Day shift vs Night shift

juleslevesQ86 · Sep 16, 2012

Wow thanks for all the replies!!!!! It's all given me a lot to think about. I have worked nights before as a cna but it was 10p-6a. I def did not have a social life. Lol. As of right now they have me on days. During the interview she asked for my preference and I said I did not mind either shift (I assumed as a new nurse id be a nights and she was seeing if I was picky). Oddly enough she said they needed days and with my commute days would be better. Which I know she's right. I'm living in north Austin commuting to south. Traffic is worst both ways 7a-9a and then again from 430p-630p. On nights it'd put me right in traffic, unless I always used toll ways. With days I'd miss it and I have done trial runs.

I think I'll def give days a shot. I do know I loved nights as a cna even tho my social life was shot. People were great. Then again I never got a chance to get to know day shift ever. I can imagine day shift is ridiculously busy but maybe that'd be good for me as a new nurse (and bad at times I'm sure lol). I do think days would be easier with kids tho. I worked nights when she was younger and i hardly saw her and when I did I was tired and grumpy. But everyone's right I'll never know till I try it. So I'll give days a shot and try to get to know all coworkers on both shifts and ask coworkers as well. I can sleep days or nights if I'm tired lol. I think I actually got more sleep when I worked nights Bc of blackout curtains and being so tired lol. But my family comes first and I love our goodnight routine to my daughter. I'd def miss it.

Again thanks for all the responses and opinions!!! I'm soo glad I found this site!

CP2013 · Sep 16, 2012

I LOVED nights. It's actually a deciding factor when I am looking at job postings, and I am still a nursing student. I worked as a tech previously, worked as a registration clerk in the ED - always nights. I picked up extra shifts for days, HATED them.

I'm also single, and a total night owl though. When my mom was pregnant with me, she worked nights and loved it too. She said it was the only time I was active. :) Guess I've always been a night owl, huh?

It just depends on the person really. The only hard part for me sleeping during days, is when I worked weekends and people would mow their lawn right as I laid my head to the pillow. But if I was awake until about 9:30/10, I could sleep through the lawn mowers.

I would really hate to be a new nurse on days, and pray that I never have to suck it up and take that shift. I think nights work for me being single with no family commitments, so I am going to enjoy it while I can, and if a family is in my future, I will bite the bullet and start working days.

NenjaRN · Sep 16, 2012

Honestly, I think we could do this debate all day long! :) I have always worked nights (LTC, community hospital peds dept & now a large children's hospital) except for orientation has always been on days for a length of time. I'd definitely say the friendships and teamwork are stronger on nights - maybe attributed to the fact that we consistently have less resources at night so we really HAVE to work together. Staffing is always worse at night, so you will have a heavier load and as much "in your face" interdisciplinary staff and even just service staff (dietary, transport, etc) seems during the day, I'd loooove some of that help at night.

I'm single and don't know that I could afford a paycheck without the shift diff. I also know some people work nights BECAUSE they have kids but when I have mine, I'll be switching to days. Depending how my shifts are scheduled, I'm fairly useless on my "days off" because I'm trying to catch up on sleep. I think I'd be major zombie and not so much the mommy I want to be.

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · Sep 16, 2012

I hate nights. I really do. I work as a PCA and a sitter. The only good thing about night shifts for a single person is more money. For someone with a family, it can be great for two-income family as the nurse can work around another person's schedule. Nights are usually not as busy as day, but I have found that to be false more so than not. Overall, I think nights are very hard on the body and wrecks the body's circadian rhythm.

Music in My Heart · Sep 16, 2012

I think nights are very hard on the body and wrecks the body's circadian rhythm.

I use the term "circadian syncopation." :-)

Guttercat, ASN, RN · Sep 16, 2012

If one can keep hours at a minimum while still obtaining FT bennies, I prefer nocs. 60 hrs/pp is the best, imho. At our hospital, M/S nocs are easier to fill than M/S days. This is a paradigm flip from ten or fifteen years ago and on back, when no one wanted to work nocs indefinitely.

If you enjoy delegating, and chaos management then days is for you. I think the happiest day-shift nurse is one that thrives in managing systems processes.

The happiest night-shift RN conversely, is the one that thrives more on pathophysiology and sciences.

Nothing worse than being a patho-junkie on days with no time to systematically review your patient and problem-solve much beyond the various drains hanging out their various parts while simultaneously trying to get them transferred to another floor.

Igh. Not for me.

