Who's for banning rotating shifts?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. What are your opinion(s) on rotating shifts?

    • 49
      Let's ban them altogether!
    • 48
      Straight nights is better than rotating.
    • 16
      Rotating every 3-4 weeks is not so bad.
    • 34
      Rotating shifts are harder on the body than straight nights.
    • 29
      I don't understand why many hospitals staff with rotating shifts.

176 members have participated

I have never worked rotating shifts...Nor do I ever wish to..I avoid jobs with rotating shifts by principle. Unfortunately, many of the university teaching hospitals in my area that I would oh so much like to work for in the future have rotating shifts. The options are straight nights or rotating. There are different types of rotating shifts. Some places you rotate each week or after days. Two days..one night...one day...three nights. Other places have you rotate by weeks to months. 3 weeks days...4 weeks nights..something like that. That form of rotating is not so bad, but the other form is very difficult. Would you rather do straight nights or rotate every couple days?

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

I have no problem with rotating shifts. I would get bored working the same shift all the time. You "poll" was too biased. You needed options, not just your opinions.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I'm a night owl. Give me straight nights anytime. I hate rotating shifts more than I hate straight days.

If rotating shifts are unavoidable, they should rotate quarterly or semi-annually. Three or six months is enough time to adjust to a shift.

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Specializes in Pedi.
I'm a night owl. Give me straight nights anytime. I hate rotating shifts more than I hate straight days.

If rotating shifts are unavoidable, they should rotate quarterly or semi-annually. Three or six months is enough time to adjust to a shift.

I hated straight days the most when I worked in the hospital. Nights were a nice break but switching back from them was brutal. Permanent nights was the coveted schedule on my floor. The majority of the most senior nurses worked nights... good place to hide.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Ok enough with the biased poll comments! The title of this post is "Who's for banning rotating shifts!" That should tell you enough.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
You left out the option for "I like rotating shifts".

Night shifts are unpopular, but they need to be covered. Hospitals operate 24/7/365. Someone has to work nights. Some places get around this by sticking all the newbies on the night shift. This is problematic for the newbies stuck on the night shift . . . as you'll see explained all over AN. It's also a problem for the patients. If the only nurse with experience on the night shift is the two year nurse in charge, all kinds of mistakes get made, trends get missed, protocols are violated and patients die. If everyone with less than 10 years or so of seniority has to rotate, there are always experienced nurses on the night shift available to answer questions and give guidance to the newbies.

If you work a six week schedule, there's no reason you can't work three weeks of days followed by three weeks of nights. If you'd like longer on each shift, work the first three weeks days, the second three weeks nights and the next schedule work the first three weeks nights and the last three weeks days. And so on. Six weeks of each.

I would work straight nights, just not the close rotating...3 days on, 3 days off. That's the rotating I think should be banned. Obviously my opinion and all are welcome to disagree.

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Specializes in PCCN.
Permanent nights was the coveted schedule on my floor. The majority of the most senior nurses worked nights... good place to hide.

Yep - thats the situation where I am. they say it's less BS.

New hires rotate all 3 shifts- sometimes all in the same week.

I just LOVE giving report to people who are falling asleep right in front of me, or getting report from falling asleep people. Gee, real safe , isn't it.........:sarcastic:

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

New hires rotate all 3 shifts- sometimes all in the same week.

That is just a demonstration of managment's distain for, and lack of consideration for it's nurses. Nobody should evere be rotating in the same week like that. In the not too distant past they could never have gotten away with ABUSING their nurses like that. That they can now is a symptom of our declining status and lack of power. Only hiring BSN grads, and the vast over supply of RNs artificialy created using the false "Nursing shortage" propaganda were the tools used.

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The funny thing is, night nurses might not WORK rotating shifts, but many of them live rotating shifts anyway. How many night nurses actually sleep during the day and stay up nights on their off days? So many night nurses do the switch anyway.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
That is just a demonstration of managment's distain for, and lack of consideration for it's nurses. Nobody should evere be rotating in the same week like that. In the not too distant past they could never have gotten away with ABUSING their nurses like that. That they can now is a symptom of our declining status and lack of power. Only hiring BSN grads, and the vast over supply of RNs artificialy created using the false "Nursing shortage" propaganda were the tools used.

For places that still have 8 hour shifts, rotating a nurse though all three in a week has never been unusual. I did it 38 years ago, when I was young and bounced back easily. Now I only have to work with two shifts: days and nights.

If you're looking for symptoms of our declining status and lack of power, color coded scrubs is the first place to look. We're not doing that "for the patients." We're doing it so management can demonstrate their power over us.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
For places that still have 8 hour shifts, rotating a nurse though all three in a week has never been unusual. I did it 38 years ago, when I was young and bounced back easily. Now I only have to work with two shifts: days and nights

I forget that some people work 8 hour shifts (shudder in horror).

If you're looking for symptoms of our declining status and lack of power, color coded scrubs is the first place to look.

Absolutely!

We're not doing that "for the patients." We're doing it so management can demonstrate their power over us.

Of course. It is so discouraging to see so many nurses actively supporting such actions.

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Specializes in ICU.
The funny thing is, night nurses might not WORK rotating shifts, but many of them live rotating shifts anyway. How many night nurses actually sleep during the day and stay up nights on their off days? So many night nurses do the switch anyway.

I do! I think night nurses who stay up during the day on their days off are nuts. It's just as hard on your body as physically working. You couldn't pay me enough to stay awake in the daytime, that's for sure.

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I love my rotating shifts. I do 2 weeks days/2 weeks nights. It gives me a taste of everything and keeps me happy :)

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