If your job went from 8 hour to 12 hour shifts...

RNperdiem, RN · Sep 28, 2007

When I started in my first nursing job, I worked 7-3. When 12's were started, they were mixed in with our usual hours. I was sometimes scheduled 7-3 5 days that week, other weeks I was scheduled 2 day 12 hour shifts and one 7-3 shift. Our 12 hours were from 7-7 only. I don't remember it causing any difficulty. Evenings were a very difficult shift to staff, and mixing in some 12 hour shifts eliminated the need to hire as many nurses for straight evenings.

EmmaG, RN · Sep 28, 2007

I've been doing 12 hour shifts for so long now, just the mere thought of working 5 days a week would make me suicidal. Or homicidal. Or both.

Kelly_the_Great · Sep 28, 2007

Hey TooterIA,

My facility (small like yours - 30 beds ) went from 8 to 12 hour shifts. There was no transitional period and I believe administration discussed the change with the charge nurses only (no input from staff) and then implemented the change.

Initially, there was a lot of grumbling but thus far no one's quit over it. I think people enjoy their days off and for folks like me (new to the hospital environment) it gives me addtl time to get my ducks in a row (paperwork).

That said, child care arrangements can be difficult, by the end of your extra shift - you definetly are feelin' the extra hours and it seems as though the ratio has increased as well.

danielleRN76 · Sep 28, 2007

Where I work there are a variety of shifts. In the in pt units it's a mix of 8 and 12 hour shifts. Usually if you work 12's you do 3 a week for 36 hr full time. I had a hard time at first adjusting to the 12's but once I did, I love it!! The in pt shifts are 7-7 am or pm. I am an ER nurse and we have wacky hours available because of a pod system that we use. we have 7-3, 7-7, 9-5, 11-11, 5p-1a, 3-11, you name it. I do 12 hour days and later this week change to 12 hour nights. Our night shift has 15% differential plus an extra $3 an hour, plus if it is the weekend, you get that plus another 5% shift diff, so the pay is awesome.

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2007

I have worked a number of different shifts, the one I disliked the most was 5 8 hour shifts a week. My favorite and I will probably never see it again was 5 six hour shifts Monday thru Friday, 12 hours on Sat and Sun then 7 days off. We got full time benefits and had to work one extra 6 hours shift somewhere every 2 weeks. My next favorite is 2 12's and 2 8's per week and being able to utilize one request once every schedule that WILL be honored.(schedule is 4 weeks and is self scheduling) One facilty I worked 2 16's and one 8 but that was not on a high acuity unit as I would be burned out after the first 16 and I only did that for about 7 months.

With a facility changing their shift schedules after they hire you, you can find another job if that shift/schedule change does not work for your Real life committments.

If you like the facility and they are receptive to staff issues then you can suggest some give and take options that you and the majority of your co-workers are adamant about. Things like, yes we would work straight 12's but would like after school daycare vouchers or offer a daycare at this facility. This worked at one facilty near me about 15 years ago and they have an awesome daycare on campus. Or yes I would work straight 12's but I need to have a self scheduling option to take a PTO once every schedule and it will be honored. Some facilities may be open to offering a steady schedule to a few nurses, you will know that you work the same days/shifts every week and will be on that permanant schedule.

Good luck, hope you can make the best of this change!!

tntrn, ASN, RN · Sep 28, 2007

I work per diem and am blessed to only have to work 1-2 shifts a week. Our place has 12 hours and 8 hour shifts. Scheduling is nightmare, but 8 hours were first, our contract protects those who were hired as 8 hour nurses. They'd have my resignation within minutes if they tried to force 12 hour shifts on me. I'm wasted by the end of 8 and in addition I need a full 8 hours of sleep to be fully functional the next day (even in my private life.)

I personally don't think working 12 hour shifts is a safe, for anybody!

cmo421 · Sep 28, 2007

I always said I could never work all 12 hr shifts,too long,etc.... But when taking a new job I did 3 12hr shifts and loved it. was able to still pick up OT if I wanted and still have a life. We only had 7-7, I would love to try 11-11! Good luck!

TooterIA · Sep 28, 2007

Thanks for everyone's thoughts so far!

