What is the difference between working mornings,evening and nights?

[Blackheartednurse]

What is so different between working the am,evening shift and night shift?? Which one do you prefer? I will be starting on evenings and I dont know what should I expect...(although I'm pretty sure they will orient me on days)

[AllSmiles225]

That all depends on where your working & your assigned tasks..tell us more and maybe we can give you some more help although all jobs are different everywhere..

[paddingtonRN]

I know all floors are different, but on the floor I work (busy, busy neuro) evening shift is my favorite. I've worked all three shifts and currently am on 12/hr nights. Evenings has a great pace- there's always something to do, but rarely too hectic. The hours go by very qucikly. Staffing is usually the most generous. I found I got off the floor for a real break more often than not, which please do as a new nurse!!!!! You get a lot of post ops back but not as many as on day shift. Here days is by far the most hectic- Dr's rounding, am care, lots of family and visitors. Similar to you, I was hired for evenings but oriented on days. This was great because you get used to such a fast pace and are able begin developing your prioritization and multi tasking skills. Overall nights is the slowest paced but you are given more patients with less nursing assistant help. I think shift happiness depends alot on your internal clock. Evening shift might be hard if you're a morning person and like going to bed early. No matter what your body and mind will adjust. Give yourself time. I wish you success!!!

[HappydayRn]

I work nights on a med-renal floor. We do have less ancillary staff, but depending on your pt. load you can be running. The shift usually goes by very fast there's pretty much always something to do. I enjoy nights because there's less chaos with less people. You get to depend on your coworkers a lot more.

[Up2nogood RN, RN]

I would prefer evenings but we don't work 8 hour shifts. You couldn't pay me enough to work days, been there, done that, yek.

Usually the bulk of your orientation is on days. And usually the other shifts operate a little differently due to patient needs. Mostly I think that day orientation is because there are more nurses on the floor and more opportunities to learn a variety of things you might not see right away on the other shifts. Don't let the time on days influence how you think it will go for you on evenings. Evening/nights are usually a little more laid back and not so uptight, at least in my experiences.

[DogWmn]

It would depend on where I'm working, my preference is clinic work so it was days, when I worked hospitals I prefered 2nd shift. I tried nights and I'm way not a night person, it made me sick, I couldn't adjust to the sleep schedule.

I think it will all depend on you, everyone is different and has their preferences.

[htrn]

Days = Administration around/lurking and watching, phone calls out the wazoo, family asking/demanding, doctors, pharmacists, 2 meals, baths, therapies, social workers. IMO, too many distractions from actually taking care of patients.

Evenings = Admin (and most other office types) gone by 5pm, one meal, visitors, HS cares, sundowners.

Nights = no office types :-), no meals :-), rare family/visitors/phone calls :-). Pt load usually a little higher, but fewer "tasks", usually a much "tighter crew" - you are forced to be a team player and help each other out due to lower staff numbers. It is also an opportunity to do a really good assessment and review the chart to, possibly, find things that may have slipped through the cracks because of the pace on other shifts. I can't tell you how many times one of us on nights has said "did anyone notice ....." and that one little piece is the missing link in that patients care. Oh yeah, and you are forced to be a good critical thinker.

It depends on the type of person you are. I am a night nurse at heart, always have been, always will be. Some people just can't adapt to the hours and get physically ill. For other nurses, it works well because they have children at home and they can be there for them after school. Evenings is hard if you have kids. Many people think day shift is the best shift because it is "normal" hours - I just don't see it. :-)

[kerric511]

I find that working night (currently work 12/hr overnight) the staff seems "closer" maybe its just cause I work with a great group of people, but there seems to be more of a team atmosphere on nights. (IMHO)

I wouldn't trade nights for anything in the world.

What department will you be working in.... all dept's have their pro's/con's

[Blackheartednurse]

telemetry