Promote recruitment and retention by meeting the unique learning needs of the off shifts

With the advent of flexible scheduling, the traditional 3-to-11 and 11-to-7 off-shifts can now be defined in a variety of manners. However, generally speaking, the off shift is still considered to be those hospital hours when routine daytime activities have slowed down and evening and nighttime activities are in full swing. The many nurses who are required or elect to work these off-shift hours possess a wide range of learning needs. For a variety of reasons, in many institutions, the number of educational manpower resources considerably diminishes when daytime staff development personnel finish their workday. This article examines the off-shift environment and the nurses who work these shifts as well as proposes methods to meet the learning needs of the off-shift staff. If these learning needs are addressed, staff development efforts can, in fact, become a major professional benefit and recruitment/retention tool for off-shift nurses.