Tntrn I want to nip this in the bud before my question turns into a debate:

I personally don't think working 12 hour shifts is a safe, for anybody!

This is not what I am questioning. I am asking how other hospital have handled the change of going from 8s to 12s :)

Kelly_The_Great your experience is exactly the stories I am wanting to hear. That is interesting your employer only discussed it with the charge nurses before implementation, I would think that would cause some animosity of the staff nurses thinking they are not good enough to give their opinion. Glad to hear no one quit and that people enjoy it, I also think most of the staff in my facility would like 12s if they gave them a chance but I guess for now it is their perogative to not do them.

Keep your thoughts coming!

Jessica

Xbox Live Addict · Sep 29, 2007

I hate 12's. They are too bloody long. When your day is going badly, there seems to be no end to the misery. Plus, when a facility I was working at went from 8's to 12's, I was a 3-11 nurse and you got screwed either way: the shifts are 7A-7P or 7P-7A. There's no 3P to 3A, 11A to 11P, or the reverse. There's no justice for evening nurses either way.:angryfire My choices were: work all night long and be zombified and mean by morning, or drag myself out of bed at the crack o'dawn and go in to work zombified and evil. Then when you do finally get off, you go straight to bed, and next thing you know, guess what? Time to get right back up and go back to work. Three days on, three days off? Whatever. They'll keep trying to drag your tired hiney out to work extra anyway. We weren't given any choice in the matter, the Administration just up and told us "You're working 12 hour shifts from now on."

On the other hand, although I'm an 8-hour-day nurse, I don't like the traditional nursing shifts either. None of them are really conducive to life outside of work. A lose-lose-lose situation all around. If you work day shift, you practically have to be in bed while the sun's still up, and I gave that up years ago when I left grade school. No thank you. I hate early mornings - see above. On the other hand, evening shift gets you off work when all your friends and family are likely to be going to bed (usually because some screwup or other has forced you to work an hour over.) And night shift... well, let's just say that waking up with an ugly headache and a rancid taste in your mouth related to trying to sleep when the daytime sun is blazing in through your windows gets kind of old after a couple days. And then, of course, "So-and-so called and she has a broken hangnail and won't be able to work. You'll have to stay over and work a double." On the rare occasions that So-and-so DOES bother to call, rather than being a NC/NS.

Which is why I am now glad to be working at a Plasma Center, with shifts like regular, civilized people, day hours only, no more nights. No more doubles when you've already got a raging stress/migraine headache or a backache. I work 9A-530P or 11A-730P. I don't ever want to go back to inpatient nursing again. I've been looking for an out-patient nursing job for years. I'm hanging on to it for dear life.:beer:

mosin46 · Sep 29, 2007

i was around when 12 hour shifts started. i think as an of shoot of the baylor type plans. now,i haven't heard of any standard direct patient care jobs in my part of the state in years. where they exist, they are replaced with a 12 hr slot and not refilled with an 8 hr person. let's face it administration loves the 12 hour shift. they save a huge amt of money with them. they can cover a given patient assignment with 2 nurses a day instead of 3. a 36 hour week is considered as part time(.9 FTE) most places so the cost of benefits is less per nurse. when people get off late (and who doesn't?) it is still usually not into overtime pay for > 40 hours. management never cares about fatigue,more health issues and well studied increases in errors. why do you think that the unions fought so hard in the 20s,30s and 40s for the 8 hour day?

caliotter3 · Sep 29, 2007

It was not in healthcare, but I once worked for a company that implemented a major change in shift hours in conjunction with a change in the labor laws regarding overtime in our state. At the same time, they implemented major department changes regarding personnel. Department managers got to "pick" employees for their respective departments and shifts. No regard for child care, transportation, or other issues for the lowly employees. Also, if you were not "picked" you were laid off. I was lucky in that I had found a new job at this time and didn't have to go through this BS.

My opinion on any such change: make plans to go with the changes or go elsewhere. I have found some very flexible and unique situations in home health and like the little bit of flexibility that I find when it works for me. Unfortunately, in most situations in home health, I have found that seniority has not been used as a factor in scheduling individual nurses. You have to make yourself the squeaky wheel to get what you want or need.