Time For Another Days vs. Nights Debate!

[Vespertinas]

I had a suspicion that night shift hospital nursing was easier than days but I was afraid to say it out loud without personal experience first. Then I did a 2 year "investigation" and to be honest, my suspicions were confirmed. When I felt more confident to start bringing this up, my night shift co-workers replied that they ARE just as busy but in a "different" way. I even tried to have my close friend (whose nursing practice I respect) level with me but she INSISTED that she feels that day and night shift are equally busy. She's also worked both shifts.

I'm baffled at this difference in opinion but, at the risk of being excommunicated, I do declare that night shift is easy....er (less hard?)

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

nights verses days debate

working nights rule!!! yea, night-shifters!! (i work the night shift.) nights are just as busy as days, just a different busy.

asn verses bsn debate

asn and bsn rules!! yea, asners and bsners!!! asners are just as edumicated as bsners, it's just a different edumication.

rn verses lpn debate

well. . . both rule!! yea, lpn and rn!!! lpns work just as hard as rn and both carry a lot of responsibilities, it just different kinds of hard and different kinds of responsibilities. both make a difference to the lives of the patients.

finally, there's no debating this: all nurses rule!!!

:yelclap: :thankya::yelclap:

cheers. . . . :cheers:

[color=#d3d3d3](i've never seen these debates before. . . . they're sooo new and soooo original!)

well said!!! :yeah:

[Bruce_Wayne, ASN, RN]

Here's a tech's point of view. My first tech job in 2004 was at a hospital that had did 8 hour days on a med/tele floor. Morning shifts (7-3) were the busiest ever, but they flew by quickly. Evening shifts (3-11) were easier for me, a lot less hectic especially once people started going to bed. Night shifts (11-7) were so incredibly easy and boring because on the 8 hour rotations pretty much everybody was asleep at that time.

I got into a routine of working two doubles on the weekends from 3pm until 7am Saturday and Sunday. That worked pretty well.

Now I work normal 12 hour days (7a-7p) as a float pool tech. I've gotten more organized at my job and I can do things and handle days that would of totally wrecked me 8 years ago.

The number one skill I've learned that makes me have a good days is to anticipate my patient's needs and do safety rounds frequently enough that they almost never have to use the call light. It might sound like an unreasonable goal but I've learned that with the right mix of preparation, rapport, and scheduling it can be done. Just as a quick example if somebody is not a complete self care for pottying, I have them sit on the pot every 4 hours whether they claim to have the urge or not, that way you avoid those callbells where the patient is about to fall out the bed getting themselves to the toilet without your help. I did this on night shift too. "Mrs Patient I need your blood pressure and then I need you to sit on the commode." Since you're waking them up anyways, might as well.

But yea, I just find nights easier, slower, etc at least from the tech point of view. Maybe when I graduate with my RN soon (knock on wood) I can do a follow up to this post and give a new RN point of view.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

Oh and its funny when night shift will complain in staff meetings that they are so busy blah blah blah. But then they always say we can't do those tasks on nights because the "pts are sleeping".

We're running our butts off until about 10pm-MN when our patients are asleep, trying to get everything done, (including the QD stuff that days didn't get to) before they go to sleep. The rest of the night, is usually just steady with admissions. What happens is there's always the great idea to have nightshift do something. So it's either thrown in the mix of the few hours to get everything done that requires the patient being awake, or we wake the patient up.

I've done both. I'm nights now. LOVE IT. More camaraderie. Less management. But that goes along with NO resources. And wacked out circadian rhythms. Overall, I was busier during the day. But the frustrating things like searching a hospital floor by floor, unit by unit, for equipment or supplies or even just to have some formula to feed a screaming baby... Well those are things that on days can be handled with a phone call. And it doesn't take many of those things to turn a night shift's normal amount of busy into a day shift amount of busy.

[MattNurse, MSN, RN]

If you think nights is so much easier then days, why not switch back to nights? Just because we have a little more down time on nights does not make it easier for us, especially to manage our personal lives. How many times does administration schedule a mandatory meeting at 2am versus 2pm? How easy is it to drive home in this nice sunny day and go straight to bed?

In my hospital most of the open positions are on nights and none of the day nurses jump at this easy opportunity.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Another downside to nights: if I have say 4 days off, it's really only three. That first day off, you sleep because you worked the night before. So night shifters always lose a day. And the busy factor will vary. It depends where you work. I'm one RN for 30 people at night. I have no down time.

[An_Apple_a_DayLVN]

I just hate coming into the anxious, drama queen, and bustling vibe of dayshift at 7p, and then magically, when they leave, all the anxiety, drama, and bustle leaves with them. The unit is quiet, and their is nothing to be upset about.

I love that.

I love to see them come, but I love to watch them go!

[travkitty]

You could always meet in the middle & find a job that offers a mid-shift. I am a night owl, but 7p-7a messed with my real life too much. I can't function at 7a, so that shift was out. So, I found my perfect 3p-3a ER gig. Problems solved!

[wooh, BSN, RN]

I so wish there was a 3p-3a on the floor. Don't want the schedule enough to work ED though. Bleck! :)

[melmarie23, MSN, RN]

babies are born all times of the day and night. And if they are nursing, eat around the clock. So we're still pretty busy on nights. But I have to say, having less visitors and docs rounding is nice.

[yuzzamatuzz]

I've worked days and nights. Love nights because I feel like I get to be a real nurse at night and not deal with all the extra nonsense on days. At the same time, we get a lot of admissions at night and people tend to go down hill when they fall asleep. I also am a night person and hate to wake up at 5am for day shift. What I hate more than day shift is the day shift vs. night shift argument. If you think your shift is so much harder than the other, then why do you continue to work on that shift? A night and a day nurse on my floor actually got in a heated argument over this the other day and I cringed listening to it (as I also did when I saw the title of this thread) ...wouldn't it be nice if we could all just do our job to the best of our abilities and respect our co-workers?

[Woodenpug, BSN]

I've worked days and nights. Love nights because I feel like I get to be a real nurse at night and not deal with all the extra nonsense on days. At the same time, we get a lot of admissions at night and people tend to go down hill when they fall asleep. I also am a night person and hate to wake up at 5am for day shift. What I hate more than day shift is the day shift vs. night shift argument. If you think your shift is so much harder than the other, then why do you continue to work on that shift? A night and a day nurse on my floor actually got in a heated argument over this the other day and I cringed listening to it (as I also did when I saw the title of this thread) ...wouldn't it be nice if we could all just do our job to the best of our abilities and respect our co-workers?

Just the bold text. The Rodney King stuff was a little over-board.