rotating shifts?!

qcumba · Jan 15, 2009

rotating shifts is the only way we work, I presume you mean both day and night shift?2 weeks day 2 weeks night, first week is 5 days on next week is 2 days on and the same for the next 2 weeks just night rather than day, unless you work in trauma then its a long day week, a short day week, 7 nights on and then 7 off. as i say thats what we are used to so its not a problem theres enough time in between shifts to rest and do everything that needs doing. And we only have day and night shift - 07:00 till 19:00 and 19:00 till 07:00

scrabblern, RN · Jan 15, 2009

i had to read your message twice to understand what's going on. :lol_hitti

qcumba · Jan 15, 2009

Sorry about that didnt mean to confuse:cry:

kmommy876 · Jan 16, 2009

During our first year of training, we rotate 2 months on days and 2 months on nights, but that is just so that the new nurse can see the entire picture of care that takes place 24 hours a day. That way they are prepared to work either days or nights.

Those of you that do 2 weeks on days and 2 weeks on nights, what is the benefit to the unit to do it that way?

hikernurse · Jan 16, 2009

When we start we do half days and half nights. We have semi-self-scheduling and can request any combo as long as our night shifts are included. We only do 7-19 and 19-7 shifts on our unit.

Eventually we can work our way up to no nights if we are so inclined :).

Preemienurse23 · Jan 16, 2009

Rotating shifts sounds dangerous, just all the changes in your sleep schedule. I think most hospitals do 12 hrs, our unit is phasing out 8 hr shifts.

mauigal · Jan 17, 2009

i have worked 3pm-3am for the last 5 years and i don't rotate. i think in our unit "day shift" {any shift starting @ 7am} still has to rotate. i think rotaing is bad for you health. :cry:

littleneoRN · Jan 17, 2009

I don't know that rotating is much worse than working straight nights *if* you're one of those who sleeps at night on your days off. Either way you're still rotating your sleep schedule back and forth. At our hospital, most day night rotators do 3 weeks days, 3 weeks night. We have people who do 8s and 12s. I can't imagine doing 7 night 12s in a row as a previous poster described. 7 12s regardless of the shift is way too many in a row to be safe! The advantage for our hospital (administration) is that per contract rotators are cheaper than straight night folks. As a plus for a new nurse, like others mentioned, you do get to see the round the clock aspect of the care. In my particular unit though, we have no rotators. Nobody seems too sad about that. :wink2:

RN4Little1s · Jan 18, 2009

We do have rotating shifts. Based on your seniority, you are give x amount of days and x amount of nights. I'd say about the top 30% RNs get all days. You may defer your days and take all nights if you would like since days are considered the "luxury." I currently rotate - but it's not a fixed rotation. I move my week or 2 of days around, sometimes even doing a couple nights and then one day in the same week.

It throws my sleeping off sometimes, but I don't mind it too terribly. Days and nights make me tired and worn down in different ways, so I think rotating helps with that. But is it taking years off my life? Hmmmm....

lvnurs9 · Jan 18, 2009

I would die if I had to rotate working days and nights. I work nights. I DO NOT get up in the morning and function. I never have.

I work my 3 nights in a row. I take a 2 hour nap before my first shift and I sleep from 830am till at least 3pm between shifts. After my last shift, I sleep until I wake up (again 3pm-5pm) and then just go to bed late that night (12-2am). I sleep in till 10 or so, and function normally.

Most night shift nurses have a system that works for them. Most of us work nights because we are not morning people!

MandaAnda · Jan 18, 2009

Many units in the UK used to hire specifically for nights and/or have staff that worked only nights (and if you had a good group of staff that preferred nights, you wouldn't have that many day staff having to do night shifts).

However, due to some EU directive or other (someone else may be able to explain it better), the night staff now have to rotate onto days occasionally (although they still do mostly nights) and us day staff have to do up to six night shifts a month (most of us will do three nights back to back with at least two days off before starting another set of nights or going back onto days). I think the reasoning for this was because the night only staff couldn't take up teaching opportunities or get their mandatory training done while always on nights.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of nights (I'm about to start three) but could happily do one every now and then. But I'm also not a fan of waking up before 10am, but it's gotta be done.