CNA-Undecided if Am or Pm shift

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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I am a newly passed CNA. I am undecided whether to work am or pm in a rehabilitation healthcare/LTC.Help me decide which shift to get.Thanks!

What else do you have going on in your life (family, school, social things)? Are you a morning person or a night person? How many days a week would you be working, and what hours (8s or 12s or something else)?

What did you like most about your clinicals, and what did you like least?

All this should be considered in making this decision. Tell us some more about you and then we might be able to give some more appropriate advice!

wow nice points. Hmm..well Im actually reviewing on a self study for my nclex bec I failed twice. So I thought I need to have a breather.Which is the CNA job.Good thing I passed. Thats all I am focused right now. Just the CNA job. No conflict of time/schedule.Its just that I just wanna get the perfect slot for me to learn A LOT of clinicals as much as possible since I failed my nclex RN. :idea

In terms of social life, I guess i also failed to have one.Since Im very focused on my nclex rn. I can be very sociable,friendly and outgoing. Its just that I just wanna pursue and pass this nclex thing before I go out and have fun. I believe my social life depends on my co workers. Thats the reason I wanna work for the AM shift. Because theres more people,more busy,more things to do...(If I am correct?)

its a different thing. if you cant give good advice, just dont comment!

How do you expect starngers on the internet to decide what shift is best for you? Pick the shift that works best with your school schedule, family, social life, etc.

I'm not sure exactly how (or why) you expect strangers on the internet to make a fairly important decision about your schedule when you have given no information about factors that would be quite important to making this decision.

Scratch that. Let me shorten that:

I'm not sure exactly how (or why) you expect strangers on the internet to make a fairly important decision about your schedule.

PS-Congrats about passing. Now celebrate by making a sound decision based on your own evaluation about what's best for you, not based on what some people on the internet think, because that decision will be the best decision.

Thats the forum is all about. Sharing and asking advice. In the end its me who will decide. Im just looking for other comments. Reading your comment, it looks like you didnt give one good advice. thanks anyway for the greeting about passing my CNA. Its a big deal for me since I havent pass my nclex rn yet.:rolleyes:

How do you expect starngers on the internet to decide what shift is best for you? Pick the shift that works best with your school schedule, family, social life, etc.

FYI: I am just looking for advices. NOT a DECISION. I will decide.:uhoh3:

Specializes in ICU.
Hmm...yes but i think u will earn more in the morning bec. its the time when patients are busy and awake? what do you think?

You might think so, but I've never heard of a 1st/day shifter making more than a 2nd/3rd/night shifter. Although days TENDS to be busier and have more duties, most people prefer to work days in order to have a "normal" schedule and have time in the evenings with their familes. Because facilities are often more desperate for evening/night shift employees, they usually offer shift differentials (an additional percent of hourly wage...at my hospital it's like 5% for nights, 3% for weekends, 8% for weekend nights) for night shift workers. I very seriously doubt you will make more working mornings.

Specializes in geriatric, l&d.

No actually 2nd and 3rd shift ALWAYS have shift diffs. because it is considered an "off" shift. and contrary to the belief of many, there is plenty to do with patients on PM shift, at least in my hospital setting. Feeding, dressing, bathing, incontience care and much much more is done on 2 and 3rd shift. Plus remember, not all the patients sleep at a certain time...... which means call lights and pagers can off all night long. Never a dull moment!!

Hmm...yes but i think u will earn more in the morning bec. its the time when patients are busy and awake? what do you think?

Earn more as in money? Most of the time 2nd and 3rd shift has a higher hourly wage. Also they get the benefit of shift differentials.

Thats the forum is all about. Sharing and asking advice. In the end its me who will decide. Im just looking for other comments. Reading your comment, it looks like you didnt give one good advice. thanks anyway for the greeting about passing my CNA. Its a big deal for me since I havent pass my nclex rn yet.:rolleyes:

Actually, I did give you good advice. I told you that YOU were the one who could make the best decision, and that if you wanted better responses, information would help.

You provided no information that will help people guide you. :p

But, if you just want random advice:

Night shift has additional money. Follow the money.

Earn more as in money? Most of the time 2nd and 3rd shift has a higher hourly wage. Also they get the benefit of shift differentials.

Sorry my sentence was incomplete. Earn more EXPERIENCE AND LEARNING IS WHAT I MEANT. LOL Im after the skills that i will learn since I am reviewing for my nclex rn.

You might think so, but I've never heard of a 1st/day shifter making more than a 2nd/3rd/night shifter. Although days TENDS to be busier and have more duties, most people prefer to work days in order to have a "normal" schedule and have time in the evenings with their familes. Because facilities are often more desperate for evening/night shift employees, they usually offer shift differentials (an additional percent of hourly wage...at my hospital it's like 5% for nights, 3% for weekends, 8% for weekend nights) for night shift workers. I very seriously doubt you will make more working mornings.

Sorry my sentence was incomplete. Earn more EXPERIENCE AND LEARNING IS WHAT I MEANT. LOL Im after the skills that i will learn since I am reviewing for my nclex rn.

Actually, I did give you good advice. I told you that YOU were the one who could make the best decision, and that if you wanted better responses, information would help.

You provided no information that will help people guide you. :p

But, if you just want random advice:

Night shift has additional money. Follow the money.

Im not after the money. Im after the skills that I will learn. If I am after the bucks that I would get, I could have studied med. I provided info you can read above.

Specializes in ICU.
Sorry my sentence was incomplete. Earn more EXPERIENCE AND LEARNING IS WHAT I MEANT. LOL Im after the skills that i will learn since I am reviewing for my nclex rn.

Sure, most of the procedures happen on day shift (since you said it will be a rehab/LTC, probably all the PT and OT will happen during the day), but to be honest, most places you're not going to have the time to watch/help the nurses, or a chance to practice RN skills. The nurses probably won't let you do anything outside your scope of practice, and you'll be so busy doing things that ARE in a CNA's scope of practice that you won't have time for much else. I don't mean to be a downer, but I don't think working as CNA is a good way for you to keep up your RN skills...I'm sure it will have been a valuable experience when you do become an RN - but I don't think any shift will help you learn or stay sharp on RN skills over any other.

I worked as a CNA in a hospital and I *rarely* had time to sit in on/assist with a procedure, and they were going on all the time. You might want to read some posts on the CNA forum....

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