How many of you transferred from one area of nursing to another b/c you couldn't deal with night shift? I transferred from the OR to CCU, and did well in the unit, but as soon as I went to night shift, I've been physically sick.
I don't think it's something that's going to get better with time, and I decided to go to my manager and recruitment and see what can be done now. The only problem is at my hospital nurses are supposed to stay in an area for 6 months before transferring, and I've only been in CCU for barely 3 months. They may allow me to transfer before that time, since it is not a preference issue but a health issue, and I'll find out next week.
I hate feeling like such a wimp. But I've always been an early morning person. I was uneasy about doing night shift, but never tried it before, so I didn't know how bad it would be physically on me. I've worked 11a-11p and that was fine, but it's still totally different from 7p's.
This thread is very interesting. I am a new LPN and I requested nights and got it. I (in essence) turned down another job because all they had to offer was days (the DON stated that as a newly-graduated inexeperienced nurse, I wasn't ready for the night shift where I'd be the only nurse on a LTC wing). I kind of agreed with this, although my current job trained me to handle a night shift as the only nurse on the wing.
I can physically and emotionally work all shifts, but I just cannot stand working days. I don't like to get up early in the morning and I don't particularly like the day "atmosphere" (with all the admin and doctors around - it just seems too busy and distracting for me). In the LTC environment, I like being able to plan my nights with relatively little interference. I still have the support of nurses from the other wings and a RN supervisor usually always in the facility somewhere.
I want to work in a hospital and will almost accept nothing other than a 7p-7am 3 day shift. I would only accept days to get my foot in the door, and be reasonably assured of eventually getting a night shift.
Just my:twocents:
I'm another confirmed night owl. Working days would make ME sick. I have done it for brief orientation periods but felt my whole body was off kilter. I couldn't think straight and all I did was sleep and work. I hated it so much that if that were all I could find at a particular facility, I'd start job hunting elsewhere.
Fortunately, a preference for nights is a plus in nursing. I've often said that they'd have to pay me a differential to work days.
Some of us just don't do well trying to mess with our biological rhythms. If you're one of them, do what you need to do to accommodate your physical needs. Sounds like you're looking for a reasonable solution that takes care of your health without stepping on anyone else. That seems like a mature and reasonable approach. I wish you well.
Here's my 2 cents,( and risking getting flamed) but from someone who works nights while waiting for my turn to come to day shift, I would be VERY resentful and upset if you pulled that one in my unit. You would probably "bypass" all the people waiting for a dayshift spot by getting a note. That means bad morale, and an inconsiderate move on your part. Hang on, MAKE yourself sleep, and stick to a schedule, just like the other millions of nurses who work nights, and you'll get used to it. Lots of caffeine helps, too......caffeine at night, benadryl to sleep.......
They can go get their own notes. Like school kids, isn't it? I love the way we are treated. We handle lives of others but can't be trusted to take care of our own health. Which is all she's doing - trying to stay alive.
I think you are taking the OP's post a tad personally. It's a free market economy, even for nurses. If hospitals cannot retain night workers, they have to make it more attractive for nurses to stay.
:chair:
Yeah, because it happened on my unit. A new grad spent 28 weeks on orientation on days, 2 1/2 times longer than the typical orientation, then decided she wanted to stay on days after working a week or two on nights. She went to her MD for a note saying whe was physically incapable of working at night 7p-7a. So the NM had to put her on days and 2 people who had been here for years on nights waiting for a day shift had to wait until another one opened up. Night shift still resents her for that. However, getting a note in order to transfer to another unit is different, I agree! I forgot to take that into consideration. I apologize. Best of luck!
No harm, no foul! I would absolutely understand staff with more senority being resentful if I -- or anyone else -- were to get a shift they were already in line for. I would resent it too. No, I am only trying to get HR to release me so that I may transfer to a different area in the hospital. For example, PACU has an 11a-11p open, which would be great for me, and PACU is also one of the places I am interested in.
I don't know if I would go to the extreme of a doctor's note. At worst, I have to stay on nights another 3 months before I can transfer, which I can probably do if I have to. I would never jump to the front of the line over others. It's just that night shift has been really awful physically for me. To the poster who said discuss these things at an interview -- how do you know until you try something? I had no idea it would be this hard on me until I tried it. But that's one of the good things about nursing, we have many areas to work in.
RN's with 0-5 years in our unit are expected to pull 4-6 night shifts in a 6 week schedule. While many of our newest RN's run to nights as soon as they can (for personality issues) we still have to rotate.
Personally I hate it, but I use all the tricks mentioned by previous posters and I get by.
We have 1 RN who has an MD note, and another who is talking about getting one, that says she cannot work nights because of a medical condition. (1 goes into SVT if her cycles are interrupted and the other has Crohn's which really acts up when she swaps her sleep cycle.)
They are both being counseled by employee health and will most likely have to move off the unit as they cannot meet the required responsibilities to work in ours.
IMHO, (feel free to flame), If you can't work what is required by your hospital unit, then go work in an office. Hospital nursing is 24-7, lots of other kinds aren't.:chair:
Personally, I have worked night shift for many years sometimes per my request, other times because it was the only shift available. However, I'll be honest here, I did a six month stretch of rotating days, evenings and nights and thought I was going to die! It was horrid. I never knew when to sleep. I think the rotating nonsense is just torture.
