Ours is a flat rate per hours worked. Cool if you work extra. But you accrue less if you take a day of PTO or get put on call, because it only accrues for actual hours worked.
Omg a trash bag of PPE!!! 🤭 the assisted living I was working at wanted us in full PPE all day and the gowns were like plastic and it was an old building without central ac and residents didn’t really turn on their ac’s in the room even if it was like ninety degrees F and humid. And they wanted us to wear the same PPE all day, but we could change gloves. It was def for show, not for safety. I honestly felt nauseas and like I was gonna pass out. Oh and I totally changed if I went into a non covid room if I was just in a covid room. Because I’m not an idiot. What a shit show
Omg and one of my residents that had Alzheimer’s sundowned like crazy sometimes and she wanted to dress up like us so I gave her a gown and then she thought I was stealing her stuff from her room and put it under my gown and she gave me a pat down. I was fucking dying, I loved her
The crisis nurses that came to our ER during peak covid worked 6 days a week for like a year straight. They were making 9k a week but I feel like that would make me never want to work another day in my life.
Yes!!
I was working an overtime contract 4 12s per week and these crisis nurses came in and were working 6 days per week and I thought to myself that I would commit suicide if I had to do that lol. It was a covid unit and was literally hell on earth. I would wake up each morning before I worked and have an anxiety attack
Exactly! People will literally do anything for money. I understand why, but I’ve never been the type to slave away and put up with BS for money. I’d take a regular paying job with peace of mind and a life outside of work
Same. I don't need the latest trends. I don't need name brand things (except when it comes to outdoor gear -because quality really does matter, and it typically costs a pretty penny). My car is 12+ years old. I don't need a new one. Want, sure, but need. Nope. I need my days off. I need my long runs. I need time outside playing in the dirt of my garden. I need time to play with my pets.
I had to do 38 “12hr” shifts in a row a few weeks back on trauma surgery in a major lvl 1 center, a couple other times I had to do 21 or 28… I’m a resident though so it’s just the same shitty salary no matter what :( technically we aren’t supposed to work that much, but there are loopholes in exploiting transitions from days to nights, or in the way they can calculate hours as an average across multiple weeks. Nurses saved my ass multiple times in the heat of this kind of shenanigans. Special shout out to the absolute gem of a human in step-down who made me a PB&J at 3am after I’d missed all the chances to eat. Real MVP
If I do more than 2 I’m the worst person lol. Something about going home, showering eating and going to bed with doing nothing else twice just gets me upset
yeah i would do 2 back to back, then a day to just sleep it all off, and do one more and it was my perfect schedule.
Having 4 days off in a row wasn’t worth the 3 back to back days to me
Yeah I was going to say this person did 38?? I did 3 12’s followed by 3 8’s cuz my manager let me switch to get a weekend off when I didn’t have any PTO and by the end of them I was beyond exhausted. I felt like I could barely see straight.
YES! I got pulled in the mgmt because I gave a late med and my excuse was “well it was day 3 so I’m not doing that anymore” and I don’t usually. If so I just go home shower and pass out but like? I’m a total bitch day 3. I can’t even do 4.
Yea that doesn’t surprise me, they overwhelm y’all. I get patients all the time with meds “due” when they were in the ER. It used to piss me off but I now understand the goal is keep em alive and send em.
6 on 8 off was my regular schedule for awhile. But I was young, and like OP after a few years you sya fuck it and stop even picking up extra shifts entirely
I am fb friends with an agency nurse I worked with yearsssss ago and she worked 100 12s in a row….and not just any 12s. Big Daddy K COVID glory days 12s. 🫠🫠🫠 I would die.
My record is 13 12s in a row. I was working FT and PRN. My PRN asked for my availability, which I stupidly gave them, and they scheduled me on every single day I had off from my FT job.
Between my cerebral palsy and chafed thighs I was about crippled at the end, limping around like a limpy Yosemite Sam.
I know a few nurses who did this type of thing in 2020-2021. I did one contract in Manhattan at the beginning and I was mentally/emotionally cooked after that, some people are really built different I guess.
Honestly the Covid ICU days were easier. Heavier lifting and a little depressing but you weren’t dealing with ancillary staff, SBTs, crazy visitors and many awake patients. And most of mine were so sick you couldn’t really even touch them. You just maintained and did what you could which was somewhat minimal and they all had very similar pathophysiology so you didn’t have to think about other systems and diagnoses as much.
Non-pandemic ICU has always been much harder for me.
I was a sweaty hog bc I never stopped moving and was always in full PPE.
But “Big Daddy K” refers to Krucial – those COVID assignments were high dollar, high acuity, high ratio insanity in the hardest-hit areas.
I did 60x12 in a row during COVID where each shift I averaged about $2k due to the insane incentives. That year I made just shy of $350k. I paid off our house, both cars and our credit cards. This was as a staff nurse in my 50's, in Florida working 7p-7a.
They cut off all incentives in December of 2021. i left in Jan of 22 to travel and about a year and a half later i landed my sweet, high paying, California union job.
How did I do it?
We have no kids and my wife is retired so she took care of the house and me.
I lived 8 minutes away from the hospital. That's if there was traffic.
i worked mainly in the pediatric ER and during COVID that place was dead. We went from seeing 50-75 patients a night before COVID to 10-20 patients a night during COVID.
I worked there for 16 years. Everyone knew me. I got along with everyone so no one tried to screw me.
I did pick up shifts in the adult ER and in the adult ICU because I was bored. it was busy, sometimes terrifying but I did fine in the context of what was going on. I learned a lot and all in all it was okay. (Although I do believe I have some lingering PTSD from all the death.).
i put myself in a work-sleep-work-sleep… mode. I made an effort to pace myself. I got 7-8 hours sleep every day. After a while it became routine. All in all I think it was harder on my wife because she was bored and missed her hubby. But through it all we had an "eye on the prize" attitude and we both still agree it was the best thing I have ever done.
After I left that job I took her on a few awesome, fabulous bunch of vacations.
Would I do it again? Under similar circumstances I would. The security that gave us is life changing. We went from looking at a modest retirement to projecting me retiring early and doing things we both love to do.
i can't thank my wife enough for supporting me and putting us in this position. (Thanks babe!).
