but we're just the nurses...
You are not “just” nurses. But I remember in residency working 6 am til 5 pm the following day, crawling home to sleep them back at the hospital 6 am the next day. We would work 12-12-36 them repeat. My longest stretch without a day off was north of 3 months. They don’t do that anymore. Residents cannot work more than 24 in a row or 80 in a week and have to have one day a week off. More humane but I will say they aren’t as prepared leaving residency as we were. I’m not sure what the answer is.