Any non-night people accept a night position?

Bekahlynn · May 30, 2005

I did. I am a new grad as well. The unit that I have worked on for the last year as a student is awesome, but for RN's, they only had 12 hour night shift available. So I took it, because I love the unit. I will have 10 weeks of orientation on days before I begin my night orientation, so that makes me feel a bit better. I am such a day person. In school I was always very much against working anywhere night shift.

The bad part is that I will probably never get a day position on my unit. The people that work there never leave. (which is a great thing), but honestly I do not see myself working nights for the next twenty years. But who knows, maybe I will love nights, and I just don't know it yet.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · May 30, 2005

I did and I am nervous about it. I am an early-to-bed-early-to-rise kind of person. Anyone else in a similar situation?

. . .I remember very clearly how difficult it was to get started. So, here's some tips from an old night nurse.

First of all, think in terms of rearranging your days (er, 24 hour chunks of time, I mean) and then stick to it. Decide when you want to get your sleeping time in. Seriously, you have to plan your days out to include some sleeping. Some night people like to sleep when they get home from work and then get up around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. (I'm talking about 8 hour shifts here.) I was always one to wait until 2 or 3 in the afternoon (wanted to stay up and watch my soap operas) and then get up just before it was time to go to work. That worked better for me because I could get errands done in the morning and by the afternoon I was really pooped out and went to sleep a lot faster.

Second, lay off the coffee as you get toward bedtime or you will have trouble getting to sleep.

Third (and, I really don't recommend this) have something ready to help you sleep if you need to. Back in the 70's I used Sominex--wonderful stuff because in those days it had scapolamine (spelling?) in it which put me right to sleep. I was devastated when they removed it from the Sominex. I only used it on my first night anyway--not regularly. Today, I suppose you could use a Benadryl, but we aware that you might be drowsy once you wake up.

Fourth, in order to help her sleep during the day, my mother who also worked nights covered all the windows in her bedroom with aluminum foil. Once you were in her room and shut the door it was pitch black in there no matter what time of day it was! That will trick your brain into thinking it's nighttime!

Fifth, turn off the ringer on the phone and let the answering machine pick up calls. Tell your friends and family not to call you at certain times. If you live with other people you have to talk with them and get them to respect your sleep time during the day and keep the noise down. When it comes to the neighbors you're on your own.

Sixth, use an alarm clock so you won't get up late. I'm not kidding about this. If you have trouble falling to sleep, when you finally do you just might oversleep.

After awhile I developed a routine. When I had a day off I would come home from work, sleep for a couple of hours and I was up and fresh for the remainder of the day. I would sleep that night just like everyone else. Then on the day that I had to start back to work I, generally, was able to lay down around 5pm and sleep until it was time to get up and get ready for work. The first night back to work is a little hard because by the time 7am rolls around you are good and tired. I have done this for so many years that I can slip into the routine very easily now.

I think mindset is important too. I saw people new to night shift who literally got ill and had to transfer back to a day shift. I've always had an active imagination. I've always likened this to working on something like the starship Enterprise. How the heck did they ever know if it was night or day? (They probably put aluminum foil on their windows! :chuckle ). Same question for the guys working up in the space station. How do the people who live way up north where the sun never sets deal with it? :confused:

Anyway, I hope that helps. You might want to try it out before you actually go onto the night shift. Friday or Saturday night is a good time to test it out--good stuff on TV. However, at work you'll most likely be busy all night long and that will usually keep you going when you get tired.

I'm sure others will have some good ideas too.

HannasMom · May 30, 2005

I did and I am still working the nightshift, will be two year in July. It's not so bad, I discovered that some people can adjust to the nightshift. It just takes some time and lots of shuffling of your sleep schedule, to find what works for you. It is hard at first, but doable.

SC RN, RN · May 31, 2005

Yep, I took the job of my dreams but I have to work nights. I'll be in L&D working three 12's per week! I could easily go to another floor (tele, med/surg, onco, ortho) and get days but Ii just can't see the advantage of being on a good shift but not liking my job! So, I'll tough it out and hope that a day position opens up before I retire!!!! :uhoh3:

newgrad2005 · May 31, 2005

SC RN~ I am working L&D nights 3-12's, too! Maybe we will be co-workers! I PM'd you :)

student4ever · May 31, 2005

I did and I am nervous about it. I am an early-to-bed-early-to-rise kind of person. Anyone else in a similar situation?

I am still pre-nursing, so I don't know if I'm really qualified on this page, but I work at a hospital now, and I work nightshift. I've never been an early riser by nature, so I thought working nights would be easy for me. I do like being up all night, partly because I work in the ER and that's when all the interesting stuff comes in! :rolleyes:

Anyways, adjusting to nights was harder than I expected. As another poster said, tinfoil on the windows works great!!! Also, if there is a lot of traffic/neighborhood noise, you might want to invest in a white noise machine or play a relaxing CD real soft to help you go to sleep and stay asleep - it will help you not hear the sounds going on outside - or even inside your house if your family members are up and at home during the time you sleep. I am lucky, my S.O. also works nights, so we have the same sleep schedual. Make sure you get yourself into a regular sleep schedual. If you really like being up during daylight hours, I would reccommend sleeping from early/mid afternoon until it's time to go to work, although I have to admit, I find it much harder to get up when it's gotten dark outside already (I work 8 hour shifts, so I don't go in until 11). I usually sleep in the morning, because by the time I get home, I'm usually pretty tired. But when I get to the point where I miss seing sunlight, I will switch it up for a little while. Also, unless you have a good chunk of time off (3-4 days in a row), I would reccommend staying in a similar sleep pattern to your working days, or else you will be totally wiped out on your first day back, and it will be harder to get through the week. I usually get up earlier on my first day off, and then I'm tired enough to go to bed around 3 or 4 am, so I can be up for at least a good portion of the day rather than sleeping it all away, but I'm still not too far off from my regular routine and it's not hard to get back into it when I go back to work. Good luck, I hope it works out for you. Night shift is not for everyone, but it is doable especially if you have an open mind and are willing to try a number of things before you settle on what works for you.

Kitty-MayRN, BSN, RN · Jun 1, 2005

I just accepted my first nursing job and it's a 7pm to 7am. I'm definitely not a morning person, but I don't normally stay up really late either!

I really wanted this job though. And, ever since I've been in nursing school my sleep has had no pattern whatsoever! I know I'm going to have to be really careful not to totally screw up body clock. :uhoh3: Plus my boyfriend is definitely a morning person--actually he just doesn't need hardly any sleep at all. I wish I could survive on just 5 or 6 hours of sleep a "night", but I need my zzz's!!!

I'm gonna have to try the tinfoil thing!

Good luck to you!

Kitty-MayRN

:nurse:

shape0fmyheart · Jun 1, 2005

I accepted a night job too but I have always been a night owl. Unfortunately though, mine is 11pm-7am 5 nights a week plus every 4th weekend. I am jealous of everyone who has the 3 12's. I had the choice between that and the 5 8's and like a dummy I took the 5 8's and by the time I changed my mind the 12's were gone. I am just worried about not having a life. :rolleyes: