Day or Night shift the..Pros and Cons

Bobmo88 · Aug 10, 2012

I personally prefer night shift because of the people I work with, less administrators are around, and the night differential. Another thing I like about night shift is that, at least on an average night, the shift will start off busy and will start to slow down towards the end of the night (unless it's a bad night of course). On day shift, it will usually start off slow and gets busiest towards the end of the shift, the part of your day when you are most tired. Some things I do not like about working nights: the fact that we tend to be short more often than days, having to absorb patients when mid shifters go home, having to do more work i.e transporting our own patients after 1am (or earlier if transport decides to go home early without telling us), doing our own transfers (case manager takes care of all of that during the day) and holding patients for social service consults since they're only available during the day; nowhere near the selection of places to eat like during the day (most of the places that are open all night are fast food like McDonald's and Del Taco but at least we also have Subway 24 hours as well) I'm sure things vary from hospital to hospital but many people that I work with have worked nights for years and prefer it over days. Hope this helped!

Beautifulvirgo · Aug 10, 2012

Thanks Bobmo88 i was thinking night is better, do you have kids or a spouse, because i have a kid and i think a night shift will put me a home with him during the day..:)

Bobmo88 · Aug 11, 2012

No prob Beautifulvirgo, I do not have kids or a significant other right now so that is something I don't have to worry about for the moment. Depending on what kind of schedule you have, staying up during the day after working the night before is exhausting. Is your kid older or younger? My coworkers that have little ones usually spend time with their child after coming home, get some sleep, and then when they wake up, spend some more time with the child and then get ready for work again but they usually need someone else around to help watch them while they sleep. Something to keep in mind.

Fearless_leader · Aug 11, 2012

Hi Beautifulvirgo,

I'm thinking about returning to my old job as a PCA in a hospital and working the night shift is what I'm aiming for. I have 4 children 15,12,9,2 and I'm married. My kids say they don't care if I work the night shift because they will be asleep. Which is true and my husband is kind of tithering about it. However the kind of job he has sometimes requires him to work during hurricane season tremendously. I can place myself on the during list while he is at home with the kids, and after the hurricane he can go to work while i'm home. Besides I can be home while kids are in school just in case anything happens. I'm a Pre-nursing student now so if I don't get rehired at my old job this is the route I will be taking. In addition to working night shift I heard so help you go to sleep by an industrial fan to drown out the noise, and to take Tylenol PM. However I don't think I'll need the Tylenol Pm because I"m not a night person.

I use to work the 7a-& 7p shift, and it was busy with Dr's, family, patients changing rooms, or being discharged. Nights are more quiter except between 7pm and 11-12. I say try night shift. It's much quieter.

tenn_bsnstudent · Aug 11, 2012

Currently I am a CNT at a LTC facility while getting my pre-req's finished up. Right now I am working 2nd shift. I am debating working nights because its less drama for more money! But I am considering working 12 hour dayshifts days I don't have classes (T/TR, every other weekend) just to work with my school schedule so I'm not too sleep deprived and I'll be done with my work day by 6p.

They both definitely have their own pros and cons but it really comes down to personal preference!