Why Working ‘Just’ Three Days a Week As a Nurse Is Utterly Exhausting

[European]

This is a great article that appeared on Huffpost that sort of mirrored my feelings about critical care and working only 3 days a week. Let me know what you think!

Why Working ‘Just' Three Days a Week As a Nurse Is Utterly Exhausting

By Brie Gowen

I was sitting at my computer screen, entering orders for a physician, and trying not to forget what he had said since I had neglected to write it down. I was charting my note, mentally taking inventory of all the tasks I had accomplished and problems I had identified and reported. My eyes felt gritty and my mentation frazzled. I glanced at the time on my computer screen and was taken aback that seven hours had flown by so quickly. Then I realized with dread that I hadn't documented a single thing on my other patient. I was so behind!

And as my sand-filled eyes started to water in the frigid air of my surgical ICU I realized I was beat. I was exhausted. Yet I had not been working all week. It was my first day on shift in two weeks! I knew, though, that nursing wasn't so much exhausting because of the hours worked, but rather the work that was performed.

Yes, 12 hour shifts actually turn into 13 and sometimes 14 hour shifts, and by golly yes, that makes for a supremely long day! But you only have to do that for three days, right? Maybe four. The rest of the week you're free and off jet-setting the country, leaving a trail of money in your wake as you go.

Yeah, right.

More like curled up under the covers in a dark room, recovering from a mental and emotional hangover much worse than one caused by the cheapest of Tequila.

As I sat at my computer screen fighting my mental and physical fatigue I knew the reason I was utterly exhausted, and although by most career standards my day should be coming to an end, it wasn't even my lengthy shift still looming that made me want to wave my white flag of surrender. My patient was critically ill, and as such I had not stopped.

I remember in high school I ran track. Never one for speed, I was more of an endurance runner, and as a long-distance runner I can recall the trip around the half-mile track. After so many loops you'd get to a point where you were done. You were finished, in your mind and rubbery legs, and you felt certain you could go no further. You'd strive for that line up ahead that marked the finish, head down, legs pumping, and when you got there you'd realize you still had one more lap to go. One more lap, you'd whisper encouragingly to self, and by sheer adrenaline you would continue.

That's kinda how nursing is. You go and go and go. You fight and fight and fight. You rush and rush and rush. And just when you think you may be done, you are not. The next shoe drops, the next set of vital signs plummet, the next patient falls, the next train wreck codes. On, and on, and on.

In few other fields will you find that the moment you hit the wall does not matter. Like a soldier into battle (and as a veteran I think I can speak on this), a nurse holds life and death on the line, so when your brain becomes fried and your body becomes weary, you just keep marching to the drumbeat of beeping IV pumps, shrieking monitor alarms, and persistently cruel call lights.

Nursing is exhausting for so many reasons, but the biggest being the task at hand. You work within the confines of time, pushing the limits to complete an enormous workload with minimal support staff available, all the while carrying a small library of knowledge within your overloaded brain, realizing that an error on your part could be detrimental.

You complete one job and another comes along, and much like an assembly line worker in a factory you keep going to prevent the great machine of healthcare from going on the fritz. Yet you also know if your machine stops so does someone's heart, and if that's not mentally draining then I don't know what is.

So even one full day as a nurse, especially on a tough day, can seem akin to purgatory. That's not to say that being a nurse is similar to torture, but anyone who's begged the time clock to bring along the next shift knows exactly what I mean. You see, when you've mentally thought your way through keeping someone alive as long as your fizzled out mind can handle then a ten hour break away from the bedside seems like a much needed respite.

And yes, even working just” three days a week is utterly exhausting.

[HopefullNurse17]

If this is a common experience for so many nurses, why don't hospitals change their policies? Why doesn't the system change so everyone works 8 hour shifts, in the end don't you want people caring for critically ill patients to be at their most alert at all times?

[European]

Well hopefully my friend when you enter the profession you will be that agent of change. The point of this article is that doing the 3 shifts a week lifestyle is not as glamorous as people think due to the physical and emotional toll.

[Creamsoda, ASN, RN]

If this is a common experience for so many nurses, why don't hospitals change their policies? Why doesn't the system change so everyone works 8 hour shifts, in the end don't you want people caring for critically ill patients to be at their most alert at all times?

Shhhuussshhhh!!!! I love my 3 12's and dont let management get wind of the people that this is a problem for.

