![]() ![]() Nurse advocates also say 12-hour shifts could raise the risks of affecting patient safety. Related story: How healthcare systems can work to keep nurses.“We need to take a look at being more flexible with our scheduling and recognize 12-hour shifts are not going to be the answer for everyone, and we need to have more flexibility.” “Nurses are saying, ‘I need more flexibility in the hours I work, because I’m worried about my family, or other things,’” Woods said. Hospitals and health systems solve a lot of scheduling hassles with 12-hour shifts, she said.īut given the shortage of nurses, Woods said healthcare organizations are going to have to consider other strategies in scheduling. ![]() “If you look from a physical standpoint as the nursing workforce gets older, it’s much more difficult to be on your feet and doing patient lifts, etc., for 12 hours as opposed to 8 hours,” Good said.Īnne Dabrow Woods, the chief nurse of Wolters Kluwer’s Health, Learning, Research and Practice business, has spent 38 years in nursing. Nearly half of all registered nurses are over the age of 50, according to a recent federal report assessing the pandemic’s impact on hospitals and workforce staffing. ![]() The 12-hour shifts grow more challenging for nurses as they age, Good said. The Nurse Staffing Think Tank - a coalition of five nursing organizations - released a report earlier this month outlining ways health systems can address the nursing shortage.Īmong the top recommendations: Developing more flexible schedules for nurses. “The traditional staffing models aren’t going to cut it in the future, unless we can look at an alternative way to get more nurses.” “We have to look at alternative staffing models,” Good said. Many nurses say they plan to leave their practice within the next two years. Hospitals were facing a shortage of nurses before COVID-19 ever appeared, but the pandemic has driven more nurses to leave the profession due to the stress and fatigue. “It’s the worst thing from a safety perspective and from a long-term workforce perspective that we could have ever done in nursing,” Good said.Īt a time when hospitals around the country are searching for nurses, Good said it’s time to reconsider the 12-hour shifts. In an interview with Chief Healthcare Executive about challenges in nursing, Good said she could have a whole separate conversation about 12-hour shifts for nurses. She’s a past president of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses board of directors. Vicki Good, executive director of nursing for Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, strongly advocates for moving away from 12-hour shifts. Hospitals also have found it easier to schedule staff with 12-hour shifts, leaders say. For younger nurses in particular, the schedule can be appealing, nursing leaders say. Many nurses work three 12-hours shifts each week, allowing four days out of the hospital. Some nurses have appreciated the 12-hours shifts that have become widespread in recent years. Some say moving to shorter nursing shifts would improve patient safety, and federal officials have voiced concerns over declines in patient safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. On National Nurses Week, many nurses say they don’t feel valued.‘Return nurses to being nurses’: A call to address burnout and shortages.As nurses get older, the 12-hour shifts get more difficult, nursing leaders say. Some advocates say many nurses who have young children leave the profession, or at least get out of full-time roles, because it’s too difficult to manage 12-hour shifts when raising school-age kids. Those shifts are extremely difficult for nurses who have children. As National Nurses Week concludes, nursing industry leaders and advocates say health systems must develop other scheduling options.Īdvocates for moving away from 12-hour shifts make several points. Increasingly, some nursing leaders say it’s time to move away from the 12-hour shifts employed by many hospitals. ![]() Hospital leaders have bemoaned a nationwide shortage of nurses, and nursing leaders argue that more flexible scheduling would help keep nurses from walking away. ![]()
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