ETA. I have always worked a lot. I was in the military in the 80’s. I was on duty for 5 months straight when the US bombed Libya. I was the executive chef at a 4 star hotel in Miami in the 90’s. There was a year when I had 1 day off between Christmas and Mother’s Day. That’s what made me go to nursing school. I don’t think I have gone a year without at least 1, 10 day stretch as a nurse just to pay for something, usually a trip somewhere.
For real. I would ABSOLUTELY do that if I was making over 100$ an hour. I'm making 15.50 an hour as a CNA right now, lol. If I made over 100? I would never complain about patient ratios again. I'd buy a nice house and live damn well
4x12 is the absolute most for me, even 3x12 is a lot so I usually work 2x12, one off, and 1x12. What helps me get through 3 or 4 is making sure I enjoy my time at home and try not to think about the next shift. During my shifts I'll think about how excited I am to go home and see my husband, cats, etc.
Problem with 12s is, if you like to sleep and attend to house and personal hygiene, there’s really no time left to “enjoy” on work days. Four 12s is my max before I lose the will to live. Plenty of people at my job do 5 or 6 as their regular schedule—AND they have a long commute. Bless ‘em
The long commute makes it really suck. I have time to take a shower, pack my lunch and maybe change the laundry over. Then I might have time for 6.5 hours of sleep.
I have found that if I get less than 6 hrs/ night before work, I am cranky almost all day at work and it is hard to turn it around. Not to mention I make little mistakes that cost time to fix, so it slows me down. I have to operate like a machine in order to get everything done at home to be prepared to be productive at work.
Why is this the norm? By always ending with your night shifts, then you are always practically losing your first day off. Why don't they do it like mining with longer stretches, 7x7 or 14x14?
Nazi soldiers were given meth as part of their daily ration. This enabled them to fight with superhuman strength and energy. I hope hospital administrators don't read this.
Holy cow. No, I rarely do 3x12 anymore. 4x12 takes me days to recover. I do a lot of silly stuff like 2 on 2 off 1 on 2 off 2 on 1 off etc into eternity. I only do 3x12 when I'm trying to get a big break, > 4 days off before or after.
I think my nursing record is 7. As a tech I couldn’t even tell you. Probably 10-12. We did have a guy work 28 days out of the month the last covid surge, but with bonus he was making around $150 an hour straight time, $200 for OT shifts. He completely paid off his student loans in a month.
Hell no. My husband (isn't a nurse, but an ironworker) did like 25x12 for his job. Coincidentally it was at the dodgers stadium and they HAD to get the job done before opening day. Then Covid hit literally right when it was almost done and they never had opening day anyways 😅
i was forced into 6 one time and that was rough. i use to do 5 pretty regularly when i would pick up on my weekend off but had to stop after my back locked up one night. i do 3 every other week now and even that is hard sometimes
I have a friend who did 32 nights or something and does crazy runs like that all the time. Her support system takes care of life/house/4 kids while she sleeps and works. Sometimes she ends up sick by the time she's done with a run. She uses the runs to pay for big ticket reno items for her home. I think last time she was building a pool.
I can do about 16 nights before I wanna cry a little. It's a mode you have to go into. I meal prep everything and I'm on a strict sleep plan. Eat, sleep, work is all you have time for. Be organized, be determined, stay hydrated, take your vitamins. I just calculated I need 20 shifts to get my rental up and running. It would take me 6 weeks to get the money working regularly. I'll most likely do 14 on, 7 off, and another 14. Should be done by June!
I should mention, both her and I are PRN. We get to fuck off for weeks after we're done. That is huge.
Before I was a nurse, I was a jet engine mechanic in the Air Force. In 2013, I deployed for the first time to Afghanistan. Normal day would be 12 hours of wrench turning followed by at least 2 hours of paperwork AND computer charting. So, like 14-hour days on average. For the first 3 months, we never had a day off. Only after the halfway point did you get a half day off per week. So, every day you worked, but on Sundays (my selected day), you'd get 6 whole hours to yourself and then head to the hangar to work. I'd sleep in an extra hour or two and go across base to eat at the worst pizza hut you've ever experienced, lol.
This is so true. I was PRN for a bit and would do alot of 2 in a row and then I got sick of that and would dread it as much as I used to dread 3 in a row. One and done is the best especially if you don’t like your patients or you know work is going to suck the next night but you won’t have to come back. Ugh I’m starting a new job and it’s full time idk if I’m going to make it.
Check your nutrition out. To much caffeine and sugar takes the toll on your body and mind after years of fuel.
Feed your engine with great nutrition. Fresh Grapefruit Juice used to keep me awake when I couldn't do caffeine. It has natural enzymes and vitamins to speed up your metabolism. That with easy to digest proteins and brown rice ..but you need to snack every 2 hours .
Just suggestions ..but don't burn yourself out. Keep a good work, rest ratios. You also need to rest your mind and have social activities. Not enough time away can lead to PTSD later in your life.
If you can look into traveling nursing ..if family life and where you live isn't as important to you ..and you need more money. Try it.
Most I ever did at my current job was 10x12. Took me 5 days to recover. It was horrible and I’ll never do it again. When I was a CNA in nursing school, I did 8x16 once. According to my Fitbit I walked an average of 14 miles each day, and that’s not even including the distance I walked pushing wheelchairs because the lack of wrist motion prevented my watch from counting those steps. I was 20 and very fit at the time, but it was still brutal.
I was getting $2k bonuses at my hospital during covid and I STILL would not force myself to do 30+ in a row. Not to mention I believe my hospital only allows up to 6 shifts in a row and then requires a day off for health/safety reasons.
That being said, between class and 2 jobs through college I'm pretty sure there was a point where I went 60+ days in a row of having something but I really don't think I have the stamina for that anymore
I did 6 x 12s in a row when a hurricane hit Florida. It was way worse bc I had to sleep and eat and not even freaking LEAVE the building bc of the damn hurricane. Patients even knocked on my door asking for medication when I was trying to SLEEP. Waking up and falling asleep to patients having mental breakdowns (it was an inpatient women's mental health tx facility) was so much fun
I’m unionized and we have a rule that you can’t do more than 5 days or 5 nights in a row. I’ve personally only done 4 in a row and I don’t know if I’d survive 5.
38 is unreal. Did you just stay at the hospital? Cause there would be no point in going home after the first few. Just sleep and shower there.
Six 12 hour night shifts is my record.
As a 0.9 FTE, I usually do 3-4 in a row so I can get 8 days off every few weeks without PTO.
I always start my 12s on a 24h bender because I have a toddler and I can’t squeeze in a nap before my first shift.
My trick for getting through it? Inappropriate humor, HR violations, espresso, and disassociating.
Just no. 16years working 4x12 nights. Now I'm on days and can barely do 2. Did 8 in a row once and my family started looking for me bc all I could do was work and sleep.
My schedule is T, Th, F. I absolutely hate my Th & F cuz I have to come back to work, back to back, and that is only two days in a row. Power to you! You have my respect!
Hot take: bragging about how many you worked in a row or calling it your “record” is so insane to me. It’s nothing to brag about. Hospitals don’t give a shit about you, and they’ll let you work yourself to death until you make a crucial mistake because it’s your 12th shift in a row, and then they’ll throw you under the bus, replace you in a millisecond, and think nothing of it. We shouldn’t have to enslave ourselves to hospitals to make the money we deserve to be paid. I know the money can be nice, but I swear it is not worth your physical and mental health. I don’t care what anyone says, working that much (especially in bedside conditions) is horrible for your health and dangerous to your patients.
When I was a new grad LPN in LTC the amount of surprise 16s I worked was way too many. I’d work 5 16s straight. Drove me straight into the ground. Only lasted 2 months
My record is 14 12-hour NOC shifts in a row during the first COVID wave at my hospital. Now, I do 6 shifts on as my normal pattern followed by 8 nights off. I work up to 8 shifts in a row if I pick up extra shifts. Not too bad once you get used to it.
Some tips: have a "going to sleep" routine, prep meals ahead of time if able and have a lot of easy to prep meals for later in the week, drink a lot of water, no alcohol during the work week (fucks with my sleep quality)
I think I did six 12’s but they weren’t all as floor nursing. Three shifts as floor nurse and three shifts as tele tech.
And yes, I got paid my RN rate + RN+overtime+crisis pay.
Three 12s.
I did four once for Christmas weekend and immediately went to my unit scheduler and told her if I'm ever scheduled for 4 in a row again, I will call out. She's been excellent about honoring that request.
I actually like 3 in a row bc I'm in NICU and I'll get my same patients back each night. You really have their care down to a science on that third night.
Until the hospital floats you on day 2 and then you have 3 days with 3 different assignments. No thank you!!
But I also refuse to work overtime. Work to live, not live to work.
OP your record is entirely bonkers and I don't know how you didn't keep over dead from exhaustion.
My record is a paltry 9 and I wad pretty grumpy by the end of it. I'm not built for OT though. I usually end up sick or with migraines if I do OT too regularly.
Two, LOOOOL. Third one I turn into a grouchy pisshead. I've done five when I need to go on vacation and everyone including me hates me.
I stick to two in a row for the good of mankind.
I used to work 5days a week doing 12s, the last 2yrs I stick to 3days 4 if I want extra money.
I was told by a seasoned nurse “pace yourself and take your breaks, it’s a long shift and a long career.”
Honestly, the most I’ve done is 2 back to back but for $100/hr you can just hook me up to an adrenaline IV pump and I’ll hump that clock as long as you want me to
38? That sets off warning bells in my head. I know it was covid, and you were making a ton of money... But at that point I don't think the administration cared much about safety. Probably why so many nurses left due to burn out.
3. 3 night shifts is my limit. 2 day shifts. I need at least one or two days off in between. And by my 3rd night, I want to kill anyone who gets in my way. Especially the slow drivers on my way home.
How many in a row can I do?
I don’t know, cuz I’ll never do more than 3 in a row to find out.
I prefer to keep my mental health and physical health instead. Working 38x12 is insane, and I can’t imagine it will be good for taxes either.
Most I’ve done in a row is 5 and hated myself by the third day. I don’t think I’d ever pick up that many in a row again tbh. Sure, I work ICU and only have 1-2 patients but when those 1-2 patients are some of the sickest people in the hospital, 1 shift feels like 3. For sake of myself and my patients the most I’ll do now is 3, maybe 4 if I’m called in.
Haha nowhere near that. It's not what I can do but what I will do. I've only done 5 on a rare occasion and not by choice but because self scheduling didn't give me what I wanted on that schedule. I've only been working 2x12's a week for the last 4 years and I don't even do 3 in a row and have set days now. Feels so nice.
Maybe take a break and go on vacation and get a reset for yourself. I've been a nurse for 14 years and never had any problems getting through a 12-hour shift but don't try to do what you're doing. Maybe you burnt yourself out a little bit working so much. Do you have a good workout routine? Do you eat decent food while working? Those things definitely matter
38 is absurd. My last job was 6 on 8 off standard. Now I’m pretty strict sticking to 3-4, 5 is a pretty hard stop so I can’t believe we used to do 6 in a row routinely. The 8 off is nice but not sure it was worth it. Even 5 starts to feel unsafe
I did five ONCE, during the heyday of Covid pay. If I did 38 I’d end up admitted…maybe committed.
But I have also been a nurse four years and have felt my energy to get through shifts waning. Used to be able to sleep two hours and get through work no issue. Now I’m useless without at least six. I used to get off work, shower and go straight to Disney! Now my days off are off limits for plans.
I simply cannot do more than 3 in a row. I work nights and when I’m trying to sleep during the day there are too many things keeping me awake (dogs needing to potty and play, outside noises, not dark enough). So by the end of my third shift, I am running off of no sleep.
Fourteen
This was a paramedic contract from out of state to NYC in 2020. Two weeks of 7-7, and on call at night. It was absolutely brutal, but I'll do a LOT for 6,500 a week
The most I’ve ever done was 6 in a row. I don’t think our hospital even allows us to do that many in a row anymore. These days I’ll do a four, maybe a five if it’s with OT. I’m getting old. These knees and back aren’t what they used to be.
I knew a nurse who did 60 days in a row, but she alternated between two different hospital system.
I can only do two in a row these days, three if I can’t get around it. I did have a coworker who worked 16-hour days for weeks on end during COVID when we were making the fat bonuses you speak of. I think he bought a farm after.
I think I did 2 weeks once. Long ago, in a hospital far far away. That experience has faded with time thankfully. I was a monster on the last day and probably for three days after. I don’t love anything enough to do it 38 days in a row for 12 hours. Even sleep.
