My wife works at the hospital here in The Villages and you are absolutely correct about the paper work. Her hours are 7a-7p and many nights she doesn't get home till 9pm or later and we only live 15 minutes from the hospital.

Three 12-hour shifts = 40
 

Just another perspective - My RN friends up north chose to work three 12-hour shifts per week, which counts for 40 hours. I think hospitals started offering that option years back in order to attract nurses. I can't imagine them working more than four 12-hr shifts in a week. They are wiped out with 3.

I've heard excellent reports on neighbors' ER care here at TVRH. Several have said "the doctor could not have been better". Same thing about Leesburg. The physicians are board certified in Emergency Medicine, I've read. That is key.

I've read recently that another TVRH hospital is being built in the southern end by 466A and Buena Vista. That should relieve some of the congestion in the present ER. Older patients in the ER are often very complex--multiple systems failing, and it takes a long time to work them up. I'd go to an urgent care center if it's something minor.

You are correct in that hospitals start offering 12 hour shifts several years ago. In Milwaukee they started about 20+ years ago. However, there are hospitals that have a 7 day on 7 day off with each day being 12 hours. Many of the staffers get bored after 3-4 days off and work for temp help agencies picking up additional shifts. There have been several quality studies that indicate there is no reduction in service, care and or quality with the entended shifts.

That is comforting.