In my opinion 3 12 hr shifts is nothing. If for others its difficult...then find a job that offers 8 hrs shifts. But lord help me if I have to be at the hospital 5 days a week, 8 hrs a day, with only 2 days off 52 weeks a year...I will find another career. I can guarantee you that this would be the case for majority of nurses that do bedisde. If i was at the hospital 5 days a week, I would be way more burnt out. Being there 5 days a week means having an assignment 5 days a week that can change, new patients, new treatment plans etc. When I work 3 days a week, by staying just 4 more hours I keep the day consistent. I have my day "planned" out as best I can with a few wrenches thrown in, but I feel like I can give better care when I dont have to rush. I have 12 hours to get my stuff done. Less changing of hands then if there were 3 shifts. More continuity. Am I tired after 3 shifts in a row? Not that bad. It could be worse. I still go to the gym for an hour right after. Im not falling on the ground right when I get home from exhaustion. Sometimes I will work 6 in a row. Then yes I am tired. My first day off I will sleep in. But If I schedule myself where I work 6 on and 8 off....well I have 7 more days to do whatever the hell I want.

I feel sorry for the poor suckers working mon-friday, with only 3 weeks vacation a year. I can take 8 days off because I can schedule myself that way and take a mini trip here and there and not use my PTO. Then I can save my PTO for an extended vacation once or twice a year. Because of self scheduling which I think more and more hospitals are going towards, I can make my schedule work around my familys.

Sure 12 hour shifts are long, but its a small price to pay for the rest of the benefits. For me its not a price to pay at all. My brain will be more overloaded with information taking care of my patients if I was forced to be there 5 days a week and 5 potentially different assignment changes. When im there for 3 days I have a little more time through the day to read my charts and know what I need to know about my patient to make sure they get what they need, things arent missed etc. Im not rushed to get everything done by 3 because evening shift is going to give me the stink eye because I couldn't cram all the "day shift" stuff into the 8 hr window. Your still going to be just as busy in an 8 hour shift vs a 12 hour shift so you might as well just get it over sooner. Rip the bandaid off!

So please...lets not let administration think were exhausted from working 3 12hr days....lest they make us work 5 days in a row. BTW I work in a busy adult ICU and also rapid response team for the last 12 years. I have my share of critical decisions made daily. Please don't make me do that 5 days a week! I will quit and go work in a greenhouse/nursery.

Just my opinion!

[HopefullNurse17]

Shhhuussshhhh!!!! I love my 3 12's and dont let management get wind of the people that this is a problem for.

In my opinion 3 12 hr shifts is nothing. If for others its difficult...then find a job that offers 8 hrs shifts. But lord help me if I have to be at the hospital 5 days a week, 8 hrs a day, with only 2 days off 52 weeks a year...I will find another career. I can guarantee you that this would be the case for majority of nurses that do bedisde. If i was at the hospital 5 days a week, I would be way more burnt out. Being there 5 days a week means having an assignment 5 days a week that can change, new patients, new treatment plans etc. When I work 3 days a week, by staying just 4 more hours I keep the day consistent. I have my day "planned" out as best I can with a few wrenches thrown in, but I feel like I can give better care when I dont have to rush. I have 12 hours to get my stuff done. Less changing of hands then if there were 3 shifts. More continuity. Am I tired after 3 shifts in a row? Not that bad. It could be worse. I still go to the gym for an hour right after. Im not falling on the ground right when I get home from exhaustion. Sometimes I will work 6 in a row. Then yes I am tired. My first day off I will sleep in. But If I schedule myself where I work 6 on and 8 off....well I have 7 more days to do whatever the hell I want.

I feel sorry for the poor suckers working mon-friday, with only 3 weeks vacation a year. I can take 8 days off because I can schedule myself that way and take a mini trip here and there and not use my PTO. Then I can save my PTO for an extended vacation once or twice a year. Because of self scheduling which I think more and more hospitals are going towards, I can make my schedule work around my familys.

Sure 12 hour shifts are long, but its a small price to pay for the rest of the benefits. For me its not a price to pay at all. My brain will be more overloaded with information taking care of my patients if I was forced to be there 5 days a week and 5 potentially different assignment changes. When im there for 3 days I have a little more time through the day to read my charts and know what I need to know about my patient to make sure they get what they need, things arent missed etc. Im not rushed to get everything done by 3 because evening shift is going to give me the stink eye because I couldn't cram all the "day shift" stuff into the 8 hr window. Your still going to be just as busy in an 8 hour shift vs a 12 hour shift so you might as well just get it over sooner. Rip the bandaid off!

