Who's for banning rotating shifts?

[Lev]

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?

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

I HATE rotating shifts. I think they are unhealthy. I'm all for straight days and straight nights.

If one HAS to rotate, they should be allowed to have six-week days, then six-week nights. None of this rotating within the same week!

[VanLpn]

Where I live there most nurses work rotating shifts. We're all union here (British Columbia, Canada) and most people don't like night shifts so this spreads around the misery to everyone. I'm not a nurse yet but I do work in mental health and currently work all days but have worked all nights. In an ideal world I'd work only days but I would prefer rotating shifts to straight nights. I know it's not good for you but most night shift nurses flip their schedules on their days off anyway. A full time line in a hospital here is 2 days, 2 nights 4 days off. Then two days, two nights 5 days off. Health care is 24/7, I don't get nurses that are shocked once they start looking for a job that they can't find something 9-5.

There are things about night shift that I prefer so when I've worked it I keep an upbeat attitude and focus on the good parts rather than ruminating over how rough I have it. I think that helps a lot. I also think many of the problems associated with shift work can be lessened by eating well and keeping up with regular exercise.

[Karou]

I was talking about this the other day. I would HATE to do rotating shifts. The degree of hate would depend on the frequency of the rotations. I can't imagine how miserable I would be if we rotated at my hospital. Personally, I am a night person. I always have been a night owl and I find night shift really suits me. I keep a night schedule even on my days off. I would not adjust to rotating to days, because my personal life is "nights" also.

I can see why some hospitals do it, though. It gives all staff a good idea of what the other shift does. I could see how it would decrease the tension between night and day shift workers if everyone worked each shift. Sometimes it's hard to find nurses who want to work nights so this way everyone would have to.

I see those benefits, but still dislike the idea. For those with families, children, or other jobs, it sounds almost impossible. I am sure there are those who enjoy rotating... And I am glad for that. Just as I am glad there are those who prefer nights/days/weekends, ect. But that kind of a schedule would not be for me!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I was talking about this the other day. I would HATE to do rotating shifts. The degree of hate would depend on the frequency of the rotations. I can't imagine how miserable I would be if we rotated at my hospital. Personally, I am a night person. I always have been a night owl and I find night shift really suits me. I keep a night schedule even on my days off. I would not adjust to rotating to days, because my personal life is "nights" also.

I can see why some hospitals do it, though. It gives all staff a good idea of what the other shift does. I could see how it would decrease the tension between night and day shift workers if everyone worked each shift. Sometimes it's hard to find nurses who want to work nights so this way everyone would have to.

I see those benefits, but still dislike the idea. For those with families, children, or other jobs, it sounds almost impossible. I am sure there are those who enjoy rotating... And I am glad for that. Just as I am glad there are those who prefer nights/days/weekends, ect. But that kind of a schedule would not be for me!

Usually someone who prefers to be on nights isn't forced to rotate -- that makes more day shifts for everyone else. Although, when one is new, sometimes they aren't allowed to go to permanent nights until management has a good sense of their experience, skill set and dependablility.

[ausrnurse]

I don't mind rotating shifts. I would hate to be getting up early every morning, and I wouldn't want to be on permanent nights either. My week looks something like E/E/L/N/N...and I only have to do nights once a fortnight at the most.

Rotating shifts are pretty much the only option in Australia. In most states it is actually illegal to roster someone on permanent nights (unless it's advertised a night-shift only job, such as in a sleep clinic). Most managers will try and give people who prefer them a larger portion and only give that person one or two early shifts per roster.

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

Um, aren't all polls taken here unscientific?

What kind of poll is this?

1)An unscientific one

2) A poll written by someone with a strong opinion

3) A poll where most of the choices support the poll maker's bias

4) The most biased poll I've seen in a long time

5) Sort of biased, but I've seen worse

[SmilingBluEyes]

I think for most people, rotating shifts are very difficult. Sleep is a constant issue. And the older we get, the less our bodies tolerate circadian rhythm changes required to rotate. I am not necessarily for "banning" them, but I think people ought to choose, and carefully, if they go this way. I will have to do some research to link them here, but there are studies out there indicating rotating shifts (as well as NOC shifts) are bad for our health. I know as I got older, I could no longer tolerate working nights. I just could not get enough sleep. Thank goodness, I am no longer doing that. And I have never had to rotate, but I can tell you, I would have hated it.

[damrcngrl95]

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.

Ruby I'm really new to the medical field and so I haven't ran across color coded scrubs. What happens when they do this? Does management wear scrubs too? How does this power-pull happen? I'm not being snarky, i do believe people use the smallest things to lord power over others. I haven't ran into this problem because the staff at my clinical sites could wear whatever color of scrubs they wanted. We students had to wear blue. I guess this will be something I will try to stay aware of as I'm going through the interview process.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

I will have to do some research to link them here, but there are studies out there indicating rotating shifts (as well as NOC shifts) are bad for our health.

We should ban night shifts too.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

The options are straight nights or rotating.

I have done straight 12-hour night shifts for the past four years and love it.

I did 12-hour rotating shifts with a non-nursing factory job many moons ago. It involved three weeks of day shifts from 5am to 5pm, then three to four weeks of night shifts from 5pm to 5am, then rinse and repeat until infinity. I did it for three years and it wreaked havoc on my health, even though I was only in my early 20s at the time.