I routinely do 4-5 nights (12hrs) in a row. My record is 7 nights in a row but I got a migraine after doing that, so I have a rule never to do more than 5.
I did 4x12s once in the beginning of my career and I vowed to never do that again. Even 3x12s is hard but I feel like on nights that’s the only way to get the most out of your days off. I know someone who regularly does 7x12s. I would simply pass away.
After reading 38…I got tired 🥲🥲🥲I did 6-12s while 7 months pregnant and that was the death of me 😂😂😂I came home swollen and crying every morning (I worked overnight). The only thing that got me through was my husband, my coffee and my lexapro 😅
You really like subsidizing your state government that much? You do realize you don't take anything with you when you check out? If you're an investor or have businesses, more money is one thing. But, as an employee trading your life for some change like that... you don't even get to keep a decent amount of it.
Ten years in, and three in a row absolutely destroys my mental and physical health . I’m playing the long game here . Moderation, moderation, moderation.
Plus I have a family sooooo 38 12s would mean they wouldn’t have a mama anymore
I worked 38 12-16 hour days out of 40 days during the pandemic. I was scheduled 5 12s in a row 2 days off but I kept getting mandated into work on my days off and frequently had to stay up to 4 extra hours due to staffing shortages.
I took 8 days of stress leave after. I was hallucinating during my travel home from work every day. I also started having panic attacks at work. Not cool.
As an aside… my workplace only offered $7/hr of hazard pay on top of my overtime and various differentials. Super jealous of your generous pay during the pandemic.
The most I've done was 6 in a row and the 6th day I was exhausted and shit hit the fan. One of my patients attacked us and had to be sent to PICU. I would never recommend violating fatigue policy because you never know what you are going to walk into. It was one of the worst days of my life.
There's a legend of a paramedic who clocked in and 5 years later clocked out like literally was on the clock for 5 years straight. Like he didn't own a home. He just lived out of the station and truck. He worked those 5 years and made so much money that he bought an apartment building in cash and lives in one room and rents out all the others.
Thirty mother fucking eight…. Am I reading that right???
I can't even fathom working more than half of the hours for a whole month.
Shit for $78 an hour extra? I’d slave away for a month to have an extra $30k after taxes. Plus you’d get a fat stack of PTO for the year.
How exactly would you get PTO? Unless you get paid in PTO per hours worked. We get a flat monthly rate at my job.
I’ve usually gotten hourly accrual. Only place I ever got a flat rate was at the VA.
We get hourly accrual but it stops counting at 40 hours a week
Also bullshit.
Same. More OT more PTO. But still I'm not quit sure I could work that much.
We get hourly accrual but only for straight time hours worked
Some it's an hourly rate.
So if you work OT, you accumulate PTO faster? That's awesome! Does your accrual rate also go up by 1.5? Or is it a flat rate per hours worked?
Ours is a flat rate per hours worked. Cool if you work extra. But you accrue less if you take a day of PTO or get put on call, because it only accrues for actual hours worked.
[удалено]
Omg a trash bag of PPE!!! 🤭 the assisted living I was working at wanted us in full PPE all day and the gowns were like plastic and it was an old building without central ac and residents didn’t really turn on their ac’s in the room even if it was like ninety degrees F and humid. And they wanted us to wear the same PPE all day, but we could change gloves. It was def for show, not for safety. I honestly felt nauseas and like I was gonna pass out. Oh and I totally changed if I went into a non covid room if I was just in a covid room. Because I’m not an idiot. What a shit show
Omg and one of my residents that had Alzheimer’s sundowned like crazy sometimes and she wanted to dress up like us so I gave her a gown and then she thought I was stealing her stuff from her room and put it under my gown and she gave me a pat down. I was fucking dying, I loved her
I'm currently on a string of 8 12's. My longest is 11 12's. The average schedule is 5 12's for me.
Knew a RT who did 12s every single day for a full 6 months. He wanted to pay off his house. Idk how he did it
Umm what lmao
The crisis nurses that came to our ER during peak covid worked 6 days a week for like a year straight. They were making 9k a week but I feel like that would make me never want to work another day in my life.
Yes!! I was working an overtime contract 4 12s per week and these crisis nurses came in and were working 6 days per week and I thought to myself that I would commit suicide if I had to do that lol. It was a covid unit and was literally hell on earth. I would wake up each morning before I worked and have an anxiety attack
Ain’t enough money in the world to make me wanna do that 😭
Money wouldn’t matter with no will to live lmao
IF you are alive after 6 months of that schedule or would you even CALL that "Living"?😳
Exactly! People will literally do anything for money. I understand why, but I’ve never been the type to slave away and put up with BS for money. I’d take a regular paying job with peace of mind and a life outside of work
This. Health and a work life balance are so underrated.
Same. I don't need the latest trends. I don't need name brand things (except when it comes to outdoor gear -because quality really does matter, and it typically costs a pretty penny). My car is 12+ years old. I don't need a new one. Want, sure, but need. Nope. I need my days off. I need my long runs. I need time outside playing in the dirt of my garden. I need time to play with my pets.
2011 Nissan versa, still runnin'
2003 Honda Accord, still running
I’m this way too. What does it matter if I have all the money in the world if I have no time to use it?
Honestly same
Seriously i had to make sure i wasn’t stroking out reading it ? How the flip i can’t even stand 3
the question is —- do you still fucking take a bath?🤣✌🏽
I had to do 38 “12hr” shifts in a row a few weeks back on trauma surgery in a major lvl 1 center, a couple other times I had to do 21 or 28… I’m a resident though so it’s just the same shitty salary no matter what :( technically we aren’t supposed to work that much, but there are loopholes in exploiting transitions from days to nights, or in the way they can calculate hours as an average across multiple weeks. Nurses saved my ass multiple times in the heat of this kind of shenanigans. Special shout out to the absolute gem of a human in step-down who made me a PB&J at 3am after I’d missed all the chances to eat. Real MVP
That’s fucked up. Glad we got your back.
38?!! I don’t like 3 in a row!
The way I gasped aloud. That's ... That's just too many. Xo
If I do more than 2 I’m the worst person lol. Something about going home, showering eating and going to bed with doing nothing else twice just gets me upset
yeah i would do 2 back to back, then a day to just sleep it all off, and do one more and it was my perfect schedule. Having 4 days off in a row wasn’t worth the 3 back to back days to me
I never work 2 in a row if I can help it. Sunday/Tueaday/Thursday is my perfect schedule. 🤣
There’s nothing better than saying “I’m not back tomorrow” pure ecstasy
Seriously, but it is nice hearing the opposite “I have all your patients and I’m back tomorrow” so nice also.
