Day shift or night shift - Which do you prefer? Why?

SirJohnny · Jun 28, 2016

Hi all:

- I definitely LOVE night shift. Kids that I take care of (private duty via agency) are sleeping, and for the most part, so are the parents. I try to get at least 3 to 4 hours of studying done (DNP/FNP school), at night on an 8 hour shift. I make sure

the parents are ok with me hitting the books, or I won't take the case. Also. most of the nurses at the three agencies I work at want day shift. What I do hate is getting cancelled, which seems to be happening more and more in private duty agency.

I guess it's due to the summer, and families wanting to get out and get some one-on-one time with their kids.

- Sometimes, despite the best intentions, I do start nodding off. I have a bottle of diet soda that I will nurse for a few hours. In addition, I'll walk around and stretch. Worse comes to worse, splash water in my face. For the most part, I am wide awake.

- I used to work LTC, and will never-ever again work another day shift. Too much to do, too little pay. Much less $$$ in LTC than hospital, yet we run around just as much as the hospital nurse (just not as technical, but just as physically intense).

ohsosarah20, BSN · Jun 29, 2016

I actually really like night shift, but I don't like working nights because it screws up my body and I become an isolated cranky human. Therefore, I prefer days!

wilsonbl5150 · Aug 3, 2016

I work LTC and rehab 10P-6A. I love it. Fewer supervisors,dovtors and family members. Shift diff is nice and I get more time with my family, afternoons and evenings. The cons are things usually go bad in the early AM, at the end of the shift and there are fewer co workers to help out.

GraduateRN2016, BSN · Oct 9, 2016

I'm a new grad and was hired for nights. I've been doing orientation on days and find it diff to wake in the mornings. Hopefully I'll do better on nights

showbizrn · Jan 3, 2017

Just give me the night!

So I can teach, perform, relax

---take down the facts!

Nurse by night

Actor- Teacher by daylight

These are my rules

Don't try to stop me, fools!

From beginning to end

I'm SHOWBIZRN!

TruvyNurse · Jan 4, 2017

12 hour days!! Best for my family and I HATE nights. Never could get the sleep I needed. Days is busier and goes by faster too

hilc1 · Aug 31, 2017

I have worked both. I am not young, nor do I have children. I hated night shift. I felt unsafe for patient care, I was crabby on my days off and I couldn't get out of bed until 2pm, even if I had several days off in a row. I would wake up around 2 am on my 'days' off and couldn't go back to sleep until around 730/8am. I felt in despair all the time, my relationship suffered, I had no energy to exercise and I neglected myself, my partner, friends and animals. It all depends on how your body takes it. They tell us as nurses that we need to take care of ourselves too. I refuse to work nights and have given up otherwise great positions to take straight days. Days are busy, but I like that. Makes it go by quickly. Sure you have to deal with administration, dietary etc etc, just depends on if you can handle all the extra commotion on top of caring for your patients. If you have a good team then there's teamwork no matter what shift you work on.

Accolay · Sep 2, 2017

Day shift and night shift are the best.

Day shift- Busy but it flies by. You get more experience with how things work. Morning meds. You have two meals to cover i.e. assistance in feeding, getting into a chair or insulin coverage etc.

You'll know other staff besides nursing- I enjoy meeting with the doctors and other specialties and asking questions and jazz. You can fix things you need from the team for that patient because that staff will be right there to ask.

Night shift. Can also be busy, but tends to be less so. After a few weeks of day shift, sometimes you want to cool it off a little. Sometimes you have more time to give that patient a little extra TLC or go through their chart a little more thoroughly. I feel like the night shift staff is a little tighter because you have to be due to less staff around.

Evening shift. Yuck. Good for those with family schedules to have to take care of. But you wake up in the morning and can't really start anything because wee... I have to go to work today and when you get off it's dark and you're pretty much ready for bed.

caffeinatednurse, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2017

I prefer evenings and nights. I can never truly wake up until about 4pm and I'm unable to sleep at night (even when I'm not working). So I would be a useless exhausted zombie on days.

Currently working 7p-7a shifts. Occasionally I have a hard time sleeping during the day but that's what good blackout curtains, melatonin and a fan (for white noise) are for. :yes:

poohparn · Nov 28, 2018

Currently days after 17 years of nightshift. Been on days for over a year. Dayshift is terrible; it's not that it is busy, I currently do less in three days than in one 12 hour nightshift.

It's that it sucks! I am constantly tired. I go to bed at 9 and wake up at 5, and off to work I go. there is no time to clean house, go to the gym, run errands, do anything. While working nights

I actually saw the sun! Dayshift sucks, get me back to nights!

bananas1 · Apr 4, 2019

Where I live everyone does rotating rosters, either eight hour mornings/afternoons/nights or 12 hour days/nights. I can't imagine only doing one type of shift. I feel like you'd miss out on a lot if you only did nights, but only doing days would suck because nights are quite enjoyable.

_firely · Apr 5, 2019

Days

Pros - you are on the same clock as most other people (easier social life). You get to network and learn from more other professionals and give leadership feedback. Time flies as you are busier. You learn more in general including random vendor training events. More free food from patient families and the cafeteria is open.

Nights

Pros - more money. Your patients are less demanding. Rarely have to deal with families or responding to all the other staff that works with patients during the day. Can spend more time on whatever matters to you on the job. You don’t have to deal with hospital admin / joint commission / patient admissions / patient discharges.