nursing shifts , long days or old fashioned shifts ?

[brimfull]

I currently do the old earlys and lates
7:30-3:30
1:30-9:30

We are discussing changing the shift pattern at work and I am interested in other nurses views.

Do you do lates followed by earlys? Supposedly not allowed now but we do them and they are exhausting.
Are long days better for continuityof care?
How do the shift handovers work on long days?

I did shifts a few years ago when I was training in paeds, the shifts were 7:30-2, 1:30-9, 8:30-7:30. I used to do a late shift followed by an early the next day and it was really hard to be honest. It takes time to unwind, and eat so I found it difficult to get to sleep so was tired the next morning. I also did a few long days, these were double shifts. You'd still have to be there for the handover so the new shift had all the information. Continuity of care? Hmm.

thanks belle
how do the wards that do 8-8 shifts do handover then?Someone gonna have to either leave late or come in early

There will still be staff who are on an early so it's just these who will hand over to the staff on the late, the staff on long days just stay on the ward and don't hand over IYSWIM.

I used to do a mixture of both.
But if you think late followed by an early is bad, try doing 2 or 3 long days in a row.
And you could end up with 4 days in a row off, so continuity of care: lip service really. We had to do 14 shifts per month, and one short shift.
Night shifts were 8pm-8am and day shifts were 7:30am to 8.30pm
The real reason long days were brought in though was to save money. (No matter what they say) it cut out the hours of overlap. Our early shifts were 7:30-3 and late was 1-8.30
I hated long days with a passion, because I found them so tiring, but luckily flexible working was one of the units selling points so I used to just do a couple and the rest were short shifts.
The benefits of Long Days were less child care needed, and you could technically have a week off without using annual leave.
Some people love them, on the basis that if they were conming in to work, you might as well stay for the day, and build up hours that way!
I found that we were often so busy though that I might only get a lunch break at 4, and that would be it for the shift.
Things got better when I moved to ICU though as because of the stress levels involved, breaks were more structured.

thanks nursie that's interesting
The breaks would worry me as atm I hardly ever manage to get a break at all . I would be on my knees if that was on a long day.

I do long days, 8 till 8.15. Be that nght or days.i

I hate them to be honest, but that s the standard pattern so it is what we all do all over the UK.

The days off a great, but I'm so tired fromt he shifts that they aren't as enjoyable.

t is also no joke if you don't get a sit down or a break. You get through the shift ok, but then spend your so called day off in a foul mood groaning in tiredness.

We don't have any set days or nights or pattern. So couple that with the hours, and childcare is actually impossible. My dh leaves the house at 6.20 and gets in at 6, so if it wasn't for the grandparents I Could Not Work. Am yet to hear of any childcare provider who is happy to work 7am till 6pm, or 7pm to 8.30 am, random days a week.

I used to really really care about providing continuity for the people in my care for the 12 hours. However, selfish as I am , I would now rather provide it for my own family in all honesty. I wish there were some middle ground. It's very very difficult.

completely putting me off them now
treedelivery -I am in the UK and we don't do long days and I know a fair few places that still do the old shift pattern

When I worked in USA everyone, including in industry, worked 3 shifts:

7am - 3pm, 3pm - 11pm, and 11pm - 7am. There was a 15 minute hand over at the start of each shift. It worked because everyone drives over there - I don't know if it would work here. If you worked the morning shift, it was usual to do a week of days and a week of nights alternately. That meant that you got 4 days off every fortnight.

I liked the short night shifts much better than the 12 hour nights we used to do here. There was time to sleep, but also to go out for the evening for a meal or something, then go in to work for the night shift.

Annual leave is only 10 days per year in USA though......

I work 2 long days and 2 short days a week now - 32 hours - but I bring loads of Admin stuff home to do, as there is no time during working hours .

I couldn't do more than 2 long days consecutively - I would be on my knees I think. I am the wrong side of 50 though..

god 10 days annual leave is shit isn't it?
we are lucky here in that respect

I only do 22.5 hrs a week so 3 shifts -would only have to do 2 long days but I think I'd rather do the 3 short shifts tbh now I've heard the replies.

The fact that I was paid twice as much per hour as I was in UK was also quite good!

ggirl - I do 23 hours and I have to say, that unless you really want or need more days off in the week - stick with what you have. Thats just my experience, and you could give it a trial. That's if you trust them to let you go back to 3 shifts if you didn't like it?

My line of work has been the long days in the 3 trusts I've worked in, over 10 years. They seem popular with everyone except me Maybe when my dc's are a little older and out of the massive demanding toddler years I'll feel differently.......

I also think if you can get set long days, that would be waaaaaay better.