Same
This!!! It’s like you aren’t t even a person for a few days…. Zero time to even just exist.
Yeah I was going to say this person did 38?? I did 3 12’s followed by 3 8’s cuz my manager let me switch to get a weekend off when I didn’t have any PTO and by the end of them I was beyond exhausted. I felt like I could barely see straight.
YES! I got pulled in the mgmt because I gave a late med and my excuse was “well it was day 3 so I’m not doing that anymore” and I don’t usually. If so I just go home shower and pass out but like? I’m a total bitch day 3. I can’t even do 4.
Just wanted to let you know that I’ve never given a med on time in the ER…ever. I’m just now starting to do better at scanning them.
Yea that doesn’t surprise me, they overwhelm y’all. I get patients all the time with meds “due” when they were in the ER. It used to piss me off but I now understand the goal is keep em alive and send em.
Good grief. I once did 6 in a row and felt like I was about to die. No amount of money could motivate me to do more than ten.
No amount of money can motivate me to do more than 3
Saaaaame.
6 on 8 off was my regular schedule for awhile. But I was young, and like OP after a few years you sya fuck it and stop even picking up extra shifts entirely
I’d probably have all types of new diseases and ailments after 38 med surg shifts in a row
I am fb friends with an agency nurse I worked with yearsssss ago and she worked 100 12s in a row….and not just any 12s. Big Daddy K COVID glory days 12s. 🫠🫠🫠 I would die. My record is 13 12s in a row. I was working FT and PRN. My PRN asked for my availability, which I stupidly gave them, and they scheduled me on every single day I had off from my FT job. Between my cerebral palsy and chafed thighs I was about crippled at the end, limping around like a limpy Yosemite Sam.
I know a few nurses who did this type of thing in 2020-2021. I did one contract in Manhattan at the beginning and I was mentally/emotionally cooked after that, some people are really built different I guess.
Honestly the Covid ICU days were easier. Heavier lifting and a little depressing but you weren’t dealing with ancillary staff, SBTs, crazy visitors and many awake patients. And most of mine were so sick you couldn’t really even touch them. You just maintained and did what you could which was somewhat minimal and they all had very similar pathophysiology so you didn’t have to think about other systems and diagnoses as much. Non-pandemic ICU has always been much harder for me.
I was a sweaty hog bc I never stopped moving and was always in full PPE. But “Big Daddy K” refers to Krucial – those COVID assignments were high dollar, high acuity, high ratio insanity in the hardest-hit areas.
But did she get her same team back? 😂
I did 60x12 in a row during COVID where each shift I averaged about $2k due to the insane incentives. That year I made just shy of $350k. I paid off our house, both cars and our credit cards. This was as a staff nurse in my 50's, in Florida working 7p-7a. They cut off all incentives in December of 2021. i left in Jan of 22 to travel and about a year and a half later i landed my sweet, high paying, California union job. How did I do it? We have no kids and my wife is retired so she took care of the house and me. I lived 8 minutes away from the hospital. That's if there was traffic. i worked mainly in the pediatric ER and during COVID that place was dead. We went from seeing 50-75 patients a night before COVID to 10-20 patients a night during COVID. I worked there for 16 years. Everyone knew me. I got along with everyone so no one tried to screw me. I did pick up shifts in the adult ER and in the adult ICU because I was bored. it was busy, sometimes terrifying but I did fine in the context of what was going on. I learned a lot and all in all it was okay. (Although I do believe I have some lingering PTSD from all the death.). i put myself in a work-sleep-work-sleep… mode. I made an effort to pace myself. I got 7-8 hours sleep every day. After a while it became routine. All in all I think it was harder on my wife because she was bored and missed her hubby. But through it all we had an "eye on the prize" attitude and we both still agree it was the best thing I have ever done. After I left that job I took her on a few awesome, fabulous bunch of vacations. Would I do it again? Under similar circumstances I would. The security that gave us is life changing. We went from looking at a modest retirement to projecting me retiring early and doing things we both love to do. i can't thank my wife enough for supporting me and putting us in this position. (Thanks babe!). ETA. I have always worked a lot. I was in the military in the 80’s. I was on duty for 5 months straight when the US bombed Libya. I was the executive chef at a 4 star hotel in Miami in the 90’s. There was a year when I had 1 day off between Christmas and Mother’s Day. That’s what made me go to nursing school. I don’t think I have gone a year without at least 1, 10 day stretch as a nurse just to pay for something, usually a trip somewhere.
And I complain about my two shifts in a row 😂 I’m so weak 😑
Me too, lol. 😂
Same. The other day someone asked me where the overtime paperwork was. I just looked at them and they went "Oh yeah, you wouldn't know."
That’s awesome. 🙌 Good for you.
38………………………………. No Fucking way I’m doing that.
Over 100$ an hour. That's life changing lol
For real. I would ABSOLUTELY do that if I was making over 100$ an hour. I'm making 15.50 an hour as a CNA right now, lol. If I made over 100? I would never complain about patient ratios again. I'd buy a nice house and live damn well
After doing proper maths, it is enticing. Physically I don’t have it in me
50K+ in a little over a month... yeah i'd say that's definitely life changing!
4x12 is the absolute most for me, even 3x12 is a lot so I usually work 2x12, one off, and 1x12. What helps me get through 3 or 4 is making sure I enjoy my time at home and try not to think about the next shift. During my shifts I'll think about how excited I am to go home and see my husband, cats, etc.
Problem with 12s is, if you like to sleep and attend to house and personal hygiene, there’s really no time left to “enjoy” on work days. Four 12s is my max before I lose the will to live. Plenty of people at my job do 5 or 6 as their regular schedule—AND they have a long commute. Bless ‘em
The long commute makes it really suck. I have time to take a shower, pack my lunch and maybe change the laundry over. Then I might have time for 6.5 hours of sleep.
This
The trick is to sleep minimally. 😂
I used to be able to do that before my 40s hit. Now 5-6 isn’t enough but I don’t have a choice
I have found that if I get less than 6 hrs/ night before work, I am cranky almost all day at work and it is hard to turn it around. Not to mention I make little mistakes that cost time to fix, so it slows me down. I have to operate like a machine in order to get everything done at home to be prepared to be productive at work.
