maybe it's just me.....but can anyone explain to me why a nurse would want to work nine twelve-hour shifts in a row?
this is a staff nurse i'm referring to, and she was telling me how much overtime she has on her checks....something like forty hours of overtime (i'm assuming they pay every 2 weeks.) :uhoh21:
why on earth would anyone want to do this? what's bad is that by doing these kinds of hours, she is setting a precedent for all the other nurses on the unit - in other words, if she works sixty hours a week management will probably say "well, look at so-and-so, she works sixty hours per week, i guess the other nurses can do it, too!"
there are only a handful of staff nurses left, the rest are agency/travel nurses. there's no difference in this ms floor than any other. i'm wondering if this is the reason they can't keep staff.
they have one or two nurses willing to work constantly, so they expect the others to.....and no person in their right mind is going to want to work those hours, at least imho, unless they have some sort of emergency financial crisis.
quoted from cathylynn ... "as a person gets older, up in my age range, 50's, a person can boost their social security earnings, and when a person retires they can draw more social security. i know of several older nurses my age, 51 and all the way up to 62 or 63 who are doing it, mainly to build up their social security. i think it's the last 3 to 5 years of your working time just before you retire that really counts towards that. that's what i've been told."
i was also told that and i have seen some information at websites/pages otherthan the social security website.
q. are my benefits figured on my last five years of earnings?
a. no. retirement benefit calculations are based on your average earnings during a lifetime of work under the social security system. for most current and future retirees, we will average your 35 highest years of earnings. years in which you have low earnings or no earnings may be counted to bring the total years of earnings up to 35.
Our hospital is very strict about overtime, no overtime is allowed unless it is absolutely a necessity. Anything over 36 hours is considered OT. After 2-12 hour shifts I'm exhausted, and 3 in a row completely drains me...I have leg cramps for 2 days after 3 twelves. I don't see how people do it, more power to them, but I've noticed there isn't that much difference in my paycheck when I work over, so it's not really worth it to me.
at the institution where i sup, they pay 1 1/2 time for anything over 8 hrs in a day. the shifts are 8 hrs, so tons of nurses do it (so does the ancillary staff). especially the per-diems: they do 2 doubles on the weekend, and then don't work all week.
recently a coworker (and good friend) of mine was told she can no longer do the doubles, because she was found to be making "errors" (don't know the details, as she never came to me about it). they felt she was working too much (three doubles a week, and every other sunday). my problem with this, is 1) she is my friend, and is a good nurse. i hate to say it like this, but she is being penalized because she got caught (i'm sure others are not performing up to par either). and 2) can you tell just one person they cannot do a doulble. if they did away with the ot for the second shift, they would lose a lot of staff. that's what keeps most of the staff there. and 3) she's losing a load of $$ now, as she was very used to this lifestyle and these fat checks. even if she worked 7 eight hr shifts a week, it wouldn't make up for it.
i personally think that 12 hrs is a long shift as it is. i do them becuse that's what the demand is for. if you have no other commitments, and can get a good nights (or days) sleep in between, and your performance doesn't suffer, then it's fine (if that's what you want to do with your time).
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
they recently put a limit on overtime in the icu. no more than 7 days in a row. you cant work more than 20hrs continuously.
let's see -- 7 days of 20 hours/day -- that's 140 hours per week! they won't even let the house staff work more than 80!
when i was younger and in a horrible marriage, i worked 5 12s a week just to be out of the house. (and to save up money so i could leave the sob!) then, once i left him i kept working that much because i was lonely. he had driven all my friends away and i was 2000 miles from my family! now that i-'m happier, i'd love to drop down to 90% -- 3 12s a week. unfortunately, at my hospital they consider full time to be 40/week average over 6 weeks, and i'm not allowed to drop my percentage for another 5 months and 2 days. (but who's counting?)
I think this is a very individual issue. I could never work 12's at all but when I did rehab, I once did 22 8 hour nights in a row (due to multiple staff emergencies). Didn't bother me at all.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
My boss wants us to go to 12 hr shifts but I know that my milk of human kindness has well and truly curdled by the end of 8!
Farkinott, you put this exactly right!! I work 8's for the same reason. When I started Med/Surg some years ago, I worked 12-hour nights, and let me tell ya, by about 5 AM I was to the point where I was too exhausted to really care if the patients lived or died......NOT the attitude to have when the call lights start coming on and the fingersticks are due and everyone wants out of bed!
I'm not crazy about working 4 8-hour shifts in a row either, but I can deal with that a lot better than I could the 3 12's, which took 2 days to recover from and then I'd spend the 3rd and 4th days gearing up for the next onslaught. Sometimes I will put in an extra 4 hours if asked, especially if I have the next few days off, and all of it is OT since I'm an 8-hour nurse. Can't beat that!
i'm not a nurse yet, but some of my older friends who've been nursing for a while, said they didn't like 12s b/c they weren't really 12s, more like 14s by the time they finished charting and report. also, since i live in a small community and have a 45m-1hr commute, you're adding 11/2 to 2 hrs on to that (round trip). which i suppose also happens in large cities (if not more). so, really you're talking about at least 16 hours, which leaves you 8 before the next day's shift. so, if you eat, or wind down before sleeping, it may be more like 6 or maybe even 5. so, it has to be an individual thing, i can't function nearly "up to snuff" on less than 6 (and that's pushing it). i suppose i could if i had to, but i know i'd be making errors.
i took a grad level course during my first go-round at school called "sleep and dreaming" and we did a whole chapter on sleep deprivation (even just a few hours less than ideal per night), and the research suggests that, no matter who you are, your reflexes are slower, and it takes seconds longer to compute. the incidence of car accidents goes up (hence the rules regarding sleep for truck drivers), and you're "grouchier." seems like a poor trade-off for more money, unless you really, really need it.
so, does that sound right to the practicing nurses? are the shifts really 12?
sorry that was a little long-winded, i had a lot on my mind! truly hope that no one takes offense!
so, does that sound right to the practicing nurses? are the shifts really 12?
while i agree with all of your points, esp. the commuting thing, i personally do not spend 14 hrs at work. usually 13, by the time report is done. on a rare occasion it goes beyond that. but trust me, 8 is never 8, and thats x5!! (12's are only x3). i did 8's very briefly, 3-11, (more like 3-1). and your 1 1/2 hr commute is then x5, not x3. it's 6 of one, half dozen of the other.
most of my colleagues commute at least 30 min (my commute is 10 min). and they all say it beats driving in 5 days a week.
you need to make your own judgement. in ny, there's not much of a choice. it's pretty much 12 hrs.
I don't see how people do it, more power to them, but I've noticed there isn't that much difference in my paycheck when I work over, so it's not really worth it to me.
Farkinott, RN
581 Posts
If the nurse is performing ok then why worry?! If they are a liability then you will need to tke action.
My boss wants us to go to 12 hr shifts but I know that my milk of human kindness has well and truly curdled by the end of 8!