RE: lenght of shifts

["Paul M. Wright, Jr." <pmwright@home.com>]

Staffing pattern questions come up on Flightmed from time to time and I
don't have any
non-anecdotal evidence that could definitively answer your question but my
experience tells me that there is already significant risk of fatigue at 5
shifts in a row and that risk would almost certainly be increased at 7
shifts in a row.  Of course, a lot also depends on the nature of your
staffing model (whether you are responsible for other duties within a
hospital, whether you are allowed to "rest" during duty hours, your
program's flight volume and average length of flight, etc.).

One other thought that comes to mind is that I don't recall anyone on this
list advocating for an alternate staffing pattern for the purpose of
providing better patient care.  It seems to be all about what is attractive
and convenient from a staff point of view with an underlying assumption that
there is some point at which some level of performance degradation is
acceptable to accomplish that.

Based on my experience, my opinion is that the staffing patterns most
coveted and sought by staff are often at odds with the best patient care and
the most highly productive work environment.

As a result, I think we should be going the other way although I don't
expect to find much agreement on that point.

regards!

paul

Paul M. Wright, Jr.
Mesa, AZ





-----Original Message-----
From: flightmed-admin@flightweb.com
[mailto:flightmed-admin@flightweb.com]On Behalf Of Bert Sullivan
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 12:25 AM
To: flightmed@flightweb.com
Subject: lenght of shifts


What type of shifts does your program work ie..12hr/24hr and days on days
off etc?
And does anyone have information or studies done on fatigue related to  a
work week longer than 7 days.  We want to go to a schedule of 12 hour shifts
7 days on and 7 days off. Our program director thinks that  it is unsafe to
work 7 days in a row.


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