So please...lets not let administration think were exhausted from working 3 12hr days....lest they make us work 5 days in a row. BTW I work in a busy adult ICU and also rapid response team for the last 12 years. I have my share of critical decisions made daily. Please don't make me do that 5 days a week! I will quit and go work in a greenhouse/nursery.

Just my opinion!

Well I guess just like everything else it works for some and not for others, glad it works for you though. I've done some manual labor jobs where I worked 12 hour shifts and I was pretty dead after, but working 3 days a week does sound enticing. I think my ideal shift would be 4 10s. That way you still have a day off, and you working days are a little easier.

[European]

Creamsoda thanks for the lengthy and detailed reply. Obviously some of us thrive with the 3 12hr model :)

[JellyDonut]

8 hour shifts are not very cost effective as it is way too easy for incidental OT to take place. 36 hr week still allows for a little overage.

[kalycat, BSN, RN]

Shhhuussshhhh!!!! I love my 3 12's and dont let management get wind of the people that this is a problem for.

In my opinion 3 12 hr shifts is nothing. If for others its difficult...then find a job that offers 8 hrs shifts. But lord help me if I have to be at the hospital 5 days a week, 8 hrs a day, with only 2 days off 52 weeks a year...I will find another career. I can guarantee you that this would be the case for majority of nurses that do bedisde. If i was at the hospital 5 days a week, I would be way more burnt out. Being there 5 days a week means having an assignment 5 days a week that can change, new patients, new treatment plans etc. When I work 3 days a week, by staying just 4 more hours I keep the day consistent. I have my day "planned" out as best I can with a few wrenches thrown in, but I feel like I can give better care when I dont have to rush. I have 12 hours to get my stuff done. Less changing of hands then if there were 3 shifts. More continuity. Am I tired after 3 shifts in a row? Not that bad. It could be worse. I still go to the gym for an hour right after. Im not falling on the ground right when I get home from exhaustion. Sometimes I will work 6 in a row. Then yes I am tired. My first day off I will sleep in. But If I schedule myself where I work 6 on and 8 off....well I have 7 more days to do whatever the hell I want.

I feel sorry for the poor suckers working mon-friday, with only 3 weeks vacation a year. I can take 8 days off because I can schedule myself that way and take a mini trip here and there and not use my PTO. Then I can save my PTO for an extended vacation once or twice a year. Because of self scheduling which I think more and more hospitals are going towards, I can make my schedule work around my familys.

Sure 12 hour shifts are long, but its a small price to pay for the rest of the benefits. For me its not a price to pay at all. My brain will be more overloaded with information taking care of my patients if I was forced to be there 5 days a week and 5 potentially different assignment changes. When im there for 3 days I have a little more time through the day to read my charts and know what I need to know about my patient to make sure they get what they need, things arent missed etc. Im not rushed to get everything done by 3 because evening shift is going to give me the stink eye because I couldn't cram all the "day shift" stuff into the 8 hr window. Your still going to be just as busy in an 8 hour shift vs a 12 hour shift so you might as well just get it over sooner. Rip the bandaid off!

So please...lets not let administration think were exhausted from working 3 12hr days....lest they make us work 5 days in a row. BTW I work in a busy adult ICU and also rapid response team for the last 12 years. I have my share of critical decisions made daily. Please don't make me do that 5 days a week! I will quit and go work in a greenhouse/nursery.

Just my opinion!

I work 8s and we don't self schedule. Hate it. I've worked in other ICUs that work 12s and loved it. And I believe the comment about incidental overtime is true as well. I recent dropped down to very part time for my sanity and started two supplemental jobs in places that work 12s. The change of scenery and ability to work 12s is keeping me fresh - plus I can work more or less as my needs dictate. I may quit the 8hr job altogether eventually, but it's the highest acuity hospital in my current area, so I want to keep my skills up if possible.

Overall 12s are better for me for all the reasons you mentioned. But, I know there are some folks who don't tolerate them well. For what it's worth, I'm in my (very) late 40s. I'm tired when I'm done, but one day to rest and flip my schedule (I work nights) and I'm good to go. I feel like a schedule of 5-6 8s in a row is far more draining. Like being nibbled to death by ducks, I guess, and the time constraints to get it all done really make the shift an all-out sprint.

[firemedic12, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Lol. My ICU is extremely short staffed right now and I regularly work 4-5 shifts a week (thank God for call-back pay). It's not bad and I'm still able to do all my work for my BSN classes and keep up my workout routine.