what do you all think about 12 hour shifts?

Nurses General Nursing

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I personally miss the days of normal 8 hour days. I find myself craving a normal 5 day work week. I have been considering leaving acute care for this reason. So what do you all think? Has 12 hour shifts increased the stress of nursing and contributed to nurse burnout?

Specializes in SICU, NICU, Telephone Triage, Management.

I guess if you have to work full time 12 hour shifts would be better.

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

There are those of us who would be willing to continue to work at the bedside but can no longer run around on our feet for 12 plus hours.

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Yeah, I want a job like that: where I sit at the bedside for 8 hours. Instead, my "bedside" nursing job involves a floor the size of a football field, with all the necessary stuff like water, ice, meds, on the 50 yard line.

Please tell me what kind of job is considered bedside and doesn't also include running around on our feet.

It would a dream come true for many of us.

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Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.

Okay, y'all know what I like about 12's? The continuity of care. When there's 3 shifts between patients, things get missed/dropped. Versus reporting off one to one.

You know, kind of like that game where you sit in a circle and a phrase is given to one person to pass to the next, the more the people in the circle the more the original content is lost.

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Specializes in Peds, PICU, Home health, Dialysis.
Okay, y'all know what I like about 12's? The continuity of care. When there's 3 shifts between patients, things get missed/dropped. Versus reporting off one to one.

You know, kind of like that game where you sit in a circle and a phrase is given to one person to pass to the next, the more the people in the circle the more the original content is lost.

Kelly -- that is exactly the answer I received from a nurse I was talking to at a local hospital. I asked her if she enjoyed the 12-hour shifts (8 hour shifts are unheard of in Southern Nevada) and she told me that when the hospital was doing 8 hour shifts many moons ago, there were far more mistakes made by the nurses and when they switched to 12 hour shifts, nurses made less mistakes and the patients were in and out of the hospital quicker. She said the continuity of care is pertinent and agrees that the less nurses taking care of a patient throughout a 24 hour period will prove to be far greater for the patients.

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Specializes in pediatrics, geriatrics, med-surg, ccu,.

The continuity of care is an essential part of care but 12 hour shifts can be detremental to overall health as well. I spent 18 years doing 12 hour shifts with 5 of those working the night shift and the other on day shift. During that 12 hours I am lucky to sit down for 5 minutes, (unless it is after I am supposed to be off but have 2 hours of charting to do before I can go home..)And as far as lunch breaks or any other breaks during the day... forget it. I don't have time for them if I am going to keep up with everything else!

I currently have serious back problems from all the lifting, pulling, moving, etc of patients, have osteoarthritis of my wrists, back, knees and constant problems with bursitis in my hip joints. I am dead tired by the time I get home at night. Am constantly called "to pick up extra shifts" and so forth. I screen my phone calls anymore. Initially, I thought the 12 hours was the greatest thing... but after 18 years of it my body is telling me it can't take anymore.

I think it would be great if hospitals offered a variety of time frames for those of us who still want to be in nursing but can't cut the 12 hour shifts anymore. If more hospitals did that, maybe there wouldn't be such a shortage of nurses.

And I am like some of the others.. my family life really took a beating.. I missed out on alot with my children as they were growing up. And that isn't something that me regained. Once its gone, its gone.

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Ummmmmmmmmmm! let me see! :idea:

I have worked both shift systems over the years (31 in all!) and I have to say that there have been times durring a 12 hour stint that I have not felt at my professional best; consequently I think my personal stress levels went up because I become concerned that I might miss something of importance, or become slow in my response to certain situations. :o

However when working 8 hour stints ( which I am currently doing) there are times when I feel that there are just not enough hours in my day to carry out some nursing activites effectively and that can have a knock on effect when it comes to continuity of care. That can also push my personal stress levels up; so in conclusion I guess what I'm saying is that whether you work 12 or 8 hour shifts it's more about one's own time management skills and the constant changing working environment that leaves me feeling so shattered at the end of the day!

So I guess this debate will trundle on for a few more decades yet ( well past my retirement date any who!):balloons:

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Specializes in dialysis, ltc adon.

I just started working 12 hour shifts in dialysis and I was working 10 hours shifts doesn't really seems much worse yet...having an extra day off is really great though...

