over doing the stuff. The latest I've stayed has been past midnight.

I'm getting faster. And I can't WAIT until we upgrade our EMR later this year; that will help immensely.

Meeshie · Feb 14, 2017

It depends on the oncoming shift. If Im just giving updates to the person who I relieved 12 hours earlier? I'll be out by 0715. If Im giving report to people who havent been on shift in a few days and/or I have more patients due to low staffing? 8am. If the night has been beyond awful and I've had rapids and sepsis alerts and no time for charting because of it all? Or I've had patients that were unstable enough with tasks that take time all night (like continuous bladder irrigations that need to be changed q30 due to the speed theyre running at)? The latest I've ever stayed was 0900 because I charted absolutely nothing on anyone from midnight onward due to emergencies.

aprilrazz · Mar 24, 2017

Depends. The last place I worked tolerated nurses constantly coming in late, like 7:20 every morning when shift starts at 7am. I show up around 15 minutes early every day and the nurses I relieved were out on time every day. Me on the other hand was told to clock out at 7am because I was constantly going into overtime. They went after me rather than correcting the issue with the late nurse (who they constantly made excuses for) and I now work elsewhere.

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · Mar 24, 2017

Depends on my job. If it is in my NICU job, I am clocked out the earliest possible (because report is short and I have everything tidy by the end of my shift). If it is my med-surg job, there are times I am clocked out on time and on occasion, I'm there an extra 30-45 minutes having to finish charting on my five, six, SEVEN patients.

I NEVER clock out before I am done with all my work though.

Peacetoyou · Mar 24, 2017

Someone posted that if you consistently have to stay an hour after your shift to chart that your time management skills are lacking. What a total crock. Anyone who gets out right on time every day is not doing good patient care, or they work at the rainbow and unicorn hospital where the staffing is more than adequate. With the acuity of today's patients that are in my ICU....there is no way that I am going to get out on time. There are exceptional days of course but 80% of the time we have over the top admissions or multiple crashes and codes...the paper work has to wait...the patient comes first. Just know it and expect it...it comes with the territory. On average with a 12 hour shift....I am there close to 14 hours.

Lauraingalls, BSN, RN · Mar 24, 2017

If I have a shift change delivery or c-section I will be there an hour late. I would say that I stay late at least 1 out of my 3 shifts. Labor nurses have an insane amount of charting and I chart by hand and on 2 different EMR systems. It is crazy but I usually don't have more than two patients unless I do Mom Baby and can have 3 couplets or 6 patients.