11-7 cnas..How are you doing with night shift??Do you love it?

[MzLopez4real]

Well, I took some time out from work. Now I think I'm ready to get back on the saddle. I have had such a hard summer with a few blessings. I got accepted into nursing school. I'll be starting next year. And I also got a job working in long term care for Chester county. I chose casual part time so I won't stress myself too much. Especially having done private duty most of my life, going back to a nursing home will be DIFFERENT, and wel all know is more stressful but the pay is pretty good, benefits are great, not to mention the differential rate, and I really want this to be a job that I stay at since when I graduate from school, the transition will be easier. I've always enjoyed 11-7 so I chose that shift. BUT I'm a little nervous with it all. I'm hoping I'll do well. I guess I want to hear something good! Lol. Sooo how are you liking 11-7am shifts?? Are you thinking of changing shifts soon?? What bothers you the most if any....

Thanks!!

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

Good things about nocs:

After the rounds and routine stuff there is downtime for homework.

I was able to take 11 units at school and work because I worked at night.

Less drama. Less staff around. Less gossip. Less prima donnas (they tend to work days). Less administrative over sight watching your very move.

[mindyfromcali]

I work night shift in a LTC SNF. It's pretty busy during rounds, and it depends on what type of Residents you have. For me, they're a combination of alert-independent, alert-dependent, total care and others. Some nights can be lots of call lights. Call lights can be tough to answer when you have a certain amount of incontinent care to complete by a certain time, especially if you have heavy wetters that need to be cared for. I would say after working day evening and nights that nights are probably the easiest because there are less transfers, so not as much lifting.

[Tim92]

I work at an assisted living so my night is pretty laid back and relaxed. Typically I do laundry throughout my shift, 2 hour check/changes, and wake people in the morning. The only time it is very chaotic is in the morning when waking residents and if a resident falls, otherwise it is pretty calm.

[CapeCodDreamer]

Love, love, love night shift! I don't think I could deal with the, albeit controlled, chaos that is 7-3 or 3-11 where I work! :-)

[JDZ344]

I don't work in a nursing home, but I can tell you about nights at the hospital.

Most nights we have at least 1 patient who gets confused when the sun goes down.

Most night shifts- at least 3/4 of your people may sleep at least a few hours!

[sjbrk]

I wish I could work night shifts. With my school schedule, there's just no way. At our facility, nights are good so long as you have full staff. It's much harder to call people in for night shifts and lately they have been short (this is almost always due directly to management not scheduling, not people calling in). That said, so long as staffing is there, nights are almost always easier than days. Busy moments, sure, but not having to get people up and transferred, or dressed, or fed makes for a way more laid back shift.