SCSTxRN · Sep 17, 2012

I work evenings - 3p to 11p, although sometimes that turns into 3p to 3a or 3p to 7a, depending on staffing.

I love working evenings, I don't like getting up early, and by putting my days off on church and activity nights, I have time to visit school and am still available for the after bits some week nights and weekend mornings.

I'm not going to say that I would never work days, but if days paid the shift differential I would still work evenings / nights if it were available.

fireball78 · Sep 17, 2012

I love night shift! I am currently orienting in my 2nd RN position and I can't wait to get back to 7p-7a!! Day shift is so crazy. I feel like I am doing, doing, doing and there is no time to take it all in and just learn. There are doctors, therapists, and family members to deal with and answer questions. Night shift is busy too, but there is time to actually think and take it all in. Plenty of work to do but at a little bit slower pace. There is also a definite difference among coworkers as well. Night shift staff really does work better together, maybe because there are less resources available.

Since you are on orientation, have you thought about asking your manager if you can switch to nights during your last 2 weeks just to see the differences? Night shift isn't for everyone but if you orient on both shifts you would have a good idea if you like it or not and how it works into your family time. Just a suggestion.

Good luck.

rntj · Sep 17, 2012

I've worked days and nights. My unit is the busiest in the hospital and I just don't think I could handle the stress of day shift, although we have 4:1 ratio on days. If you are going to do night shift, I have a word of advice, especially if you have a family. I work the same three shifts every week Sun-Tues 7p-7a. This is how I've worked it for four years: on Sunday, I either sleep in till 1300, or I wake up early, go to church, then take a 3-4 hour nap. Then I leave for work @ 1800. I sleep Mon, Tues, Wed., all day, then get up on Wed @ about 1600 and spend time with my family. I am still so tired at that point from working at night that it is easy to go back to bed Wed. night and be on a family-friendly day schedule on Thurs, Fri., and Sat. I make sure I get lots of sleep. I do lose a day sleeping on Wed, but I see my daughter every day before work. When I worked days, I would leave before she got up and get home after she went to bed every night, so I wouldn't see her for three days. It's really hard working nights at first, requires a lot of caffeine, but you do eventually get used to being up all night. Good luck, I hope you are able to find what works for you.

misty_dawn · Sep 17, 2012

I was a night shift nurse up until this year. At first I loved it. I was at work when my kids were sleeping and I was sleeping while they were in school. I got up just about the time they got home from school and spent a few hours with them before starting all over again. The staff is great and really bond well with one another. The pace is a lot slower, especially without management, OT/PT and dietary on the units. I worked in L&D and we still had to wake up doctors all hours of the night but it was something we got used to. Since the doctors were not usually in house you really had to use your best nursing judgment even more so. Its not like you could just call the office to speak to the doctor, you actually had to call and wake them up. The downside is that I felt like I was a zombie on my days off. I tried to schedule my days off in a row. The first day was useless because I had worked the previous night- I was tired all day. The second day was great. The third day off I was getting ready to go back to work that night so I had to take an afternoon nap. I was really tired of being tired and feeling like I slept all of my days off. I now work as a school nurse and love being on my kids schedule. Its the best decision I could have made for my family.

juleslevesQ86 · Sep 17, 2012

From the posts it seems like many more prefer nights? I don't think I have a choice at first. My manager has hired me on days after my residency is over but she mentioned if I truly wanted to switch we could talk about it. I'm not too picky and am just thankful I got the job but it's interesting to read people's opinions on both ESP from those who have worked both. Maybe I will see if during the last two weeks of residency I can try nights to see. I know both days and nights can be busy tho. I worked on nights as a cna and some nights were horribly busy, but I didn't mind Bc it made the time fly by. I'm much more productive when I'm busy but I suppose I worry with being a new nurse being too busy might hinder my learning experience.

PMFB-RN, RN · Sep 17, 2012

I am a full time rapid response nurse.

I only work nights.

* A lot more money where I work.

* I dislike dealing with patient families and there are many fewer of them on NOCs.

* I dislike nurse managers. There are none on NOCs where I work.

* I dislike attending physicans.

I really love my patients, well not every single one, but you know what I mean. On NOCs it seems like I have more time to spend with them and provide the kind of nursing care I prefer to provide. I like nurses and in my opinion nurses show more of who they are on nights when "The Man" isn't breathing down their neck. I also really like resident physicians, again not every one, but most of them. On nights I feel like we (the resident, the RN and I) are more of a team and depend on each other more due to there being less resourses in the hospital.