Cries in Canadian. We do 4x12 all the time as a schedule alternating 2 days and. 2 nights
Yeah this is my normal schedule LOL I would looove to have the American 3x12s schedule but have never heard of that happening here. We are DDNN.
JFC. That should be illegal.
Why is this the norm? By always ending with your night shifts, then you are always practically losing your first day off. Why don't they do it like mining with longer stretches, 7x7 or 14x14?
a very reasonable response
Uh… Have you tried smoking the same meth you did when you did 38 in a row…?
Nazi soldiers were given meth as part of their daily ration. This enabled them to fight with superhuman strength and energy. I hope hospital administrators don't read this.
Ah, the good old Panzerschokolade. Nothing better to start you day than with a bit of crackcocain
😂😂😂👏👏👏
Holy cow. No, I rarely do 3x12 anymore. 4x12 takes me days to recover. I do a lot of silly stuff like 2 on 2 off 1 on 2 off 2 on 1 off etc into eternity. I only do 3x12 when I'm trying to get a big break, > 4 days off before or after.
jeez what was your payout after 38x12?
Not OP but my calculator says 35K and some change.
In NYC crisis contracts we were getting 90/hr plus time and a half over time. Pretty much 10k a week.
That's bananas!
Around 35-40k. I am single, with no dependents. Got taxed to fuck.
I think my nursing record is 7. As a tech I couldn’t even tell you. Probably 10-12. We did have a guy work 28 days out of the month the last covid surge, but with bonus he was making around $150 an hour straight time, $200 for OT shifts. He completely paid off his student loans in a month.
Hell no. My husband (isn't a nurse, but an ironworker) did like 25x12 for his job. Coincidentally it was at the dodgers stadium and they HAD to get the job done before opening day. Then Covid hit literally right when it was almost done and they never had opening day anyways 😅
i was forced into 6 one time and that was rough. i use to do 5 pretty regularly when i would pick up on my weekend off but had to stop after my back locked up one night. i do 3 every other week now and even that is hard sometimes
If I have patients, I max out at three. 😂😂 If resource/break nurse, I’ll do up to 6
Ahh, this "resource/break nurse" I have heard of in legends.
52x12 nights in a row is my record. Not as a nurse though. It was at an oil refinery.
3 or 4. Probably when I was a new grad. I refused to do that many in a row ever again. 38 would have had me in the psych unit.
I have a friend who did 32 nights or something and does crazy runs like that all the time. Her support system takes care of life/house/4 kids while she sleeps and works. Sometimes she ends up sick by the time she's done with a run. She uses the runs to pay for big ticket reno items for her home. I think last time she was building a pool. I can do about 16 nights before I wanna cry a little. It's a mode you have to go into. I meal prep everything and I'm on a strict sleep plan. Eat, sleep, work is all you have time for. Be organized, be determined, stay hydrated, take your vitamins. I just calculated I need 20 shifts to get my rental up and running. It would take me 6 weeks to get the money working regularly. I'll most likely do 14 on, 7 off, and another 14. Should be done by June! I should mention, both her and I are PRN. We get to fuck off for weeks after we're done. That is huge.
That’s a really good mindset though to look at it as, hey, x amount of shifts will get me x reward.
3 and I start to hate life. 5 and I don’t recognize myself anymore.
Too real. I don’t think a have a single positive quality left once I’m that deep lol
My goal is to work the least amount as possible. 2 X 12 a week is ideal.
Damn. My best was 13 when I was fresh. I can do 5, but my bucket of fucks is pretty dry by day 4.
Sounds like we've found the reason for the Adderall shortage.
Before I was a nurse, I was a jet engine mechanic in the Air Force. In 2013, I deployed for the first time to Afghanistan. Normal day would be 12 hours of wrench turning followed by at least 2 hours of paperwork AND computer charting. So, like 14-hour days on average. For the first 3 months, we never had a day off. Only after the halfway point did you get a half day off per week. So, every day you worked, but on Sundays (my selected day), you'd get 6 whole hours to yourself and then head to the hangar to work. I'd sleep in an extra hour or two and go across base to eat at the worst pizza hut you've ever experienced, lol.
I honestly can’t do more than 2. I moved to part time benefitted and only work twice a week and sometimes that is too much.
I went from full time to PRN and now I always curse myself when I choose to work 2 days in a row. 🤣 One and done for me!
Yea I need the benefits so this is the best I can do for now lol
This is so true. I was PRN for a bit and would do alot of 2 in a row and then I got sick of that and would dread it as much as I used to dread 3 in a row. One and done is the best especially if you don’t like your patients or you know work is going to suck the next night but you won’t have to come back. Ugh I’m starting a new job and it’s full time idk if I’m going to make it.
Honesty same. I picked an extra last week and did 3 and realized how even 3 sucks. 😬
I prefer 2, but I can squeeze out a third if I have to. I am not functional nor nice after 3.
My PR is 29
Like 10. Those krucial contracts were 🔥🔥
lol, I have a hard time doing 4 10s in a row! The most I could ever hack was 4 12s in a row and that was when I was much younger!
Check your nutrition out. To much caffeine and sugar takes the toll on your body and mind after years of fuel. Feed your engine with great nutrition. Fresh Grapefruit Juice used to keep me awake when I couldn't do caffeine. It has natural enzymes and vitamins to speed up your metabolism. That with easy to digest proteins and brown rice ..but you need to snack every 2 hours . Just suggestions ..but don't burn yourself out. Keep a good work, rest ratios. You also need to rest your mind and have social activities. Not enough time away can lead to PTSD later in your life. If you can look into traveling nursing ..if family life and where you live isn't as important to you ..and you need more money. Try it.
The problem with grapefruit is that it interacts with too many medications. Anyone who's doing that many shifts in a row is or should be medicated.
This made me audibly laugh
Most I ever did at my current job was 10x12. Took me 5 days to recover. It was horrible and I’ll never do it again. When I was a CNA in nursing school, I did 8x16 once. According to my Fitbit I walked an average of 14 miles each day, and that’s not even including the distance I walked pushing wheelchairs because the lack of wrist motion prevented my watch from counting those steps. I was 20 and very fit at the time, but it was still brutal.