To each his own though. SOme folks liked that schedule. I do think the OP has given it a fair chance and if she is able to change units for a different shift - go for it.
No harm, no foul! I would absolutely understand staff with more senority being resentful if I -- or anyone else -- were to get a shift they were already in line for. I would resent it too. No, I am only trying to get HR to release me so that I may transfer to a different area in the hospital. For example, PACU has an 11a-11p open, which would be great for me, and PACU is also one of the places I am interested in.
I don't know if I would go to the extreme of a doctor's note. At worst, I have to stay on nights another 3 months before I can transfer, which I can probably do if I have to. I would never jump to the front of the line over others. It's just that night shift has been really awful physically for me. To the poster who said discuss these things at an interview -- how do you know until you try something? I had no idea it would be this hard on me until I tried it. But that's one of the good things about nursing, we have many areas to work in.
Bear in mind that just because a nurse gets a note from her doc doesn't mean the hospital is obligated to accommodate her. Admin. might say, "Gee that's too bad, we'll be sorry to see you go."
With only three months into your employment, I wouldn't recommend doing anything with even a whiff of an ultimatum. Why not just stick it out for three months and apply for a transfer legitimately?
I like nightshift and work it exclusively. I could maybe work PMs for a spell. Days is like torture. But swing shift on a regular basis? Man, oh, man! That's a killer. Literally. Research has shown that the two most dangerous job practices are working nightshift involuntarily and working rotating shifts that never let your body develop a dependable rhythm. I believe this most emphatically.
Thanks to everyone for their responses. Truly, I do not mind constructive criticism, although it disappoints me when people automatically assume I would leap-frog over coworkers to obtain a better-suited shift.
I have decided against trying to get a doctor's note. Upon further reflection, I don't want a note to put my manager in the position of having to put me on day shift in front of senior staff. I don't want that. I understand that other people are sucking it up on nights waiting their turn. I was only trying to think of ways to "encourage" HR to release me so that I could find something else in the same hospital with a better shift for me physically.
So I'll see what happens this week: If HR will allow me to transfer now, I'll interview at PACU for their 11a position (and no, I would not be jumping over anyone there in terms of senority). If HR does not want to release me from CCU yet, I will suck it up and do the best I can for the next 3 months until I can transfer without getting HR approval.
Although I understand the logic behind staffing only 7a and 7p shifts in the units, it's too bad they don't have the same multiple lines as our ED does. They have 11's, 1's, and even 3p-3a wouldn't be as bad. My husband did 7p's in the ED, then moved up to 3p's, and he said that made a huge difference with just those 4 hours. Hopefully soon I will find my niche...
I must admit that I do find this thread very interesting. I am a fairly new LVN working for the past 14 months now in acute care on a telemetry unit. I trained for the first 3 months on days and hated it. Had never worked noc's before but decided to and was hired to of my own choice as a matter of economics: shift differential of $4 more an hour for noc shift; for an LVN thats a big pay difference. The first 3-4 months was pure hell on my body & my mind, but I stuck with it and decided from the very beginning when I was hired that I would give my body 6 months to adjust if at that point I hadn't I'd go to days. Well, after 4 1/2 months all of sudden it adapted and now the thought of working anything but 7pm-7am is not an option.
I can't say that everyone is made for working noc's but what I will say is that I don't hold it against anyone who doesn't want to. I must also say that I firmly believe that the power of the mind is also an amazing thing as well. This may not work for everyone but I decided before the interview for the position that noc's was going to work for me and be great I just had to give it time. So I went in prepared, plus I'm very stubborn and it worked. Good luck to you whatever you decide to do...
The same thing happened to me. I am just not a night person and could not sleep during the day. I also became ill from working nights. I ended up taking FMLA because I would rather not have the money than be sick all the time. After 12 weeks I returned to the afternon shift and am doing well. PS I am 60 years old and everytime I have had to work nights it made me sick. I have been nursing for 36 years and know from experience that day and afternoon shifts can be had. You may have to change facilities but that is a small price to pay so you aren't sick all the time.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
here's my 2 cents,( and risking getting flamed) but from someone who works nights while waiting for my turn to come to day shift, i would be very resentful and upset if you pulled that one in my unit. you would probably "bypass" all the people waiting for a dayshift spot by getting a note. that means bad morale, and an inconsiderate move on your part. hang on, make yourself sleep, and stick to a schedule, just like the other millions of nurses who work nights, and you'll get used to it. lots of caffeine helps, too......caffeine at night, benadryl to sleep.......
i agree with you! most of us feel physically sick when we work night shift -- nausea, fatigue, headaches . . . we suck it up and deal.
rn/writer, RN
9 Articles; 4,168 Posts
I'm another confirmed night owl. Working days would make ME sick. I have done it for brief orientation periods but felt my whole body was off kilter. I couldn't think straight and all I did was sleep and work. I hated it so much that if that were all I could find at a particular facility, I'd start job hunting elsewhere.
Fortunately, a preference for nights is a plus in nursing. I've often said that they'd have to pay me a differential to work days.
Some of us just don't do well trying to mess with our biological rhythms. If you're one of them, do what you need to do to accommodate your physical needs. Sounds like you're looking for a reasonable solution that takes care of your health without stepping on anyone else. That seems like a mature and reasonable approach. I wish you well.