Just curious about what those of you already in a program and others of you going into EM prefer for your shift schedule.
Which shift schedule do you prefer?
- Thread starter Derek
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Derek said:
Hey Derek,
I personally prefer (or believe I do) no more than 10 hour shifts, and preferably 8-9 hour shifts. There were at least 2 places in my top 5 that had schedules that were 9 or 10 hour shifts weekdays and 12 hour shifts on weekends. Both places were able to give residents in the ED two full weekends off per month with one of them always being a 3 day weekend. So basically you get every other weekend off plus a day or two off in the week on the long stretch between your two weekends off. And the 9-10 hour shifts rotate like 7-4, 8-5, 10-8, 2-midnight, and then midnight to 9A for instance. It seems to be dependent on the heavy times for that particular ED. But the bottom line for me is that I can always do something before or after work....hit the gym, take the kids to school or pick them up...etc...if I have these short shifts. So literally no day is a day where I would not be likely to exercise. But 12 hour shifts to me are just brutal...and even if you only do 17 of them, I believe those 17 days are always going to be non-exercising and non family days. I ranked no program above 9 out of 15 that had 12 hour shifts, and 2 of them would have been in my top 5 had they NOT been on the 12 hour shift schedule. I heard many a person on the interview trail this year state that they were also not ranking any program highly that had 12 hour shifts. I honestly think the PD's should just step in and ban 12 hour shifts in residency. Its not good for anyone to work 12 hour days in the ED.
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I think you can get used to 12 hour shifts, but it still takes up most of your day and leaves you with little time to do anything else. Especially when you are doing 3-5 back to back 12s, it feels like all you are doing is working, eating, sleeping then going back to work.
I prefer 8's and 9's and even 10's are fine. Where I am at we only do occasional 12's on the weekends and they tire you out. It seems like most of the places that do 12's don't really work that many less shifts than we do anyway. The other nice thing about 8's and 9's is that their is a variety of shifts you get to work (morning, evening, or overnight). I prefer evening shifts (5pm-1am) most because I can run errands, get outside and spend time with my wife during the day. With 12's your either working during the day or the night.
Pelivar
I prefer 8's and 9's and even 10's are fine. Where I am at we only do occasional 12's on the weekends and they tire you out. It seems like most of the places that do 12's don't really work that many less shifts than we do anyway. The other nice thing about 8's and 9's is that their is a variety of shifts you get to work (morning, evening, or overnight). I prefer evening shifts (5pm-1am) most because I can run errands, get outside and spend time with my wife during the day. With 12's your either working during the day or the night.
Pelivar
corpsmanUP said:
Limited experience here, too, but I agree. Our PD at UAB came in and got rid of the 12 hour shifts. Now we do 8-9 hr shifts which is much more humane. I've worked 12's and 8's and I much prefer an 8-9 hour shift for the reasons you already listed. You've still got time to enjoy the day/night after/before an 8 hr shift. My day is shot after doing a 12 and if you stack 3 or 4 days of 12's in a row I'm miserable. Side note: I did a community rotation in an ED as an MS-4 where the EMP's worked 12's every day for seven days in a row 😱 😱 and then had 7 days off. Seemed like pure hell to me.
