which shift 3pm-3:30 AM or 11AM-11:00PM

[Marisette]

Talk about an employers market. I saw some nursing jobs for ER with a 3PM to 3:30AM schedule and another for 11AM to 11PM schedule. Anyone else notice ads with unusual shift work. I also see ads for flexible or rotating shifts and "registry" jobs. One of the registry jobs advertised for availability Mon-Thurs as needed. What exactly is this? Registry jobs equal no health insurance? Am I correct? Does the nurse have to be available all four days? Can health care providers get any more creative with scheduling times? I've heard of 12 hr days, but 3pm to 3:30 AM?

[cardiacrocks, BSN, RN]

I currently work 3p-3:30a, I love it. It's to cover where the staff is needed the most. Then we have someone come in from 3a-3:30p, works out great for our busy cardiac floor! :)

[PinkNBlue, BSN, RN]

I'd love either one!

[OCNRN63, RN]

Oh, man. I worked some 11a-11p shifts when I worked in the ED. They were awful. Flat-out busy from the moment you got there till the moment you left. I mostly worked 7p-7a; at least we had some down time. The other problem with 11a-11p is you don't have much time to get things done; you really just get up and have to get ready for work.

[Nursingluv101]

getting ready to take on the 3pm to 3am (ER RN full time ) shift I have two school aged kids, any suggestions on sleep strategies. I figure its only 3 times a week so it can't be that bad. Plus I work 3pm to 1130pm shift (per diem) so it won't be that much of a change. Right? Should I keep my per diem is it really worth having two jobs

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

Our ER has 7-1900, 9-2100, 10-2200, 11-2300, 1300-0100 and 1500-0300. The ER has to do stacked nursing so they stay covered during their busiest times. It works really well. Our ER starts picking up by about 9-10 AM and often stays that way until around 3. Of course their is always days that go outside the norm.

Since working in the ER I have worked 1300-0100, 0700-1900, 1900-0700 and I just switched to 1100-2300. So far I am really enjoying this shift. I like staying consistently busy and although I love nights, I hated come 0300 when we would die down and have so much down time. I would rather start off a little slow and build up then to come in slammed and have hours of dead time at the end.

That's another thing I love about the ER. You're never cut, and you have so much flexibility to try different shifts to see what works for you, and I am always picking up overtime for different shifts. I was going to do the 1500-0300 but they were more desperate for the 1100-2300 so I said I would try that. I won't leave at 2300 if they are absolutely slammed and low staffed, so you can get suckered in to working later if you don't say No. But I love the extra money so it's no big deal to me.

The ER is the only place I have seen with these varied shifts. The rest of our hospital is the standard 7-7 day or night shifts for the floor nursing.