Shift Work

Bones17 · Aug 20, 2019

Marienm: Would that count as part of your annual leave if you take personal time off?

marienm, RN, CCRN · Aug 20, 2019

Generally, yes it would count as leave time. Again, we're getting into things that are very employer-specific! But I think it's safe to say that if you have a full-time job, you are expected to work full-time hours OR expend some type of accrual to account for the hours you aren't working. How those accruals are earned is employer-specific. In some cases, you might have the option of just not getting paid for hours you don't work...but your employer will hire you because they want you to work. They want you to fill in a set number of hours so that the unit is staffed. So it's most likely that to get a specific day off you'd either need to request to work a different day (or trade with someone) or use accrued time to "pay" for the day you aren't working.

Bones17 · Aug 22, 2019

What are common shift hours then?

marienm, RN, CCRN · Aug 22, 2019

I think it depends a lot on the unit, but 12 hour (0700-1900/1900-0700) shifts are common for inpatient units. 8 hour shifts (07-15, 15-23, 23-07) are also pretty common...some places don't allow nurses to work 12 hour shifts due to concerns about fatigue.

In a procedural area (OR, Cath Lab, whatever, there's probably a mix of scheduled shifts and on-call time to accommodate emergency cases.)

Is there a hospital near you where you could shadow an RN to get an idea about some of this stuff? I get the impression that you might like to be a nurse but have a lot of concerns about the schedule. While those are absolutely valid (everyone should have a good work-life balance) there are other difficult things about being a nurse too (you name it: blood, body fluids, death, people in pain, stress, angry patients, angry surgeons, whatever...). In my opinion, you won't be able to avoid some of these things but you probably *will* be able to get a schedule that mostly works for you. If the schedule is your biggest concern I think shadowing would give you a more rounded picture of the job.

Bones17 · Aug 28, 2019

On 8/22/2019 at 11:18 PM, marienm, RN, CCRN said:
I think it depends a lot on the unit, but 12 hour (0700-1900/1900-0700) shifts are common for inpatient units. 8 hour shifts (07-15, 15-23, 23-07) are also pretty common...

Do those times include the change over period from one nurse to the next?

marienm, RN, CCRN · Aug 29, 2019

No, sorry, the shift handoffs occur at the top of the shift so I actually work 1900-0730. With 30 minutes of unpaid meal break, this is a 12 hour shift.

Bones17 · Aug 29, 2019

4 hours ago, marienm, RN, CCRN said:
No, sorry, the shift handoffs occur at the top of the shift so I actually work 1900-0730. With 30 minutes of unpaid meal break, this is a 12 hour shift.

So if you are working 12 hours, it’s actually an additional 30min because of hand over.

So 15min before and 15min after the shift? (12 and a half hours in all).

marienm, RN, CCRN · Sep 2, 2019

No, as I said my typical shift is 1900 (7pm) to 0730 (am). I get report from the outgoing nurse between 19-1930, then they leave. I give report in the morning between 07-0730, then I leave. My state mandates a 30-minute meal break but does not require that it be paid. So I get paid for 12 hours even though, yes, I am required to be present for a duration of 12.5 hours.