Hello

I am not working in a shift system, but saw some interesting links relating to your question:

This is a discussion document from the Royal College of Nursing:

A shift in the right direction RCN guidance on the occupational health and safety of shift work in the nursing workforce:

https://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/479434/004285.pdf

This is a document from the Portsmouth NHS Trust - discussing various shift patterns: 

http://www.porthosp.nhs.uk/Downloads/Policies-And-Guidelines/Nursing-and-Midwifery-Policies/Roster_Management_Policy_for_Nurses_Midwives_and_Theatre_Practitioners.doc.

This link discusses 8 hour shift patterns, but is not healthcare related:

http://community.bmscentral.com/learnss/Tutorials/Examples/scheduling-example-8-hour-shift-4-on-2-o

This paper concludes that 12 hour shifts can have negative consequences:

Scott, L. D., Rogers, A. E., Hwang, W. T., & Zhang, Y. (2006). EFFECTS OF CRITICAL CARE NURSES’WORK HOURS ON VIGILANCE AND PATIENTS’SAFETY. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CRITICAL CARE, 15(1), 31.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263713284_Impact_of_Work_Schedules_on_Sleep_Duration_of_Critical_Care_Nurses

Philip Tucker - on ResearchGate - has written extensively on the subject of working hours and health:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Philip_Tucker/publications

I'll be interested to see what other members write from their experience of shift working.

Very best wishes

Mary 

Article Impact of Work Schedules on Sleep Duration of Critical Care Nurses

Hi, I work in a hospice rather than a hospital, but we use the 8 hour shift system. Usually we work two weekends and have one set of three nights a month (11 hour night shifts).  The rest of the month it is 8 hour shifts generally worked out as as 5 days per week (Monday to Sunday), with two off.  These are arranged as the ward needs, there is no rotation basis.  Hope this helps.

Over my 40 year career, nursing hospital hours have changed dramatically in the southern United States and usually this area of the country is last to follow patterns set first on the west coast of US. Until the 1980s most hospital nurses worked five 8hr. shifts per week-40 hr. work week is standard full time for all jobs 

in our center we have the following schedule:

2 Morning (06:00 AM - 14:00)

2 Evening (14:00 - 22:00)

2 Nights (22:00 - 06:00 AM)

this is very convenient and correlated with higher satisfaction and less sickness rates

This is not a simple answer as it depends upon the profession, hours of operation and the type of work being done.  In a hospital where patient care is provided 24/7 on an IP ward, often times the staff will work every other weekend so the weekend drives your days off.  In a clinic, the clinic hours of operation may dictate your days off.  An administrative RN may work M-F and have every weekend off. 

The use of 8 hours varies in our organization.  Eight hour shifts are usually filled by Part Time and are used to adjust for heavy census times.  Normal 12 hour shifts are 0700-1900 or 1900 to 0700.  Nurses are given the option of working 3 days in a row, or they can vary their days.  The Directors usually have the ability to adjust the scheudle for parity.

Thank to all for your valuable answers!! Perhaps there is someone who has changed from 12 hours to 8 hours shifts that can tell us their experiences?

Best regards!

I work in a hematology ward in Denmark. We work 8hr 15 min. The 15 min is to lap over between the shifts. Reports is not given verbally, but read directly from the patients' electronic records.

8 hour shifts are better for family life in one way, but when there is really, really busy, overtime can occur and the shift get longer than 8 hours, though not as long as 12 hours (except in rare circumstances). Disadvantages is that instead of coming to work two times to make 24 hours, you have to come to work 3 times.

From a managerial point of view, that staff comes to work more frequently can create difficulties finding a replacement when someone is off sick, especially in vacation periods.

I used to work in Saudi Arabia, where 12 hours was the work hours in the in-patient setting. There was a desire from especially the native nurses (especially those with families) to get less hours, the problem there was complex (for many reasons that I shall not detail here), but one of them has to do with the number of hours in a work week (there it was 44hr/week). Here in Denmark it is 37hr/week for full time, and may have elected to work 32hr/week (or according to what suits them).

In my current ward our manager is looking into the feasibility to change the weekend to 12 hour shifts as many nurses would like to work ever third weekend instead of every second weekend. I am personally not in favor of that, but this is because I like to work evening duty, and have therefore got the permission to work evening only, and if the shift would change to 12 hours then the evening shift will disappear, but that is just a personal preference.

There is however challenges with a shift if the whole unit is not doing the same thing, and I can imagine that it would be a nightmare to make the schedule if some will work 8 and other 12 hour shifts.

So from my experience, there are for an against, from different perspectives, and different factors such as the number of work hours per week.

Could be fun to hear what you get out of it if and when you change.

You might be interested in this article.  It is a report of a study on the the length of shifts and patient care issues reported by 31,000 nurses working on medical surgical units in 12 European countries.  The entire article is free to read, also.  Generally the nurses reported lower quality of care with longer shifts (12 hours) and when working over time.

Hi Madelaine

I cannot see any link or title of the article you referred to. Please resend.

Here it is!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25226543

A normal eight hour shift schedule as I have worked them, work M-F work 7-3:30, 3:00-11:30; 11:00-7:30.  There are 30 minute overlaps for shift reports.  Saturday-Sunday off.  The following week you work Monday-Thursday, get off Friday, work Sat-and Sunday, and get Monday off, then work Tuesday-Friday get the week end off etc.  On night shift this is dismal because you only get one night off and then have to go back to work again:)  Your shifts do not allow time to get acclimated to either days or nights!  good luck:)

Nurses submit their requestss and based on needs it is adjusted.

we found 12 hours shift is good in our study as nurses will have more rest days in a month to recover their sleep

Hello Cristobal Padilla Fortunatti

I wonder if the ideal shift depends on the type of nursing is involved.

When I was first qualified, back in the mid 1970s, I was working in a hospital solely for older people. Now, many would have been cared for in nursing homes, but the caring type work was very physically demanding, and if I ever stayed over the 8 hour (later 7 hour 30 mins) because of work load or staff sickness, I found it quite draining. I don't think I could have managed a 12 hour shift.

In the 1980s, I left the hospital and went onto the community, specialising in bladder and bowel health; I remained in this field until I retired. Although I should have worked a Monday to Friday, 7 hour 30 minute day, I almost always continued working well after my finishing time as there was a lot of work (referred to me unless I passed it elsewhere) and I really enjoyed it. And got pleasantly tired, but not tired in the same way as I would have done nursing the older people.

So, maybe the type of work should dictate the shift length and pattern?

I do understand when Dr Wegdan Bani-Issa mentioned about nurses having more rest days with 12 hour shifts, but I think, from my own perspective, after a night's sleep, I was well rested, so appreciated the 8 hour or less working day.

Very best wishes with your PhD, Cristobal Padilla,

Mary