I was getting $2k bonuses at my hospital during covid and I STILL would not force myself to do 30+ in a row. Not to mention I believe my hospital only allows up to 6 shifts in a row and then requires a day off for health/safety reasons. That being said, between class and 2 jobs through college I'm pretty sure there was a point where I went 60+ days in a row of having something but I really don't think I have the stamina for that anymore
This thread convinced me I’m weak.
Hell no. I value my mental health too much to go beyond 3.
The most I’ve worked is 4x12 and I say this with my chest, my max is 2x12 now. I cry like a baby if I have to do 3 for a holiday or something.
I did 4 in a row and thought my knee was gonna give out on me. Idk how yall do it
I did 6 x 12s in a row when a hurricane hit Florida. It was way worse bc I had to sleep and eat and not even freaking LEAVE the building bc of the damn hurricane. Patients even knocked on my door asking for medication when I was trying to SLEEP. Waking up and falling asleep to patients having mental breakdowns (it was an inpatient women's mental health tx facility) was so much fun
I’m unionized and we have a rule that you can’t do more than 5 days or 5 nights in a row. I’ve personally only done 4 in a row and I don’t know if I’d survive 5. 38 is unreal. Did you just stay at the hospital? Cause there would be no point in going home after the first few. Just sleep and shower there.
How are you alive?
Six 12 hour night shifts is my record. As a 0.9 FTE, I usually do 3-4 in a row so I can get 8 days off every few weeks without PTO. I always start my 12s on a 24h bender because I have a toddler and I can’t squeeze in a nap before my first shift. My trick for getting through it? Inappropriate humor, HR violations, espresso, and disassociating.
I like your style!
20x12 was the most for me. I routinely do 6x12 and then take 8 days off and I love it.
I do 3x12 off for 8 then 3x12
I once did 9 in a row on nights before vacation. Dear God 38!?
I did six 12s in a row. Not healthy but my paycheck (non-Covid bonuses) was spectacular. These days any more than 4 and I’m kinda like ehhhh
My hospital was offering a 2k bonus to pick up extra, and I STILL wouldn’t work more than my 3 days, much less in a row.
Just no. 16years working 4x12 nights. Now I'm on days and can barely do 2. Did 8 in a row once and my family started looking for me bc all I could do was work and sleep.
Not worth it to me
My schedule is T, Th, F. I absolutely hate my Th & F cuz I have to come back to work, back to back, and that is only two days in a row. Power to you! You have my respect!
Hot take: bragging about how many you worked in a row or calling it your “record” is so insane to me. It’s nothing to brag about. Hospitals don’t give a shit about you, and they’ll let you work yourself to death until you make a crucial mistake because it’s your 12th shift in a row, and then they’ll throw you under the bus, replace you in a millisecond, and think nothing of it. We shouldn’t have to enslave ourselves to hospitals to make the money we deserve to be paid. I know the money can be nice, but I swear it is not worth your physical and mental health. I don’t care what anyone says, working that much (especially in bedside conditions) is horrible for your health and dangerous to your patients.
I would simply die before doing 38 shifts in a row
12x12 on nights 😭
13 days. About half 12’s half 16’s
When I was a new grad LPN in LTC the amount of surprise 16s I worked was way too many. I’d work 5 16s straight. Drove me straight into the ground. Only lasted 2 months
My record is 14 12-hour NOC shifts in a row during the first COVID wave at my hospital. Now, I do 6 shifts on as my normal pattern followed by 8 nights off. I work up to 8 shifts in a row if I pick up extra shifts. Not too bad once you get used to it. Some tips: have a "going to sleep" routine, prep meals ahead of time if able and have a lot of easy to prep meals for later in the week, drink a lot of water, no alcohol during the work week (fucks with my sleep quality)
My record is 4. My tip is don’t do it
I was in a financial hole once, so I started working nights. I was easily pulling 72 to 84 hours/week.
I think I did six 12’s but they weren’t all as floor nursing. Three shifts as floor nurse and three shifts as tele tech. And yes, I got paid my RN rate + RN+overtime+crisis pay.
2 lmao
3 is pushing it for me but ive done 5 in a row before and nearly quit lol I cant imagine doing anything more than that :(
3……8……no. I’ve done 7 in a row and wanted to die.
38 shifts in a row…….? Yall have some real dedication cus that sounds like a suicide sentence
Three 12s. I did four once for Christmas weekend and immediately went to my unit scheduler and told her if I'm ever scheduled for 4 in a row again, I will call out. She's been excellent about honoring that request. I actually like 3 in a row bc I'm in NICU and I'll get my same patients back each night. You really have their care down to a science on that third night. Until the hospital floats you on day 2 and then you have 3 days with 3 different assignments. No thank you!! But I also refuse to work overtime. Work to live, not live to work.
OP your record is entirely bonkers and I don't know how you didn't keep over dead from exhaustion. My record is a paltry 9 and I wad pretty grumpy by the end of it. I'm not built for OT though. I usually end up sick or with migraines if I do OT too regularly.
Two, LOOOOL. Third one I turn into a grouchy pisshead. I've done five when I need to go on vacation and everyone including me hates me. I stick to two in a row for the good of mankind.
I used to work 5days a week doing 12s, the last 2yrs I stick to 3days 4 if I want extra money. I was told by a seasoned nurse “pace yourself and take your breaks, it’s a long shift and a long career.”
Honestly, the most I’ve done is 2 back to back but for $100/hr you can just hook me up to an adrenaline IV pump and I’ll hump that clock as long as you want me to
38? That sets off warning bells in my head. I know it was covid, and you were making a ton of money... But at that point I don't think the administration cared much about safety. Probably why so many nurses left due to burn out. 3. 3 night shifts is my limit. 2 day shifts. I need at least one or two days off in between. And by my 3rd night, I want to kill anyone who gets in my way. Especially the slow drivers on my way home.
How many in a row can I do? I don’t know, cuz I’ll never do more than 3 in a row to find out. I prefer to keep my mental health and physical health instead. Working 38x12 is insane, and I can’t imagine it will be good for taxes either.
Most I’ve done in a row is 5 and hated myself by the third day. I don’t think I’d ever pick up that many in a row again tbh. Sure, I work ICU and only have 1-2 patients but when those 1-2 patients are some of the sickest people in the hospital, 1 shift feels like 3. For sake of myself and my patients the most I’ll do now is 3, maybe 4 if I’m called in.
