Sorry if this topic has been brought up before. I just want to get some fresh opinions on how nurses feel about the length of their shift, and how it affects pt care, and family life.
Twelve hrs seems like such a long shift, especially for the fast paced (to put it nicely) type of work that is required of nurses. But it seems that almost no hospital offers 8 hr shifts anymore. It seemes to me that especially if you had to work a few shifts in a row, you'd be pretty burned out by the last day. I have been wondering how I'm going to cope with a 12 hr shift when I get out of school and have to perform nursing duties. Is a 12 hour shift better from a nursing standpoint because of the extra time to get assessments and charting done? Or do you really get "extra" time in that 12 hrs?
Now that I have a toddler, I'm also wondering how I'm going to arrange for daycare since my husband also works 12 hour shifts and has to commute almost an hour to work, so he can't help with picking up our son from daycare, or dropping him off. The only daycare around here that has extended hours is the hospital daycare which right now has a 2 year wait list. (Can't get on the list until you're actually an employee) What do nurses do for child care?
Which do you feel is better, 8 or 12 hour shifts? Do you feel that 12 hour shifts might compromise pt care due to fatigue, or does the shift just fly by?
I remember what it was like working 12 hr night shifts as a CNA, and I am trying to imagine what it will be like as a nurse. I get exhausted just thinking about it!
Specializes in OB, Telephone Triage, Chart Review/Code.
I'm mixed on both...I love the extra time off with 12's, but working nights and sleeping all day makes it feel like I'm missing a day. I also miss making 40 hours of pay for the week. That means I am making about 4,000 less a year. BUT I hate working 5 nights a week even though I like the shorter shift.
I'm graduating shortly and am currently more than halfway through my 600 hour preceptorship. We started out in clinicals with 8's, last semester we did 10's. I am SO happy that doing preceptorship, I am doing 12's. 12's means more days off for papers, studying for boards, and seeing my husband and children. There are many students preceptoring in the same hospital and all of us were warned about how terrible 12 hour night shifts were, the nurses were almost giddy expecting to find us sleeping standing up or babbling incoherently. I can honestly say, I LOVE 12 hour night shifts. Very much preferred over 12 hour days - there is still a lot of work on night-shifts. I have been "working" mostly med-surg, but my preceptor also does OB and CCU and I have spent time in both areas. All three of those areas are busy most nights.
My kids aren't big on day shifts either - I kiss them goodbye in the morning, and get home just in time to kiss them goodnight (we work 0730-1930 or 1930-0730). On nights, I get up at 1400 and pick them up at 1500 and they have a few hours with me before I have to go in to work. So, they prefer nights too.
What I like about 12's is that yes, there are weeks where you work 4 or even 5 shifts, but then you can be off for six days and work only 2 shifts and then be off for three or four more days. There are busy, hectic weeks, and there are wonderfully slow weeks. It gives you time to HAVE a life. I'm already done my spring yard work! Going to school five days a week last semester, I wasn't done my spring yard work until after I got out of school in May.
Definitely prefer the 12's. I do know what one of the previous posters said about 4 - 10's though. My husband works 4 - 10's and has a three day weekend every weekend... he loves it and so do I and the kids.
Working in the "real world" is nothing like clinicals - it's much easier. Not only do you have more knowledge and more skill, the nurses are great and support you in the same way that they support each other. I love working with the ladies at the hospital I am doing my preceptorship in and I have an interview for a part-time/casual position at this hospital in a week and a half. I CAN'T WAIT. I'm told I will be VERY popular on the call-in list because I prefer 12-hour nights, and I prefer weekend shifts (when my husband is home with the kids).
Good luck and hopefully, you can easily find the shifts and the schedule that works for you and your family. It is a juggling act and I know how the young ones can react. I went back to school when my youngest was starting JK and she went from being very independent to being very clingy. If you have wonderful childcare, do whatever you have to to keep it. My sitter is the GREATEST lady in the world. The sitters I have had in the past made sure that the kids were in one piece at the end of the day, but my sitter now does amazing things with my children like sliding, nature hikes, ice fishing, swimming, baking, crafts. It is so wonderful to know that they are not only SAFE, but LOVED when they are with their babysitter.
