Are these really the people that should be required to work so much? Isn’t their job about handling life and death daily? Wouldn’t we want exactly these people to come fully rested to work every single day and be fully staffed?
I don’t know if there are jobs with similar stakes that are so carelessly staffed and disgustingly paid.
It’s a balance between minimizing handoffs and ensuring fatigue is managed appropriately.
https://www.nurseregistry.com/blog/12-hour-nursing-shifts-pros-and-cons/
https://medprostaffing.com/nursing/12-hour-shifts-in-healthcare-benefits-challenges-and-how-nurses-can-thrive/#%3A~%3Atext=By+spending+longer%2Cbuild+stronger+patient
https://nann.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1.4.1_Effect-of-Staff-Nurses-Shift-Length-and-Fatigue-on-Patient-Safety-and-Nurses-Health-f89.pdf#%3A~%3Atext=Overtime+is+often%2Cand+healthcare+errors.&text=From+an+administrative%2Chand-offs+and+shift
https://www.hseblog.com/frms/#%3A~%3Atext=Healthcare+has+long%2Cthe+key+benefits
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3608421/
Yeah but those studies are about longer shifts (12 or 13 hours), not doubles or triples as OP asked. I don’t know how common it is for nurses to have 16-24 hour shifts, but it seems like that was the original question.