staffing patterns on NOC shift - what is working for you?

[estrogen]

We're a sub accute skilled unit with approx 50 beds for patients on vents. so far we've been staffed with 3 nurses, 3 CNA's and 3 RTs on both 12 hour shifts. Now our management decided to implement some drastic changes (to save money, of course). Instead of 12 hour shifts they want to change to 8 hour shifts and on NOC shift, they want to go down to two nurses instead of three. The DNS told us, that for her it will be simplest to split the assignmet between three nurses, and rotate the schedule 4 on, 2 off, but that if we are able to come up with a different schedule, (say one nurse takes 4 days on, the other takes the opposite 3 days every week) she is more than willing to go with that. I personally am working only two twelves a week. I have little kids and a working husband and therefore I am not particularly interested in working four or five nigts a week. Three would be allright with me. I'm not quite sure though what my other co-workers will want to do.

To me personally, the four on, two off rotating schedule seems extremely inconveniet and uncomfortable. ... I mean, you can't really plan your life around it, if your work and rest days are allways changing. And especially on night shift, if you only have two days off in a row, you don't really get a decent rest, because the first day off you're sleep deprived and miserable...

What are your experiences with scheduling on NOC shift? What works for you? What doesn't work?