Just out of curiosity I wonder who across the world officially works the longest long day. Rules are travelling time plus working hours......
My regular hours are 07.00 till 19.30 which is a reasonable 12.5 hours plus an hours travelling so 13.5.
My bank ward works 07.00 till 21.00hrs a much more feet wearing, back breaking 14 hours plus an hours travelling so 15 in total.
but my day is a walk in the park compared to a colleague who also works the 07.00 till 21.00hrs but with 2 hours travelling per day, which by my sums makes his day 16 hours. Fine for a one off but two in a row makes my eyes water.
I am sure there are nurses out there working longer so over to you................
3 1/2 hrs to get to work?!? Do you have friends you stay with near work or something? I can't imagine that being a feasible drive even 3 times a week.
They always schedule me 3 straight so I do stay in the vicinity. Even at that, the drive is a bit much sometimes but it was the first option I had upon graduating so decided to go with it. In the long term, I'll either have to move or find a new job but the regular schedule makes it manageable.
Specializes in Telehealth, Hospice and Palliative Care.
My last day of work at my clinic is this Friday 0800 to 1500 (I was scheduled until 5, but I'm getting off early so I can drive 1.75 hours to my first night at my NEW HOSPITAL JOB 7p to 7a).
Been working alot of 17 hr shifts lately due to call offs and short staff. Todays my first day off in a 3 day stretch of 2 17hr days and a 9hr day and told my boyfriend I'm exhusted and I ache all over. He had the balls to say "get over it, your job is not that physically demanding"!! Men.....if they only knew.
I don't do this all the time, but 3 days on the next schedule I'm working 28 hours. I will leave home at 16:00 to put in 12.5 hours at one hospital, leave at 05:30 to travel to another hospital to start at 07:00 and put in 11.5 hours there, then leave at 19:00 to get home at 20:00.
I don't know whether to shake my head in absolute awe or be terrified for the patient last to be seen at the end of one of those mammoth shifts!
I love the international perspective on nursing - apart from the humanitatian side I would never have considered the nursing impact of the natural disasters before reading some of these responses. In the UK if more than three inches of snow is forecast it has hospital managers in melt down.
Be afraid be very afraid of some of the shifts we work here in the USA. A lot of the things we are doing are not safe for ourselves. Snow is easily handled in the northeastern, midwestern and plains states. Ice storms on the other hand can cripple an area. The drive times some people have to do is where the danger comes in, people are hyper alert at work to make sure they don't make a mistake. Once they are behind the wheel there is a lot of nodding off and lane drifting.
The point is nurses just work too dang much! I have only done 16 hour double shifts with stay over of about 30min each shift... add on the 1 hr drive each way. 18.5 is my limit.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
big difference. flight nurses get downtime and get to sleep if there's no calls.
i used to do 24's as a firefighter/emt and that was wayyy easier than doing 12 hour nights or days as an rn.
for the whole two months he was on the flight team he was orienting. no downtime.. the preceptor had him studying protocols or checking expiration dates on supplies. but i take your point and it would have been easier had he stayed..
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
for the whole two months he was on the flight team he was orienting. no downtime.. the preceptor had him studying protocols or checking expiration dates on supplies. but i take your point and it would have been easier had he stayed..
that's waay too excessive. you'd think some nurses are in medical school.
Hospice has nutty long hours too. I have done 24-30 hours straight before when doing a full day then on call with actively dying people plus admissions. This Wednesday I went into the office at 7 am for an IDG meeting before starting to see patients, then had an admission, went to office to compete admission paperwork, and didn't get home until almost 10 that night then did call until midnight before crashing out. One holiday weekend I did call from Wednesday night until the following Monday morning. Unfortunately, I had one death after another and it easily turned into being up 36 hours going from one patient to another until I demanded some time to sleep as I was exhausted quite literally to tears. Got some sleep then right back at it. Such is life.
Men.....if they only knew.
Music in My Heart
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