CNA's: What's your favorite shift?

casi, ASN, RN · Mar 6, 2007

I honestly love noc shift. It's super laid back, no big bosses, and I'm a natural night owl.

Set back is if you have a family or any semblence of a life, it's hard to keep up. Lately I've been burnt out on nights and have been contemplating going to evenings, but probably won't. I've always said that if I worked days or evenings when upper management was in the building I would have been fired YEARS ago.

I'd never work 7-3 as I'm not a morning person AT ALL.

newbeginnings07 · Mar 6, 2007

I've worked all three shifts and I gotta tell ya they're all totally different to me.First shift was alot more stressful and sucks if you're seriously not a morning person but the work day flies by and you're left with the rest of the day to do whatever you plz.Second shift is not as stressful and you have a little more time to get everything finished but it really does take up most of your day which makes it hard to have a life.Third shift in my opinion was nice because it's almost stress free but it really drags by if you don't find something to keep yourself busy.I guess I'm undecided because there are pros and cons to all three shifts.

PurifyMe · Mar 7, 2007

I work as a CNA from 7a-7p, I like it because the morning flys by, and by the time I look up it's 4:30, and I have nothing more to do but wait until 7:30. I work 3 days a week, every other weekend, and get to spend the other time studying or kicking it with my husband, and I can always pick up extra shifts whenever I want. It's really about what you want to do, and how much time you need outside of work.

valifay · Mar 8, 2007

I've worked all the shifts and of them all I really like day shift. The time goes by faster and you get to interact more with the families. And if your a morning person and take the early shift (like 5-1 or 6-2) you still have the rest of the day to do things and not have to worry about the time like you do when you work evenings or nocs. But, you definetly have to be easy going in the morning to accecpt the cranky non morning patients or coworkers LOL!

DreamyEyes · Mar 8, 2007

Thanks for the info, it helped. :) I think I'm going to try and work the morning shift once I look for a job- I really can't see myself working 11-7...I think I'd fall asleep!

kmarie724 · Mar 11, 2007

I just started working nocs, and I really like it. It's so much less stressful and relaxed and we actually get to take all our breaks! I don't like days at all. It's too stressful to get everyone up for breakfast, especially when we're short. Plus, I'm not a morning person at all. It's much easier for me to stay up all night than to get up early. I like evening shift a lot too. I thinkg I would have to say evening shift is my favorite because you get to interact with residents more than on nocs, and it's more relaxed than day shift.

yousoldtheworld · Mar 11, 2007

Right now, I'm working 5 p.m. - 11:30 p.m., and I really like it. I do wish they offered a longer evening shift (I'd like 3 - 11:30 better), but the hours are good. It's not as hectic as day shift, and I'm not very good with mornings. However, there's still a lot of resident interaction that you miss out on working 3rds...I enjoy getting them ready for bed more than I enjoyed getting them up in the mornings, and I find that a lot of the more difficult residents are a bit more relaxed in the evenings.

The only downside to working evenings is that it DOES make it difficult to have much of a social life during the week, but I only work every other weekend and I do my best to make my weekends off count.

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Mar 11, 2007

When I worked as a CNA I worked all 3 shifts. I spent more time on 7a-3p and 3p-11p. My favorite shift was 3-11. No big bosses, not as much stress, much less active. I was able to spend a lot more time with my patients talking, sitting with them etc.

7-3 was fast pased and much more stressfull than any of the others. But like the other poster said they day flies by and you have the entire day to yourself.

There are pro's and con's to both. I ended up doing mostly 7-3 because I wanted to spend time with friends and family.

LPNCieBan · Apr 2, 2007

I worked all three and 7-3 is way too stressful because of short staff. I'm not really a morning person sometimes. But I love to work 7-3. 3-11PM is time crazy and 11-7am is tiring especially for me because I have 3 kids. So I cannot get any sleep in most of the time.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Apr 2, 2007

I've been a nurse's aide for five months and have also worked all three shifts. I think that personally the shift you should work probably depends what sort of person you are. 1st shift keeps you hopping, if you can't stand being bored definitely 1st shift. 2nd shift things start winding down, just need to make sure everyone gets their dinners, etc. 3rd shift, often pretty dead. If you are in nursing school, you might enjoy 3rd shift because there is often time to study during third shift. :)

LPNCieBan · Apr 3, 2007

If I work third shift and go to school in the morning I will fail because I'll be so tired all the time.