Longest Shift You've Worked

[SilverBells]

As nurses, there may be times we are required to work long days. The other day, I successfully worked my first 23 hour shift.

What is the longest shift you've ever worked? 

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

As for “managing to leave after only 10 hours” and “trying” to leave by 7pm, remember the wise words from Yoda: “Do, or do not do. There is no try.” 
And no more humblebragging. Tough habit to break, as we can see. But do it. 

[londonflo]

Silver Bells ----

I did work on the weekends and evenings to accumulate a house payment. My faculty position was salary, but my PRN in the hospital was paid at the top of scale for RNs. I negotiated. Don't be afraid to ask for money and negotiate hard...the worst they will say is no.  You may need to get a job outside of your current organization. Another outlet I made $$ in graduate school was home health and as a nurse for the "Boys and Girls club". If you need to go to another job (while not saying that to those around you) you will make sure to get out on time. And it is fun to do something different...it will reenergize you for your salaried job. 

[Davey Do]

12 hours ago, TriciaJ said:

Do not ever admit to those hours on the witness stand.

[Ernest]

@Silverbells - you are making the mistake of many new managers or administrators.  As an administrator, I have definitely made the mistake.  This is aside from any low self-esteem you may have that drives you to be a martyr.....if that is the case, get counseling; but if you found yourself falling into this role out of a sense of responsibility, I can relate.

1) there is always too much work.  No matter how long you stay, you will never take care of all of it.  It will replenish itself the next day.....the infinite stream of a manager's work has only one stop-cock or valve.  It's your decision to walk away from it.

This gets out of hand when you take on a persona as being "the MVP" for the team.  The one who is always around and always helping.  To be sure, no one expects it of you.  What they expect is that you will take care of yourself; and when it gets to be too much, you will pull back.  Therefore, PULL BACK if it is too much.

Is it too much?  Yes.  You wouldn't have posted about it if it weren't.

2) part of your job as a manager is to learn to be a good one.  You cannot do this if you do not learn and master time management.  IF you told a prospective future employer about your work hours, they would not hire you.  You are a liability to yourself, your team and your organization.  Your decision-making suffers and your work-life balance is off. So how on earth can you lead your staff an subordinates if you haven't a clue yourself?

3) make a list of items to do....prioritize.....work on highest priority.....allot time during the the work week to work on routine repetitive tasks, allocate time each day for unannounced issues/concerns.  What's left over?  Delegate it out.  Not enough subordinates?  Send some back to your boss.  If your boss can't do it, you need more staff. Write a business plan for another position. ......Plan to work 2-5 hours OT per PAY PERIOD just to manage time-sensitive critical items that can't be anticipated or delegated.  

[Davey Do]

On 6/25/2021 at 8:39 PM, SilverBells said:

This was my third 20+hour shift within 10 working days; last Monday was 20 hours, last Friday was 21 hours, yesterday was 23 hours. I took today off.

Slacker.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

My longest continuous time on the clock was 77 hours during a snowstorm that shut down the town for several days. We were supposed to work 16 on, 8 off with pay but the reality was more like 18 to 20 on. Partly because there just wasn't anywhere comfortable to sleep for the 8 hour off stretch so a lot of us just worked anyway.  The census was pretty full so there were only a couple of real beds available. The rest of the staff made do with the mats in therapy and some cots they pulled out from somewhere. 

After three days the city police started  transporting in relief staff and taking home the staff that had been working on snowmobiles. The city  apparently no longer does that but we have fortunately not had a storm that shut down everything for that long in quite a few years.  The city does an excellent job of keeping at least the snow emergency routes open no matter how bad the storm so as long as you can get to the main drag you can get back and forth from work and the SNF I worked in has a group of volunteer emergency transport people with 4 wheel drive trucks, plows and even snowmobiles that will get staff back and forth from work when needed. 

Now I work in dialysis where our policies and procedures would simply have the clinic closed if the weather were that bad.  The patients all have an emergency guide that provides them instructions on who to contact and what to do if the clinic is closed due to weather or other unforeseen emergency events. 

[FNPtobe2020, MSN]

Longest shift I’ve  ever worked was 17 hours. Due to Mandatory Overtime.

 

that said, SB, please leave work after your 8 hrs a day. If you are salary, that’s all you’re required to put in M-F.

 

get a hobby. FWIW, I met my husband on the facebook Dating app. It’s free. Which is a plus. Dated a guy for a few months before I met my now-husband. That first guy just didn’t seem to have time for me, so after we went out for my birthday last Summer, I finally saw the writing in the wall and bid him adieu. 
There are good men out there. You’re not gonna find one if you’re always at work!

 

Good Luck!

[SilverBells, BSN]

Day 4 success: worked only from 7am-6:30pm, 11.5 hours.  Still room for improvement but overall much better than working 16-20+hours.  I've still managed to accomplish the most urgent things, too

[LeChien, BSN, RN]

I've worked 26 hours straight when I was employed at a group home! By choice. They didn't have the help. This of course was back when I was younger and didn't need sleep to function, LOL.

[By-a-thred, RN, ADN]

Most states don't allow nurses to work longer than 16 hours (unless it's an emergency). Was your "23 hour shift" an emergency or bad planning?

 

[DesiDani]

I had a job where I worked 2 days a week with two 18 hour shifts back to back. When I was hired I thought "cool, I get 5 days off!!". Well I locked the keys in my car multiple times from being exhausted and I slept for 2 to 3 days when I was off. For me that is odd, because I am a night owl and LOVE to stay up late. My body was like "Nope. Not this time honey". I quit that place

[DesiDani]

On 6/29/2021 at 9:32 AM, beachynurse said:

You have to let go. What you are doing is UNSAFE and will potentially lead to harm to a patient.

There is an incident where a nursery nurse was caught on video tossing a newborn around (I'll see if I can find the link in a bit). She was praised as a good nurse that ALWAYS worked extra and picked up extra shifts ALL the time. To management (((cough))) naturally called her a good dedicated worker who always willing to help out.