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.
Okay, y'all know what I like about 12's? The continuity of care. When there's 3 shifts between patients, things get missed/dropped. Versus reporting off one to one.

You know, kind of like that game where you sit in a circle and a phrase is given to one person to pass to the next, the more the people in the circle the more the original content is lost.

Okay, well, based on that premise, it's only a matter of time before 24 hours shifts will be the norm and progress from there to, the nurse lives at the hospital 24-7, 7 days a week, because we wouldn't want to "lose" any of that communication by having to report to someone else.

I don't like taking report from the 12 hour nurses, usually, because they are so darned tired, they forget to tell us important things. And I think it's baloney that you have so much more time to get things done. Some of our 12 hour nurses still cannot manage to get everything done. I go back to this: you have 12 hours OF work to do IN 12 hours. Just like the 8 hour nurses have 8 hours OF work to do IN 8 hours.

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Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.
Okay, well, based on that premise, it's only a matter of time before 24 hours shifts will be the norm and progress from there to, the nurse lives at the hospital 24-7, 7 days a week, because we wouldn't want to "lose" any of that communication by having to report to someone else.

I don't like taking report from the 12 hour nurses, usually, because they are so darned tired, they forget to tell us important things. And I think it's baloney that you have so much more time to get things done. Some of our 12 hour nurses still cannot manage to get everything done. I go back to this: you have 12 hours OF work to do IN 12 hours. Just like the 8 hour nurses have 8 hours OF work to do IN 8 hours.

Oh, you're totally right, tntrn! Believe me, I'm not sayin' 12 hr shifts are the be all and end all. I was merely pointing out one of its benefits. The only other benefit I see is more consecutive days off as well.

The fact of the matter is, they work us short staffed and the acuity is too high for the most part. In fact, I'd go so far as to say in regards to your last paragraph, there's actually about 10-12 hr. of work to do in an 8 and 14-16 in a 12...lol...:rolleyes:

I think they should definitely offer more than just one across the board shift for personnel. You know what I think would be wonderful? I think it'd be great if they could somehow create a position whereby older nurses (by this I mean years of exp/wisdom) could work as liaisons for the bedside nurse, similar to that of what drs. do with transcribers who follow them during rounds. Nurses who could help us with our paperwork and review labs, radiology, etc., while we provide the "hands on," with them reporting and receiving report from us r/t pertinent info. They could work 6 & 8 hour shifts and still be greatly contributing to the delivery of care.

Pipedream, I know, but wouldn't it be wonderful?

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Specializes in midwifery, NICU.

I think they should definitely offer more than just one across the board shift for personnel. You know what I think would be wonderful? I think it'd be great if they could somehow create a position whereby older nurses (by this I mean years of exp/wisdom) could work as liaisons for the bedside nurse, similar to that of what drs. do with transcribers who follow them during rounds. Nurses who could help us with our paperwork and review labs, radiology, etc., while we provide the "hands on," with them reporting and receiving report from us r/t pertinent info. They could work 6 & 8 hour shifts and still be greatly contributing to the delivery of care.

Pipedream, I know, but wouldn't it be wonderful?

Such a fab idea, makes such sense...therefore you just KNOW it wont happen!:lol2:

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Specializes in Cardiac/Med Surg.

Hi

As a new grad who has worked 5 8hour midnights for 12 years in the lab and now work only 3 12 hour nights in nursing I LOVE IT!!

i love going to work when it is light and love working 3 in a row and having the others off..my closets are clean, house is cleaned and i am thinking of going back for my BSN. the only downfall is the paycheck is less since the hours are 72 instead of 80 but that should change quickly with raises...hopefully!

also i save gas only driving to work 3 days instead of 5

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Specializes in ICU, Paeds ICU, Correctional, Education.

12 hour shifts have a lot of minuses. If you work in a high stress or high impact environment, that's a long time, particularly if you don't get proper and timely breaks. Because there is very little overlap of shifts, education and communication suffer. You can go for weeks not seeing some people. If they are rostered badly, life can be a nightmare...you always have to finish on a night if you work both shifts. If you work 12 hour shifts, that's all you do...you get up , go to work, go home and drop from exhaustion:trout:. Your days off are spent catching up on all the things you couldn't do because you were at work. I think they take a massive chunk out of your life and your family's. I've done them for 4 years and have just gone back to 8 hrs. I feel so much better getting home before dark!

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