8 vs 12 hour shift?

[RN-Doula]

I have heard talk about some hospitals going back to 8 hour shifts because the 12 hours is too long and leaves nurse physically exhausted and emotionally drained at times. As a new grad in the 70's 8 hour shifts were the norm with constant rotation. Two weeks of days were followed by two weeks of 3 to 11 pm or 11 to 7 am. But there were a few hospitals which mixed the shifts up within the same week. Sometimes a nurse chose to work permanently eves or nights. Is anyone seeing this trend and how is it working? Does anyone work 8 hour shifts in an acute hospital?

[Davey Do]

Our facility went totally went to12hr shifts back in '06 on the medical side. Psych was a mishmash of 8 & 12hr. Now, in February, the psych side is going to entirely 12hr shifts, supposedly as a patient safety/satisfaction maneuver.

I worked a combination of 8 & 12's there from '03 to '06 and didn't care much for that schedule. When I worked med/surg ER, it was all 12hr shifts, but I was in my 30's and could easily transition from a midnight to a day schedule. Not so now, so I'm looking forward to staying on a relatively midnight schedule.

[Aunt Slappy]

Oh man, you guys are scaring me. I am leaving a job where I've worked NOC 12s for the last 5 years, to take a day shift position with 8s, 0600-1430. I am looking forward to getting off nights, because I am just feeling it more lately. I am SO tired. But also, I have a kid old enough to drive his siblings to school in the morning, so me being gone early is not a big deal, and Dad won't have to worry about going in late because he had to drop them off. I figured that this shift would barely impact on them, and I'll be home at night with my family. And most importantly, I can sleep at night like a normal human being. After reading this thread, I'm worried I'll regret this choice. But then I think, there are millions of nurses working 8s all over the country.

[TruvyNurse]

I definitely prefer 3 12s. Yes, it can be exhausting on that 3rd day but I'll keep my 4 days off :)

[MichelletheRN]

I vastly prefer 12 hour shifts, and this is one, but not the only, reason that i am hesitant to leave bedside nursing and enter management even after many years.

We do self scheduling, and when we are not short, about every 3rd or 4th weekend. So i like to give myself 3 shifts at the beginning of the pay period, and 3 at the end. In this way, it is not unusual for me to have 6 or 7 days off in a row in between. Of course this does not always work out, depending on what other people have going on, needs to trade, etc. However, it is a huge luxury and i dont take it for granted.

They had a nursing management job open recently in our hospital, and i refused to apply for it. One of my friends did, and took it. She really likes it, because her husband teaches high school, so they have the same hours and days off now.

All i see is five days in a row of getting up early, actually having to put on makeup and fix my hair, and dress clothes/shoes. Maybe for a raise, like a big raise. Like doubling my salary. Maybe. Ha ha ha no. Triple.

I remember when i was in college, 8 hours was the norm, as well as every other weekend. This is sooooo much better.

[PANYNP]

Dinosaur here.

I worked 8-hour shifts in ICU in the early 1980s and loved it. Never really minded working q other weekend, and having a day off during the week to run errands, go out to lunch etc.

In 1988, at age 33, I started working 12-hr night shifts every weekend, when this was a new thing for our hospital, so I could attend grad school during the week.

Hated 12-hr shifts then; always will. I've tried both days and nights, and I always have been utterly exhausted, and even when younger, error-prone by the end of the 12-hr shift. "Extra" days off were spent sleeping and trying to recoup energy. Zombie-ville to the max.

Re: not being able to get everything done in an 8-hour shift, I believe that's a mind game. We need to pace ourselves, whether we're working 8s or 12s.

Informally (not scientifically), I've observed that there are patients and families who appreciate the continuity of seeing the same staff members daily during a run of 8-hr shifts.

Arguments can be made for both schedules. My "young" master's students have grown up on 12-hr shifts, even as undergrads, and have been socialized to think that this is the best/only way to render care.

Some COBs, who also are my master's students, appreciate the option of working 8-hr shifts and getting to go home before they turn mean (hangry) and/or start making mistakes due to fatigue.

My, again informal, observation is that it may be easier to be gracious and therapeutic for 8 hrs, rather than 12, when one's energy and patience start to wear thin.

Different strokes for different folks.

Love ya, mean it!

[emmy27]

My unit recently added a ten hour day shift that nobody seems to want but me and I can't even tell you how much happier, better-rested, and less generally filled with work-related-dread I am trading two hours of work in for two additional hours of sleep. I feel good enough to work a fourth day and actually get to forty hours a week for the first time in years.

Working three twelves was killing me; working four tens feels fine.

[TriciaJ, RN]

But no one mentioned the burn out factor? How tired one is after the 12 hours of running around.

I only ever worked 12 hr shifts when I was being precepted, to match the preceptor's schedule. I hated them. It was never time to go home. When I'd been there 5 hours, there were still 7 more to go. When I was a young student, I had to wear TED hose under my scrubs because my legs ached so much. (Concrete under thin carpet).

The stretch of days off looked good on paper. But in real life I had to spend one day catching up on sleep, another day catching up on laundry, another day shoveling the mess out the window, etc.

Other people seem to be able to make it work beautifully. All I could do was wait for it to be over.

[emmy27]

I only ever worked 12 hr shifts when I was being precepted, to match the preceptor's schedule. I hated them. It was never time to go home. When I'd been there 5 hours, there were still 7 more to go. When I was a young student, I had to wear TED hose under my scrubs because my legs ached so much. (Concrete under thin carpet).

The stretch of days off looked good on paper. But in real life I had to spend one day catching up on sleep, another day catching up on laundry, another day shoveling the mess out the window, etc.

Other people seem to be able to make it work beautifully. All I could do was wait for it to be over.

Yeah, many is the day that four hours in to a miserable shift I thought to myself, "and now we still have to work a normal person's entire work day."