Do you like day or night shift better and why?

NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN · Nov 15, 2006

One of the other reasons I like nights better is that usually everything is where I left it. (The charts, the patients, the Kardexes.) The pt's usually don't have to leave the floor unless it's urgent. When they do have to go for other things, they try to get them there before 10 or 11p or after 5a. You don't have ten sets of hands taking the chart. For me, that all adds up to being able to manage my time better. (And as someone who is time management challenged, I need all the help I can get.)

General E. Speaking, RN, RN · Nov 15, 2006

Worked nights for about 6 mos to get my foot in the door. Night shift really messes up my body clock tho. I found myself on a vicious caffeine/benadryl cycle. I like the idea of charts being where you leave them, less docs, sup's, CM, therapists. I am working the weekend day program so I usually only have to worrry about total chaos on Fridays......usually.

Alexsys · Nov 15, 2006

I work the graveyard shift . I dont like it for sleeping purposes because I work every other week. I work this shift because I dont want to work with the bosses, the people who want to be boss, the people who think they are the boss , the people who wish they were the boss, the doctors, the nurses who think they are doctors, the doctors who want to be any place else but where he/she is, the doctors that I cant understand because of heavy accents and then get angry because I cant understand them, the family members (no explination there) and all the people who are only there because they have terrible home lives, never leave the building and are miserable. Thats why I work nights and I LOVE IT !!! :)

AMEN!! :yelclap:

deleern · Nov 15, 2006

I like nights... NOT love. but it enabled me to go to school. and I never missed any family functions. now that I am on days I miss some things because of the rotating weekends, and holidays. but i have evenings with DH, (kids all grown up.)

SmilingBluEyes · Nov 15, 2006

I much prefer dayshift. Always have. The nightshift kills my body clock and ruins my days. Also our hospital is very inconsiderate of nightshift in so many ways----from having meetings and classes that at lousy times for nightshifters to calling nightshifters during their sleeptimes----to having zero food available for nightshift. I am continually amazed (why should I be) how anti-nightshift mgt and admin can be in many places.

Anyhow, working nights was not a matter of choice really, as I have done so due to family needs/childcare issues for 7 years. Also, someone really has to either die or retire in OB to get a day position where I work.

BUT all that is about to change for me. I am now going to all-dayshift work after Christmas. WOOHOOOO!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Nov 15, 2006

now that i'm getting older, my body likes being up during daylight hours and sleeping when it's dark. unfortunately, night shift is the much nicer shift for work.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Nov 17, 2006

While I agree with most of the posters that nightshift takes years off your life because your body is so screwed up, that is the shift I work. However, I work 7p-7a Friday and Saturday (weekend option) so I can be home with my DS all week while DH works. It is nice because most of the people who work my same shifts work for them for the same reasons as me, so we have something in common. Also, night shifters tend to be a little off mentally so we get along better with each other than with the dayshifters. (at least at our hospital.)

The pace is a little slower (although on mother/baby by no means slow!) because there aren't a million docs around, the lactation consultants aren't around, management isn't there most of the time. The one thing I'm not nuts about is that some tasks get dumped on nightshift because people think we don't have anything else to do. Chart audits and the like I can deal with. It's other stuff like catching up other people's mess that they left behind because they think I'll be sitting on my hind parts all night while my patients sleep. How many parents of newborns do you know that sleep all night???

TNTraumaTech · Nov 17, 2006

I love nights, wouldn't trade it for anything in the world is *except* a monday-friday job 8-5 p.m. (yea I keep telling myself to keep dreaming lmao).

I hate the fact that dayshifts thinks that night shift doesn't have much more work to do at night. I have worked on every floor and every unit of this hospital I work at except peds and newborn intensive care. Them are the only two floors that I haven't worked and signed my john henry a million times in one night on. Every floor is the same when it comes to staffing and dumping work on the on coming shift... It's annoying, day shift is so well staffed at my hospital, but at nights, we do good to survive. Techs do good to have just 15 patients a piece.. some nights we have 30 patients a piece. Units are lucky to have one tech. ER is lucky to have 4 techs.. for RN's, they are lucky to have 4 nurses for a 30 bed floor... and units are lucky if they have 2 patients a piece. As for dayshift, u averagly see 4 techs on a 30 patient floor, 7 rn's for a 30 bed floor, 1 to 2 patients per a rn per condition of patient in the units, er has 7 techs. and it really pisses me off to see dayshift sitting back relaxed yakin a storm up with their coworkers and them to dump work on us.

night shift may not have much work to do, BUT we have to take on more patients, which gives us more work, more charting, and more responsibility. We take our lunch breaks sitting while we do our charting. and when we are really short staffed... we are lucky to see a bathroom that night that we can occupy for ourselves.

meme_911 · Nov 17, 2006

i dont like night shifts at all,because i love getting up at morning taking anice could freash shawer,then taking my cofee mug to work,having a nice break fast with my freinds and starting your work with with a healthy body and mind..but som people like night shifts more they say because its more quite at night.

PMFB-RN, RN · Nov 17, 2006

Do you prefer day or night shift and why?
Is it more difficult for a GN to get hired for night shift?

*** NOCs for sure! No patient family to deal with, no nursing "brass" hanging around, no doctors making rounds and writing orders, more $$$$!

In my unit (SICU) new grads are never allowed to work NOCs. They work day shift becuase there is much more support for them. It can be lonely on nights when your patient is crashing and nurses need to have experience to deal with them.

All_Smiles_RN · Nov 18, 2006

Nights suit my family life best. No daycare for the kids. Like others have said, no docs, family, etc. Better pay. I am a night owl so the hours are fine. On the flip side, as others have said, there is a larger pt load on nights and less support when things go wrong. When all is said and done, nights are for me.

susiebee60 · Nov 18, 2006

Nights do have thier advantages. But I personally could not adjust to the sleep pattern changes so I opted to go per diem and that guarantees no nights for me!