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how many shifts in a row is too much?


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Getting ready to do my internal medicine rotation inpatient. I switch between 2 docs who work 7 on 7 off. I was placed on a continuous stretch of 22 days from 7a to 7p.

Nevermind the fact that all ill be doing is working and sleeping (got a 1 hour commute each way), I dont think that working back to back for 22 days is safe for patients.

Thoughts?

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That's way too many shifts in a row for a PA student. I work 12 hour shifts, and I'm pretty spent after 2-3 in a row. You should talk with your lead preceptor to see about shortening those shifts a bit or including a day off every few days to decompress. Word it as a self study day. 

 

Most IM PAs I know do 7 days on, 7 days off (12 hr shifts) because anymore than that leads to patient errors and burnout.

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Well in terms of patient safety, you are a student so there isn't much in the way of that. However in the matter of student expectations, that is way too much and you should bring it up to your clinical directors. Does each doc know that you are working that amount of time? Cause I bet they think you are on the same schedule as them, 7 on 7 off.

Now thinking back to when I was in rotations, my general surgery rotation was from 4am to 7pm 6 days a week, with an hour commute each day. And we had rotating call among the students, so i ended up working the day we were supposed to be off. Ended up working 21 straight 15 hour shifts. Those were the days...

If they don't do anything about it, i guess just try and suck it up. Just know that once you get out into practice, your schedule is nothing like that. I work in surgery now and i work 3 12s a week and they do not allow you to work 5 straight shifts between weeks. 

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Talk to your preceptor and/or talk to your program.

I'm pretty sure there's an 80 hr max per week for PA students so at the very least you'll be over that.  As far as working 22 days in a row...not sure if there are actual rules that might help you with that but in theory common sense should step in either from preceptors or from your program.

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Try to see if you can break it up a bit. That being said, you might not be able to. My trauma surgery rotation was alternating 24 hr and 12 hr days for 5 weeks straight. I lived there in residents' quarters. great rotation, but obviously rough to do.

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There is no hour limit for medical or PA students as they do not direct patient care. Like people have mentioned, lots of surgery and ICU rotations are terrible hours, so this may not be different. I take this up directly with the preceptor you are working with, show them the schedule, and request one day off per week with each of them. 

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19 hours ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

There is no hour limit for medical or PA students as they do not direct patient care. Like people have mentioned, lots of surgery and ICU rotations are terrible hours, so this may not be different. 

I worked 14 hours days, 5-6days/week during my trauma/gen surg/ICU rotation at UT hahaha. 

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