16 hr weekend shifts

I'm trying to decide if night shift(11-7) mon-fri or 16 hour weekend shifts would be better. I cant decide what shift to take. I would love your opinion on both. Thanks
I LOVE 16 hour shifts. However they are not for everybody. I used to do them all the time but in this area we are no longer allowed to schedual them, supposedly for patient safety reasons. However whenever the hosptial needs staff THEN 16 hour shifts are perfectly OK. To me either they are safe and those of us who can thrive with them should be allowed to schedual them, or they are not safe and we shouldn't be doing them period.I see it this way. I already got up and took a shower and drove into work. I might as well make as much money as possible for that. I require long periods of down time to destress and take care of myself. 16 hour shifts results in more days off for this. I find being physicaly fit helps greatly in tolerating 16 hour shifts.

16 hrs is a really long day. After 12 hrs I am exhausted, I can't imagine doing 16!

The thing about working straight weekends is that at the beginning it seems awesome especially with DVR being available. After a while though you'll want a day off when the rest of the world is off.

I have always had a weekend option job and love it. How old are you? 16s do get a bit harder as we age.

I find 12 (which actually turns into 13) hour shifts are plenty for me. I would not function well with 16 hours.

I hate them. especially when i am mandated to stay for 16 hours when I came in thinking i would be gone after 8-13!

What you're describing can be very rewarding if you negotiate it properly. Often called a "Baylor Program" you commit to every weekend. They should compensate you anywhere from 12.00 to 15.00, even $20.00 more per hour. 16's are amazing if you get doubletime after 12-hrs. Then you get to realize a 40-hr workweek check for just working the 32-hrs. Sweet!The major drawback I ran into and you should consider this too. EVERYTHING happens in this world on the weekends. Parties, social events, weddings, funerals, seemingly everything! Some Baylor contracts do not allow you time off even if you find coverage for your shifts missed. You get like 2 weekends off each year and that's it. Can be tough.True Baylor Programs can pay off if you do it2 16's and 5 days off! You won't know what to do with all the time off...Good luck.

Take the 16's and then have some fun on your days off. Like someone said earlier- Sweet!

I do the 16 hours shifts on the weekend (Baylor shift). I've done it for three years and I feel that this year might be my last. It is good to only work two days, but understand that the Monday you are not good to do anything at all really.I get four weekends off per year, so like the other staff basically four weeks. You have to factor in when you are taking a 32 hour weekend off, you claim for 40 hours of PTO to get a normal paycheck, or at least that's how it works at my facility.

Quote from pmfb-rn i see it this way. i already got up and took a shower and drove into work. i might as well make as much money as possible for that. i require long periods of down time to destress and take care of myself. 16 hour shifts results in more days off for this. i find being physicaly fit helps greatly in tolerating 16 hour shifts.

I am healthy and physically fit, so I could probably do one 16 hour shift, but I know I wouldn't want the second one. It depends on personal preference. While it might be great having all that time off, if the hours don't fit, it isn't worth it. I also question how safe I would be working that second 16 hour shift. Also, I find that even with working 12s, the first two days off I have aren't very productive or relaxing. I'm tired. It isn't until the third day off that I actually feel like it's a day off.

Our facility just changed to mandatory 16 hour shifts with 2 12 hour shifts. After those three days I was absolutely exhausted to the point I wasn't sure I could drive home. I met with our DON to see if I could go back to 12 hour and 8 hour shifts and she said I could not, the new schedule is mandatory for all RNs. I gave them 30 days notice to switch to prn. Now they are taking me off the schedule and not giving me any new shifts. I'm worried I won't work at all. You are lucky you have an option to do this instead of it being mandatory. Let me know how it goes for you, I couldn't do it.