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Is it possible for a 23 year old woman with no kids and still in shape to work five 12 hours days?
I know a fair number of night shifters -- both RNs and CNAs-- who prefer 6 on, 8 off (12 hr shifts). I would prefer it for nights but not days. But plenty of people do it. Just don't schedule anything else those days and really focus on getting 6-8 hrs sleep. Also consider, are you really there only 12 hrs? Or are the shifts actually 12.5hrs long with a meal break and you stay late/come early to prepare or handoff are slow etc. As others have said, consider your commute too.
Exactly. My shifts are 13 hours plus. Why? I'm new to ICU and I have no choice but to get to work really early to prepare for my day. I find myself leaving on time most days but that is because I spend my extra time before report to go through my charts and assess my patients.
When I worked in dialysis, we worked 14 hour and 16 hour days, then add in your commute. They refused to hire appropriate staff, so if you ever wanted to take a couple of days off you would get scheduled back to back for 6 shifts. It was HORRIBLE. I do not recommend this. This is how I finally had the incident where I dozed off for a second on my ride home and could have killed some innocent person because I was too stupid to say no. I hit the rumble strip and woke right up thankfully, and that was only shift 4 out of 6. This was what prompted me to find a new job, so I guess I should be thankful.
And sure you could do it, but just because you can doesn't mean you should. By the end of the stretch you'll be tired and short tempered and will need a lot of time to recover.
A century ago, the STANDARD work schedule was 5-12 hour shifts PLUS a half shift on Saturday. No paid vacation, no paid sick time.No judgement, just sayin'.
Right, and the average life expectancy was probably less than 50 years... Not saying its related, but all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. And cranky, tired, sick, etc.
tigerlogic
236 Posts
I know a fair number of night shifters -- both RNs and CNAs-- who prefer 6 on, 8 off (12 hr shifts). I would prefer it for nights but not days. But plenty of people do it. Just don't schedule anything else those days and really focus on getting 6-8 hrs sleep. Also consider, are you really there only 12 hrs? Or are the shifts actually 12.5hrs long with a meal break and you stay late/come early to prepare or handoff are slow etc. As others have said, consider your commute too.