Sorry if this topic has been brought up before. I just want to get some fresh opinions on how nurses feel about the length of their shift, and how it affects pt care, and family life.
I WAS in a former life a paramedic, and I DID twelves...they wrecked my homelife, and my health....I developed ME as a result of the messes that
the screw ups for shifts caused...I will NOT work twelve hour shifts...I can be JUST as effective as a nurse if I work EIGHT. It does SO effect patient care, and anyone who has opposing views is more than welcome to say so, at least to me. Ain't here to judge, only to learn.
Just cause some of those out there prefer to work three days in a row(Or is that out the window with STAFFING) does it mean that I can work that long and NOT make a mistake in something....like for instance, oh, say, DRUG errors??? I **MIGHT** do a twelve if there is good reason, like there might
be a delay in handing over, or in times of emergency, but other than that,
I will NOT risk my life or the patient's by being supernutnurse.
Or lose my temper with some poor person who is probably as tired, grouchy,
perimenstrual, and hungry/ thirsty as I am? No THANKS...I'd rather be poor,
and work EIGHTS...Anyway, that is my two pence!!!
Spiritus (Who thinks that twelves are just another way to say,"Pass the Prozac!")And did you notice I'm a bit,er,:angryfire PASSIUONATE about this??
Specializes in CCU (Coronary Care); Clinical Research.
I have got to vote for 12s...
Currently I work two nights on, two nights off, four nights on, six nights off. It works well for my husband and I. I like my stretch off, the four nights on allow me to get into a rhythm of sleeping days. I can't even imagine going back to working five eight hour days...ick!
I also think that it is better for patients in that they have less switching of nurses, I feel that it allows more continous care. Of course you have to balance that with the nurses fatigue, which is different for everyone.
if you work in a hospital setting you learn quickly that nursing is not the kind of job you want to 5 days out the week. i do 3 12's and love it. i can even have a long stretch of days off to do what i want. take a mini vacation etc...,judt do what works for you.
I prefer 12's but work 8's because my hosptial has it in their heads they will loose money if nurses work 12's. We have been round and round with them- this month I'll start fresh and present them with 'the data' once again. Most of the nurses want it this time so they'll have to cave! Wish me luck.
I miss my sweethearts ( aged 2 and 4)too much working 5 days a week:crying2:
I prefer 12s. In our ICU we work 12 hours day shift ( 7am - 7 pm ) then 24 hours off, 12 hours night shift ( 7 pm - 7 am ), then 48 hours off ( formula 12-24-12-48 ). So we have 2 day off after night shift.
12 hr shift for me. I save gas, uniform and get more days off especially when I go on leave, I could attach more days off to it stretching it for like a week more. I can't imagine myself working 5x a wk anymore, it's like having no days off at all.
I prefer 12's but work 8's because my hosptial has it in their heads they will loose money if nurses work 12's. We have been round and round with them- this month I'll start fresh and present them with 'the data' once again. Most of the nurses want it this time so they'll have to cave! Wish me luck.
I miss my sweethearts ( aged 2 and 4)too much working 5 days a week:crying2:
How I KNOW, missing my familly when I work too many hours...great for the money, bad for the relationships, especially with a husband who doesn't understand the need for night nurses...he keeps pestering me to go for jobs that will be nine to five affairs, but I am still a student, and will have to still do 37.5 hours a week workin the wards in order to get my placement requirements met.
But I know that everyone is different and everyone knows THEIR limits...just cause *I* don't do twelves doesn't mean I am going to preach that twelves are impossible...*I* just can't do them anymore. More power to those who have it in their hearts and their guts to change the systems they work within.
webbiedebbie
632 Posts
I'm mixed on both...I love the extra time off with 12's, but working nights and sleeping all day makes it feel like I'm missing a day. I also miss making 40 hours of pay for the week. That means I am making about 4,000 less a year. BUT I hate working 5 nights a week even though I like the shorter shift.