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Nurse Shift Schedule Maker
Day and night 12-hour blocks for ward coverage — assign, print, and share.
Pick a rotation and Auto-fill to assign each person to a crew (A/B/C/D) on a real pattern — or click any cell to set it by hand (it cycles through your shift types, then Off, then blank). Day-off templates can mark weekends, Sundays, or US federal holidays off for the whole team in one step, and the week-copy tools help you roll a finished 7-day rota forward without re-clicking every cell.
| Staff | Shifts | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RN — Taylor | 0 | |||||||
| RN — Morgan | 0 | |||||||
| LPN — Casey | 0 | |||||||
| CNA — Jamie | 0 | |||||||
| On duty | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Best fit
Best shift patterns for nurse teams
If you want a repeatable rotation instead of building each week from scratch, these are the closest pattern fits for nurse scheduling.
2-2-3
A 14-day rotating pattern that covers 24/7 with four crews — no one works more than three days in a row.
DuPont
A 28-day rotation of 12-hour days and nights, ending every cycle with a full 7 days off.
7 On 7 Off
A full week on, then a full week off — often used for fixed day and night crews on 12-hour shifts.
Which shift pattern should nurse teams choose?
Nursing teams usually choose between fairness in day/night rotation and the fatigue cost of longer stretches on shift.
| Pattern | Cycle | Shift length | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-2-3 | 14 days | 12 hours | Best all-rounder for four-crew 24/7 teams that want frequent breaks and no more than three shifts in a row. |
| DuPont | 28 days | 12 hours | Best when a full week off every cycle is a major quality-of-life benefit worth a more complex rotation. |
| 7 On 7 Off | 14 days | 12 hours | Best when a fixed day or night crew wants long off blocks and can tolerate a heavy seven-shift run. |
Use the page-level maker above when you want to assign shifts by hand. Use one of the pattern generators when you want a rota that repeats cleanly and is easier to share, print, and explain to the team.
12-hour coverage without gaps
Most wards run two 12-hour blocks — a day and a night — so the grid here defaults to those. The goal is unbroken coverage while keeping consecutive nights low: long runs of nights are the biggest driver of fatigue and errors.
Fixed or rotating
Some units keep nurses on fixed days or nights; others rotate. If you rotate, forward rotation (day then night) is easier on sleep than the reverse. For repeating cycles like 2-2-3 or Pitman, see the rotating shift patterns guide.
Guard against fatigue and unfairness
Two things quietly break a nursing rota: too many nights landing on the same people, and long unbroken runs that leave staff exhausted by the last shift. After you auto-fill, scan each row for anyone stacking nights or working many days straight, and even it out. A schedule that is safe and fair keeps people on the ward longer than one that is merely full. For pure overnight cover, the night shift maker defaults to evening and night blocks.
Use a nursing rota as a coverage communication tool
Start with the unit’s own staffing and skill-mix requirements. A day or night block needs more than a total number of people: identify the roles, competencies, handover responsibilities, and escalation coverage required by your organisation. This maker can display a schedule, but local clinical policy, contracts, and applicable rules must determine the actual staffing decision.
Review a complete rotation rather than a single calendar week. Note approved leave, training, planned admissions or procedures, and any period that needs different cover. If a change is required, label it as an exception to the base pattern and keep a dated source copy so the team does not need to reconstruct the latest rota from separate messages.
Make the handover visible in the shift design. State the block times, the expected handover point, and where the incoming team finds open work. Before publishing, check that the qualified role mix is present on both day and night blocks and that the process for a last-minute absence is already known.
Keep going
Other makers & templates
Frequently asked questions
Does it support 12-hour shifts?
Yes — the nurse preset uses 7a–7p day and 7p–7a night blocks, and you can edit the times.
Can I plan a rotation?
Yes. Use auto-fill for a starting rotation, then adjust. The rotating-patterns guide covers 2-2-3, Pitman, and DuPont cycles.