Longest shift you've ever worked?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

sunnyandseventytwo

Full Member
2+ Year Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2021
Messages
348
Reaction score
338
17.5 hours I believe is my max (half hour lunch, so really only 17 hours). Getting too old for this.

Members don't see this ad.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: 1 user
13.5 (daylight savings time) overnight. Rough.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Members don't see this ad :)
11am to 8am next morning, but I took a 90 minute lunch to compensate a bit, so on the clock for 19.5 hours.

This was not residency related, so this was standard hospital staffing as a staff RPh.

If you want to get technical and add on-call time, the longest quasi-continuously paid period of time I worked was a Friday starting at 9am to Monday 5pm. It was like, 9am-5pm working, break 5pm-9pm, 9pm-9am on site/on call (they gave me a bed), 9am-5pm work, 5pm-9pm break, etc…
 
I think 14 hours overnight. Normal shift was 12 hours but the first shift pharmacist was 2 fking hours late cause his ass overslept. I hated that guy.
 
Not in healthcare. BUT...

The heavy manufacturing job I had in the summers of collage was a union job. We got time and 1/2 for the first 4 hours of OT, double time for the next 4 hours of OT, double and 1/2 time for the next t hours of OT, you get the idea.
Anyway 3 of us were asked to stay over on a Friday night because a major piece of equipment was down and required lots of hands to fix. The job turned out to be way more than leadership thought. As it was running into Saturday they had nobody to come in to replace us so we ended up working 27 hours straight. At that point we were walking zombies. BUT we were making three and 1/2 times our hourly wage. We could keep moving for that kind of money.

That action would kill me today. But I was young, strong and stupid then.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: 1 user
15 hours (8am-11pm)
Snow storm hit and afternoon RPh couldn’t come in. Fortunately, overnight RPh came in at 11pm
The worst part was that I was by myself for the whole shift and only filled 15 rx during that shift
 
  • Wow
Reactions: 1 users
13 before I moved to my state - now state law is a max of 12 hours per shift for a pharmacist
 
I think 14 hours overnight. Normal shift was 12 hours but the first shift pharmacist was 2 fking hours late cause his ass overslept. I hated that guy.
Pretty much every morning RPH…no matter what time he/she gives themselves to start…7am, 8am, 9am…still regularly half an hour late even with 9am start time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Residency + moonlighting - 15.5 hours (normal residency schedule plus PRN shift coverage for late evenings). Only happens maybe once a month if I wish to pick up any extra shift.

Pharm tech in the military: 28 hours (morning formation to operating a small clinic for deployment-readiness training + overnight guard duty). Any time this happened we'd get the majority of the following day off for our "esprit de corps" that in no way showed up as extra cash on a paycheck.
 
17.5 hours I believe is my max (half hour lunch, so really only 17 hours). Getting too old for this.
15 hours - 30 min lunch = 14.5 hours. A floater Rph covered our store for 2 days and they were so slow/bad that we fell behind by an entire day and I worked overtime the next day to catch up.
 
Pretty much every morning RPH…no matter what time he/she gives themselves to start…7am, 8am, 9am…still regularly half an hour late even with 9am start time.
I had this issue in retail with one particiular person - when she showed up 45 min I called the scheduler and told her to move 45 min of her time to my paycheck and she did it- that lady was never late again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Members don't see this ad :)
During the blizzard of 2015, when Atlanta got over 1/2 " of snow. Shut everything down. We don't have snow plows, or equipment to clear any streets. We were asked to stay at the hospital for over 48hrs. I worked a 20hr shift, covering for all the pharmacist that were "snowed in". I covered overnight plus day-shift, back to back.
Fun times!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
During the blizzard of 2015, when Atlanta got over 1/2 " of snow. Shut everything down. We don't have snow plows, or equipment to clear any streets. We were asked to stay at the hospital for over 48hrs. I worked a 20hr shift, covering for all the pharmacist that were "snowed in". I covered overnight plus day-shift, back to back.
Fun times!

LoL 1/2" of snow. You don't need plows for that.
 
  • Care
Reactions: 1 user
LoL 1/2" of snow. You don't need plows for that.
Exactly lol. That’s just a Tuesday in the north and you’re written up if you’re late.

I think the longest I’ve personally done is 6AM to 11PM and then an extra hour for an interstore transfer between two stores back in my retail days.
 
Lived in ATL a good decade…some hilariously pathetic embarrassing shut downs from mere dusting
The longest one I did was 16 hours, the first day Covid vaccines were being given.
 
Lived in ATL a good decade…some hilariously pathetic embarrassing shut downs from mere dusting
I have lived in Atlanta closing in on 40 yrs, moved down south from Cincinnati, where they "manage" two feet of snow with no problem. Down here, we get black ice, it gets pretty treacherous. They have even closed schools here for the "possibility" of snow. Once for a tropical storm that passed over the city. You haven't lived til you are driving on an overpass covered with black ice, sliding for hundreds of feet with no steering or braking input possible. This was in my wife's AWD, 6000 lb, Lincoln Navigator. AND there are a great many idiot drivers out here. Believe me, it's much better to shut everything down, than the alternative.
Hey, it was 72 F, yesterday. I will take that all winter long.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Technically I was clocked in once from 7am Tuesday morning to noon on Friday. Snowstorm that dumped 60” (not a typo) and I volunteered to stay at the hospital. I didn’t work the whole time though, but I got standby pay!
 
Reading these - I am glad my state limits shifts to 12 hours by law.
 
Technically I was clocked in once from 7am Tuesday morning to noon on Friday. Snowstorm that dumped 60” (not a typo) and I volunteered to stay at the hospital. I didn’t work the whole time though, but I got standby pay!
WNY?
 
What happens if there’s a declared disaster? Is that rule suspended along with that declaration?
good question - I just looked up the official/full wording

A permit holder shall not require a pharmacist to work longer than 12 continuous hours per work day. A pharmacist working
longer than six continuous hours per work day shall be allowed during that time period to take a 30 minute meal break and
one additional 15 minute break

pretty short and to the point - it does say "require" and one could volunteer to work longer than 12 hours. When we had a hurricane I know there were people that didn't leave a hospital elsewhere in the state for 3 days - but I don't know how long they were officially on the clock. Nothing in the law manual mentions what happens when there is a disaster declaration.
 
good question - I just looked up the official/full wording

A permit holder shall not require a pharmacist to work longer than 12 continuous hours per work day. A pharmacist working
longer than six continuous hours per work day shall be allowed during that time period to take a 30 minute meal break and
one additional 15 minute break

pretty short and to the point - it does say "require" and one could volunteer to work longer than 12 hours. When we had a hurricane I know there were people that didn't leave a hospital elsewhere in the state for 3 days - but I don't know how long they were officially on the clock. Nothing in the law manual mentions what happens when there is a disaster declaration.
I worked for two different large Hospital Systems that had Policies set up for disaster type scenarios. You would clock out as active, then clock in for stand by, get paid for the whole 4-5 days. If you count that as a shift, I once clocked in on a Thursday, and clocked out Monday evening.
And that's how you get away with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
14 hours last night/yesterday. I'm dying today. On the plus side, I figure any extra shift I work now is one I have to work at the end of my career.
 
15 hours, and that was only a few times for an emergency. I can't imagine doing more than that.
 
Top