Day Shift vs. Night Shift

Alicia18 · May 20, 2006

I prefer dayshift b/c I'm much more a morning person. I DO miss the busyness of nightshift, though.

Heh, extra pay for nightshift? I wish.

cowboyRN · May 22, 2006

20+ years of nights for me, my wife was always a stay at home Mom, so I saw more of the family that way. They are asleep at night anyway. Once the kids are school age, your free to go to parent teacher conferences, ball games, whatever. Sleep is over rated anyway, plenty of time for that when your dead.

carebearRN · Jun 2, 2006

Hello! I haved worked nights for almost 2 years. I was on day/night rotation when I first graduated. I agree with everyone's replies. Nights are better in my opinion- no managers or cranky doctors and less family there, pt's aren't going down for xray/procedures, you don't have to worry about meals for pts, and plus I think you bond better with the night shift staff. Granted many nights are just as busy as days, but a differnt type of busy. So, there's usually more quiet time to chart and even get to chat with coworkers. Day shift was too busy and stressful for me as a new grad and I still don't think I would like dayshift as a bedside nurse. It also helps if you are a night person to begin with! Hope this helps! :mad:

shaynurse9 · Jun 7, 2006

I have worked the night shift(7p-7a), the day shift(7a-7p), and (7a-3p), and the eveing shift(3-11). And I would have to say that I liked the day shift the best because I was able to spend time with my kids when I got home. Yes I was tired but I got some things done. When I worked the night shift I was always tired and sleepy. I have two small children and even though I slept all day while they were gone. I was still tired by the time they made it home. I guess I never got use to it. But this is your choice and you should do what is best for your family. Good Luck in your decision.

Franlpntorn · Jun 9, 2006

Agreee with everything said. But some places pay better diff on nights then others. The skill is to find them. at 16.54 with shift diff it's not much for a med/sug RN. what did I got to SCHOOL for. The loans that have to be paid back???? High gas Prices.

froghair · Jun 10, 2006

all shifts have there good points and bad points. i have worked nights for the last 6 years, why i dont know but being single i dont have to worry about anyone else so it suits me. because i work full time nights i dont revert on my days off so that can be a real pain but it is a bigger pain to not be able to sleep well when you are working so no point chopping and changing. this also makes it hard when you want to catch up with friends, your never on the same wave length as your always tired. it is good on nights that you dont have management and admin around but that can also be a bad thing as well. things never seem to get handed on to you and if you need to see management about something its a pain to get them. also night duty cops alot of crap from day and arvo duty.....there never happy. as for not having bad doctors at night, id disagree with that when i worked in emergency we had some shockers hence why i leftwere i used to work. i think i would be to cranky if i came back onto days so ill stick to the nights

NoWaNrN, ASN, RN · Jun 10, 2006

I am starting nights, but I would love to have the day shift. Where I wanted to work at they to the 7-7 shift and its only 3 days a week so that really nice it wouldn't really be that big of a deal which on you worked.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jun 10, 2006

I sleep much better doing days, than nights. Working nights, i always felt tired, not matter how i'd slept.

BeccaznRN, RN · Jun 19, 2006

I love nights! I agree with all the other posts about nights being less hectic, you can chat with co-workers, etc. The only problem I have is that I never get the amount of sleep during the day that I would at night. Only 5-6 hours tops (versus 8-10 hours sleeping at night) but since it's only three days a week I can generally catch up on my off days.

SmilingBluEyes · Jun 20, 2006

Nightshift is so much harder on my body. I have done it for 7 years and am ready to get off of it. Thankfully, it will be soon, come Sept I will be working scheduled dayshifts only.

I know the pace of dayshift is much more hectic where I am, and the workload heavier in a lot of ways, but I can't stand how I feel after nightshift. I think doing it too much longer would remove years from my life....lost sleep (even an hour or two a day) is a killer and while you may be able to tell yourself it's not a big deal, your BODY is keeping score and it does age you faster. Studies even show long-term night shift work may be linked to higher cancer rates in people....the jury is still out, but I am not going to wait for conclusive results. I just know what it does to ME to work nights.

Plus, most everyone else in the world is on a dayshift lifestyle. You will have a hard time convincing your neighbor not to mow her lawn at 1300, when you are trying to sleep, and coworkers tend to forget nightshift workers actually SLEEP at noon when they call w/a question or try to have a staff meeting or mandatory classes at that time....it stinks.

My personal observation is this: Rare is the person who is truly a natural nocturnal night owl. If you are one of those people, nightshift is for you. If not, it will eventually wear you down.

Good luck whatever you decide. You are lucky to have a choice, in so many places, people wind up doing years on nightshift before an opportunity for days ever comes up for them.

PerrieLPN2 · Jun 20, 2006

I work the 7p-7a shift and love it. It is less hetic, I don't have to fight every other dept. for my pts. or their charts. More laid back atmosphere, less noise and sometime a few pt sleep!

rayofsunshine · Jun 20, 2006

I'm a nursing student right now and am working as a nursing student tech at a hospital on the night shift. It is very hard. I've only been doing it for three weeks but I never know when I'm coming or going. I know it's great if you have kids but my main question is when do you guys see your spouse? :mad: I would hate to come home as he's leaving. That's so sad. At the same time, it would be nice to have either one of us, at all times with our future kids. How do you guys do it?