4 12s a week?

[jaimealmostRN]

Does anyone regularly work 4 12 hour shifts a week (or 3 12s and an 8?)? Seems like a good idea to work 2 days then take one off and then another 2 days on. Opinions anyone? :)

[PJMommy]

I struggled to find a good schedule when I first went to nights. Some people like the couple on, one off, then back on again. For me, I flip my schedule back to days when I'm not working (that happens with four young children and a husband who live in the "day world"). In my case, one or two off is worthless for anything except sleeping. I try to do a minimum of 3 in a row but typically run with 4 on, one off (for sleep), 2 on...then 7 off. I sometimes do 5 in a row and find it to be do-able. Most I've ever done was 7 in a row and found the 6th and 7th to be very difficult.

Bottom line, I try to schedule as many shifts clustered together as I can with a max of 5 in a row...then schedule longer periods off. Makes the flip-flopping between days and nights easier. The downside? Nothing gets done at home when I'm working because all I do is work & sleep so I spend my first day off catching up on housework.