The 12-hour shift is both cost effective to hospitals and advantageous for nurses

Jones, Juanita Jones; Brown, Robert Mc

doi:10.1097/00006247-198605000-00013

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…When long shifts were frst introduced, the assumption was that they would save money and allow deploying the workforce more efciently by reducing overlaps between shifts while increasing quality and safety of care. Tis was due to the belief that by scheduling two 12+ hour shifts instead of three 8hour shifts, patients would beneft from increased continuity of care across 24 hours [13][14][15]. Tis shift pattern would also lead to reduced handovers, which are critical information-passing moments where miscommunication can occur and has the potential to damage patient care [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nursing 12-Hour Shifts and Patient Incidents in Mental Health and Community Hospitals: A Longitudinal Study Using Routinely Collected Data

Dall’Ora,

Ejebu,

Jones

et al. 2023

Journal of Nursing Management

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Shifts of 12 hours or longer are common in nursing services within general hospital wards. Concerns have been raised about their safety, but previous research has mostly used staff-reported measures of quality and safety and has occurred in general hospital settings only. This study aims to measure the association between the use of 12+ hour shifts in nursing staff (including registered nurses, healthcare support workers or nursing assistants, and nursing associates) and the rate of patient incidents in mental health and community hospitals. This is a longitudinal study using routinely collected data from two mental health and community NHS trusts in the South of England. We accessed rosters of nursing staff and patient incident data from April 2018 to March 2021. We extracted 1,018,971 shifts and excluded those not worked by nursing staff, with a final sample of 898,143 shifts. We extracted 53,078 incidents. We only included incidents that involved patients and that occurred in wards. Our final sample consisted of 38,373 patient incidents. We linked all patient incidents and nurses’ worked shifts at the ward-day level. Depending on the distribution of incident rates, we used either negative binomial mixed-effects models or Poisson mixed-effect models to investigate the association between the proportion of 12+ hour shifts and all patient incidents, violence against staff, falls, self-injury, disruptive behaviour, and medication management incidents at the ward-day level. We found a relationship between 12+ hour shifts and the incident rate. Compared to days in wards with no long shifts, increasing the proportion of long shifts was initially associated with a small increase in the overall rate of incidents, but the rate increased sharply as the proportion of long shifts was above 70%. Rates of self-injury increased more steadily as the proportion of long shifts increased. The mandatory implementation of long shifts should be discouraged.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nursing 12-Hour Shifts and Patient Incidents in Mental Health and Community Hospitals: A Longitudinal Study Using Routinely Collected Data

Dall’Ora,

Ejebu,

Jones

et al. 2023

Journal of Nursing Management

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Compressed workweeks in office‐type environments

Hung

1995

Work Study

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Offices usually operate five‐days‐a‐week from Monday to Friday, with employees following the standard five‐day workweek. Unlike scheduling employees in seven‐days‐a‐week or round‐the‐clock operations, (e.g. hospitals and utilities), scheduling office employees seldomly presents problems – an office opens from 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, and employees go to the office from 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. While scheduling office employees is not seen as a problem, office operation might be improved using compressed workweeks, which call for fewer workdays per week, but usually a longer workday.

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Because they’re worth it? A discussion paper on the value of 12-h shifts for hospital nursing

2022

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The organisation of the 24-h day for hospital nurses in two 12-h shifts has been introduced with value propositions of reduced staffing costs, better quality of care, more efficient work organisation, and increased nurse recruitment and retention. While existing reviews consider the impact of 12-h shifts on nurses’ wellbeing and performance, this discussion paper aims to specifically shed light on whether the current evidence supports the value propositions around 12-h shifts. We found little evidence of the value propositions being realised. Staffing costs are not reduced with 12-h shifts, and outcomes related to productivity and efficiency, including sickness absence and missed nursing care are negatively affected. Nurses working 12-h shifts do not perform more safely than their counterparts working shorter shifts, with evidence pointing to a likely negative effect on safe care due to increased fatigue and sleepiness. In addition, nurses working 12-h shifts may have access to fewer educational opportunities than nurses working shorter shifts. Despite some nurses preferring 12-h shifts, the literature does not indicate that this shift pattern leads to increased recruitment, with studies reporting that nurses working long shifts are more likely to express intention to leave their job. In conclusion, there is little if any support for the value propositions that were advanced when 12-h shifts were introduced. While 12-h shifts might be here to stay, it is important that the limitations, including reduced productivity and efficiency, are recognised and accepted by those in charge of implementing schedules for hospital nurses.

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The 12-hour shift is both cost effective to hospitals and advantageous for nurses

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Nursing 12-Hour Shifts and Patient Incidents in Mental Health and Community Hospitals: A Longitudinal Study Using Routinely Collected Data

Nursing 12-Hour Shifts and Patient Incidents in Mental Health and Community Hospitals: A Longitudinal Study Using Routinely Collected Data

Compressed workweeks in office‐type environments

Because they’re worth it? A discussion paper on the value of 12-h shifts for hospital nursing

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