night shift (7 on 7 off) 12 hour shifts

RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN · Sep 9, 2008

Sounds freaking ridiculous to me! Are you serious? 7 days on sounds like a total nightmarish kind of job. It's all I can do to make 3 days in a row. I sympathize with you.

mcknis · Sep 9, 2008

I wouldn't do it because that just sounds like a ridiculous schedule. I get tired if I do 4 days in a row on 12hrs, but 7 just sounds difficult to me.

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Sep 9, 2008

The following three days off you are going to be out of commission and practically recovering. I've done it and would do it again only if I needed the long days off stretch to go out of town or something without having to request time off; but not permanently.

Good luck!

love-d-OR · Sep 9, 2008

I knew a nurse that worked 6 days straight and 6 days off. She worked 11p-7a though. She inentionally worked this schedule so she could spend time with her kids on her days off. Is this schedule andatory for every employee at your work place?

ibmaryann · Sep 10, 2008

This is the schedule that all the night nurses on Pediatrics do at my hospital. They say that the night nurses like the schedule, therefore I have no choice if I want to work this department. Is their no one that works these kind of rotation at your hospital.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Sep 10, 2008

No one is permitted to work that sort of schedule in our hospital unless some of those shifts are OT and in PICU. Our collective agreement (an advantage of being a union facility) states that "Except in cases of emergency or by mutual agreement between the employer and the employee, shift schedules shall provide for... not more than four consecutive extended shifts" (11.625 hours). PICU has self-scheduling but is still expected to abide by the rules except as they apply to OT... of which there is a ton! I've known one nurse to work 20 or more 12 hour nights IN A ROW! She schedules four at a time then picks up OT on her days off and nobody stops her.

NeoNurseTX, RN · Sep 12, 2008

I can't handle 4 in a row...7 would be completely unsafe!

bethem · Sep 12, 2008

That's what our docs do. They do three days and four nights, each 12 hours, then 7 off, then four days and three nights, then seven off, every month. I dunno, it seems to work for them. They don't make the nurses do that, though.

I think 7 nights in a row is a killer, especially if you aren't a night person to begin with.

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2008

OMG....7 nights in a row? How the HECK are you supposed to be safe after 3? I would not agree to this..and contact the board of labor in your state. Seriously, would any other job agree to work 84 out of 168 hrs in a week? That's not even counting drive time, report, outside committments......RUN, RUN, RUN away and protect that license you worked so hard to earn. Sounds to me like management is trying to put one over on it's workers. Also...wouldn't working that many hours have you being paid overtime all the time? Are nurses salaried and considered "exempt" employees at your workplace? Seriously, call the board.....and find a new job pronto!

ibmaryann · Sep 12, 2008

The workers are not being made to work that. They choose that. If there was another nurse on the other 7 day shift that would change with me we would do the 2 on 2off 3 on 3 off (or something like that)but all of the other workers like they hours. They say they would no be able to have a normal life if they worked that schedule. I only have to work it because everyone else wants those hours. 3 days are on one weeks pay and then 4 on the other weeks pay making it 8 hours of overtime. I havent worked the shift yet but i have been told that they like the hours.

TangoLima · Sep 13, 2008

We have some nurses who work 6 straight days out of 2 weeks. So, they end up working 6 on 8 off. This is strictly by choice.

I don't know if I would want to commit to somewhere that I HAD to work 7 on 7 off. Tough decision since that is where you really want to work.

Good luck.