by bonnie west

I currently work day shift on a ccu. I am considering going to night shift.How hard is it to not only for your body but get use to the night shift nurses.I know they are a bred of their own.

Re: night shift

I went from days to night shift .As far as night shifters being a breed of their own I could say the same for days and PMs .I adjusted quickly and get along with my co-workers .I believe there’s always one on each shift that may be harder to get along with then others. I stay out of the gossip and do my job, and I haven't really had any problems with personalities on any shift.

Re: night shift

I have been a night shift RN, waiting for a day shift opening since I started my job almost a year ago. ...I never thought I could work nights, but there weren't any openings on days. I was right about not being able to work nights and will probably have to leave soon if something on days doesn't open up; I've gained 30 pounds; sleep ALL the time when I'm not working....and have started having health problems that I didnt' experience when I worked days before this job. I rarely get to go to the bathroom and I NEVER get to eat away from my workstation....none of us do on nightshift.

I feel like an outsider because I have almost no interaction with the dayshift management or the docs...the docs resent it if you have to call them in the middle of the night because of a problem with their patient...and they can be VERY nasty!!

I admire most of the night shift nurses for their incredible knowledge and abilities to work on their own because there are no docs around to ask for guidance like there are on day shift; the ICU night shift nurses know more than the 2 docs who are covering the whole hospital on night shift.

I believe that people are more likely to die during the night shift and have seen more codes happen between the hours of 5am-7am than I ever thought were possible. I love getting report from dayshift that I'm getting a "wonderfully sweet elderly" patient from them, only to have the patient experience either the worst sundowners of their lives or just raging delerium! When I give report back the next morning, the dayshift nurses don't believe me. The night shift nurses are usually responsible for doing the chart checks and miscellaneous paperwork that the dayshift nurses don't have time for (which I can understand), but sometimes it's incredibly difficult to get that stuff done while you're trying to take care of 2-3 critical patients all night.

Now, I'm a fairly new nurse and if you're experienced you will probably be MUCH better off than I am. I always considered myself a "night owl" ....could stay up til 2-3am and get up around noon and everything would be GREAT. However, it's a whole different ballgame for me now that I have to worry about being wide awake and focused all night long.

This is just my 2 cents worth. I'd love to hear how this all works out for you. Best of luck.

Re: night shift

Originally Posted by bonnie west

I currently work day shift on a ccu. I am considering going to night shift.How hard is it to not only for your body but get use to the night shift nurses.I know they are a bred of their own.

My unit generally only hires new grads onto the night shift. After orienting for 8 weeks on days and 8 weeks on nights, the new grad then remains on night shift once they are cleared.

Personally, nights do not work for me at all. I understand it may be convenient for child care, etc, but working nights totally sapped all my energy for the week. Working 3 nights per week really affects 5-6 days of your week... you try to save up sleep the day when you have to go into work, and then still crash the next day. If you can swing working 3 nights in a row, and get into rhythm of being able to sleep during the day, it might work for you.. definitely not for me! I recently switched to the day shift, and find I have so much more energy during the day. The people I worked with on nightshift were terrific -- friendly and helpful -- but the night hours (especially the 2am-5am period) simply made me miserable.

Good luck with your decision!

Re: night shift

I've worked night shift for 1 year, then had to go to days for awhile to orient in my new position. Quite honestly, I can't wait to go back to nights!! I'm tired of there being a million people in our cramped nurses station during the day, docs writing tons of orders to be carried out, plus we have to enter our orders in the computer (unit clerk is hit or miss) and lets not forget the procedures and diagnostic tests that patients have during the day.

Now I don't like waking up docs in the middle of the night either, but I'll take that over the chaos that is day shift. Not to mention that I have a terrible time going to bed at 10pm and waking up at 5am. I can't wait until I can sleep during the day again.

The only good part about day shift that I've noticed is that it feels like I have more free time on my days off even though I'm still working 36 hours/week. That's because I'm not sleeping on my first day off. I guess that's the sacrifice I'm willing to make, lol.