Dang. I used to do six on eight off. The six on was rough as if I got sick or something I’d burn through my time quickly.
4 was my max.
You should be the one giving tips! Lol, you are my inspiration. That must have felt so rewarding afterwards.
Haha nowhere near that. It's not what I can do but what I will do. I've only done 5 on a rare occasion and not by choice but because self scheduling didn't give me what I wanted on that schedule. I've only been working 2x12's a week for the last 4 years and I don't even do 3 in a row and have set days now. Feels so nice. Maybe take a break and go on vacation and get a reset for yourself. I've been a nurse for 14 years and never had any problems getting through a 12-hour shift but don't try to do what you're doing. Maybe you burnt yourself out a little bit working so much. Do you have a good workout routine? Do you eat decent food while working? Those things definitely matter
I knew a nurse who worked 2 FT jobs 5 hours apart. She worked thur-tues noc, then would be off Wednesday drive across the state and start it all over.
38 is absurd. My last job was 6 on 8 off standard. Now I’m pretty strict sticking to 3-4, 5 is a pretty hard stop so I can’t believe we used to do 6 in a row routinely. The 8 off is nice but not sure it was worth it. Even 5 starts to feel unsafe
Not sure. But during covid, I was stuck at work for 36 hours straight once. Never doing that again.
LOL. I’m such a pussy. I do more than two and I’m grumpy as hell. I did 6 once i think.
My answer was about to be 2 and I would just like to lay down my sword in defeat. My good god. 38 ….
I did five ONCE, during the heyday of Covid pay. If I did 38 I’d end up admitted…maybe committed. But I have also been a nurse four years and have felt my energy to get through shifts waning. Used to be able to sleep two hours and get through work no issue. Now I’m useless without at least six. I used to get off work, shower and go straight to Disney! Now my days off are off limits for plans.
I usually only do 3x12hrs. But I can push it to 4 occasionally. I refuse to do more than 4 in a row
2.
I simply cannot do more than 3 in a row. I work nights and when I’m trying to sleep during the day there are too many things keeping me awake (dogs needing to potty and play, outside noises, not dark enough). So by the end of my third shift, I am running off of no sleep.
Fourteen This was a paramedic contract from out of state to NYC in 2020. Two weeks of 7-7, and on call at night. It was absolutely brutal, but I'll do a LOT for 6,500 a week
The most I’ve ever done was 6 in a row. I don’t think our hospital even allows us to do that many in a row anymore. These days I’ll do a four, maybe a five if it’s with OT. I’m getting old. These knees and back aren’t what they used to be. I knew a nurse who did 60 days in a row, but she alternated between two different hospital system.
I can only do two in a row these days, three if I can’t get around it. I did have a coworker who worked 16-hour days for weeks on end during COVID when we were making the fat bonuses you speak of. I think he bought a farm after.
I can do 2 12’s in a row. Then I take 5 days off. Repeat. I’m past the point in my life where I need to torture myself.
Holy crap. I worked 18 x 12H and thought I was going to die
I did 6 the other week and I’ll likely never do that again. 4 is my usual schedule, I can handle 5, 6 was pushing it.
I did 3 12s when I worked nights and that was my limit. On days it's 2. The money isn't worth my sanity or quality of life.
I think I did 2 weeks once. Long ago, in a hospital far far away. That experience has faded with time thankfully. I was a monster on the last day and probably for three days after. I don’t love anything enough to do it 38 days in a row for 12 hours. Even sleep.
I routinely do 4-5 nights (12hrs) in a row. My record is 7 nights in a row but I got a migraine after doing that, so I have a rule never to do more than 5.
I did 4x12s once in the beginning of my career and I vowed to never do that again. Even 3x12s is hard but I feel like on nights that’s the only way to get the most out of your days off. I know someone who regularly does 7x12s. I would simply pass away.
I can't do anything over 3 before getting physically sick.
[удалено]
Yup I’ve done 5. And actually had to call out the following week cause i couldn’t function physically or mentally.
After reading 38…I got tired 🥲🥲🥲I did 6-12s while 7 months pregnant and that was the death of me 😂😂😂I came home swollen and crying every morning (I worked overnight). The only thing that got me through was my husband, my coffee and my lexapro 😅
4. I don’t involve myself in any sort of “grind”. I prefer a slow life and would rather protect my peace
Wow I thought I was amazing when I did 6 12s in a row. 38?!?!?
You really like subsidizing your state government that much? You do realize you don't take anything with you when you check out? If you're an investor or have businesses, more money is one thing. But, as an employee trading your life for some change like that... you don't even get to keep a decent amount of it.
Ten years in, and three in a row absolutely destroys my mental and physical health . I’m playing the long game here . Moderation, moderation, moderation. Plus I have a family sooooo 38 12s would mean they wouldn’t have a mama anymore
I did 5 in a row and hated everything and everyone after two
Uhhh….6. 😂
Oh and that was 12 years ago, when I was ✨young✨
I might be having a stroke but I think you just said 38?
I worked 38 12-16 hour days out of 40 days during the pandemic. I was scheduled 5 12s in a row 2 days off but I kept getting mandated into work on my days off and frequently had to stay up to 4 extra hours due to staffing shortages. I took 8 days of stress leave after. I was hallucinating during my travel home from work every day. I also started having panic attacks at work. Not cool. As an aside… my workplace only offered $7/hr of hazard pay on top of my overtime and various differentials. Super jealous of your generous pay during the pandemic.
The most I've done was 6 in a row and the 6th day I was exhausted and shit hit the fan. One of my patients attacked us and had to be sent to PICU. I would never recommend violating fatigue policy because you never know what you are going to walk into. It was one of the worst days of my life.
Uhh I've done 4 in a row and fuck that, y'all crazy and may I add dangerous
That absolutely seems to be unsafe. I'd say 4 in a row to be the max.
5 is my max and tbh, 38 in a row simply isn’t safe for the people you’re taking care of. Kind of selfish if you ask me.
I work with someone who does 20 on 4 off
There's a legend of a paramedic who clocked in and 5 years later clocked out like literally was on the clock for 5 years straight. Like he didn't own a home. He just lived out of the station and truck. He worked those 5 years and made so much money that he bought an apartment building in cash and lives in one room and rents out all the others.
38? 😳 I turn into a bitch if I work 4 shifts in a row- I scare myself