Impact of an Extended Nursing Shift Schedule in a Rural and Urban Primary Care Setting

Two primary care clinics in rural and urban settings implemented a 9-hour nursing shift schedule. The purpose of this project was to use a quasiexperimental mixed-methods research design to assess outcomes for a 1-year implementation of nursing staff maintaining 9-hour shifts. Pre- and postdata were collected before and after implementation. The rural clinic demonstrated significant improvements in nurse satisfaction, overtime, compensatory time, and postacute follow-up. The urban facility showed significant decreases in sick leave. Patient satisfaction scores did not show significant changes for either clinic.