Day shift vs. night shift

Nibbles1 · May 16, 2015

#TeamNocShift #TeamNightCrawler over #TeamDayWalker any day of the week. Less crap to deal with, but yes, you will die sooner. (haha)

SmilingBluEyes · May 16, 2015

I have read articles citing that people working long term NOC die sooner. I can see why. It's not natural for most of us to be up all night and try to sleep all day and many times when I was on NOC, I consumed a TON of caffeine to stay up. I hated having to stay up when I should be sleeping to attend kids' sports events or other things. Some days, I operated on less than 4-5 hours' sleep. I am not made for daysleeping; I am early to bed, early to rise girl. After 14 years' NOCs I hit the wall and could no longer stand it. It was killing me to be up all night and day sleeping was almost impossible. My body told me what I knew, I was done working NOCs physically. I got to where I felt drunk all the time from lack of quality sleep.

I used the usual light blocking window coverings, fans, etc but I was always awake by 1 or 2 in the afternoon, no matter when I went to bed after I came home. My days off were spent trying to make up for lost sleep and be on others' schedules cause kids' events and needs occur during the day, not at night. It was aging me fast.

The people I know who continue to work NOC after a dozen years or more, are aging faster and look "rough". I think it takes its toll on most people.

And where I worked in the hospital, NOC shift was indeed closer and we did a lot of pot lucks etc.

But where I am now, it's day shift that works like a well-oiled machine and does these things. The majority of patient care and associated work occurs on the dayshift where I am. Not bragging or anything; it's just the truth. We could not survive without tight team work. Now, an ambulatory setting is very different than acute care in a hospital. NOC/eves are like satellites, each in their own world.

So yes, it depends on where you are.

SmilingBluEyes · May 17, 2015

When I was interviewed by the director of nursing, she told me I go the position in day shift. Now, the recruiter called me and I got the job but night shift.
Ugh. Goodbye normal sleep pattern and daylight.

Wow almost like a bait-and-switch. I am sorry about that. But like others stated, you may LIKE night shift. In a lot of hospitals and LTC, the people working nights are closer and tighter-knit. They have to be in such settings to survive.

amandamarie1316 · May 17, 2015

I am a new grad and I currently accepted a day shift position. I was relieved, but I have heard a lot about nights being better for new grads. It is a little slower paced most of the time and it is a great time to learn. I also heard night nurses are more tight-knit.

VANurse2010 · May 17, 2015

Welcome to nights! :)
I have only worked as a nurse for two years, but I have worked nights in various positions for eight years now. I love it. ICU patients are not that different from day to night. An intubated, sedated patient isn't awake period, regardless of what time of day it is. The not sedated ones will just be annoyed with you waking them up all night long; it's not like they get to be left alone just because they're sleeping. You will probably have the same amount of interaction with physicians; people decompensate at all times of day. However, your managers are gone and sometimes the family leaves at night to get some sleep, so you will have less annoyance there. And get paid more for it. Wouldn't trade nights for anything...

I would agree. The distinction/workload is not as starkly different between shifts in the ICU.

VANurse2010 · May 17, 2015

I call BS, at night we have the same workload just less procedural stuff. We have less resources and no doctor in our back pocket (pulm doc is on call only). Nights is hard on your body and the extra differential is well deserved for screwing up the rest of your days off.
I have worked both shifts and the team work on nights is second to none

Disagree. It depends on the unit, and the people working on the unit.

CamillusRN, BSN · May 17, 2015

NOADLS - you changed your specialty! Got tired of candycrush already??

thirdborn333 · May 17, 2015

Night shift or Z-shift is the better shift for me and works best for my body. As a nightshifter, the hospital's that I am employed at we always tend to work together, and cover eachother as best we can; however, when it comes to day shift or A-shift, my body just doesn't respond to it well, and the teamwork is not the same, and people are constantly complaining about something or reporting someone, the culture of night shift is just much different. Night shift, you have to deal with families less, and i'm not saying that they're a problem but they can get in the way of patient care and the progression of the patient sometime.

NOADLS · May 17, 2015

NOADLS - you changed your specialty! Got tired of candycrush already??

I am always crushing something whether it be candy or the spirit of new grads that can't grasp the basics.

Chocolate_RN85 · May 17, 2015

@the comutter , you could not have put it any better !

EternalFeather · May 17, 2015

Wow, that's pretty crappy. Do you have contact info for the DON who interviewed you? Because I'd at least be asking what happened and why the offer changed.
When I interviewed and got an offer, it was clear from the beginning that it was for night shift. Had they said, oh no sorry you're day shift now, I'd have had to refuse the offer. I work nights for a lot of reasons and can't switch for the foreseeable future.

The DON did say to me that she would evaluate people she interviews and. Put them in night or day depending on her impression if that person could work well with the day/night staff.

And I'm not gonna refuse anymore cause I'm pretty tired of looking for jobs and getting turned down a lot and I guess this is happening for a reason.

GMastersRN · Mar 28, 2017

Nightshift is far from "peaceful" or "quiet." A little bit of wise advice: NEVER say the "q" word, ever. In fact, if you don't believe me: google it or GO FOR IT. I DARE YOU:cautious:.

I've worked night shift for the last 4 years and I also go back and forth to day's from time to time. The difference is that night shift encounters LESS BUREAUCRACY, so there is room for "being yourself" and getting the job done without someone down your neck or watching you. This doesn't mean that night shift nurses are rule-breakers: we just don't care for micromanagement. We like to do things on our own with less scrutiny. However, between nightshift and dayshift, --I would say a lot of things go wrong during nights. Patients have episodes of severe dementia, e.g.: sundowning; the fall-risk increases due to poor lighting, patients forgetting where they are, night-time medications. Lastly, there are more incidences of heart-attacks, which are statistically more likely to occur during this time. Furthermore, we may have less ancillary staff on board. So, in addition to patient load, increased incidence of "things that go wrong" (as mentioned above), we also may chase phone calls, call lights, and paperwork.

Contrary to popular belief, patients do not "sleep" on night shift. I'll be honest, I haven't taken an official lunch break in months. Well, I got to take one several days ago, but we had a good night for once, and it helps to have a good team! My body physically hates night-shift, but I choose it because I get to spend more time with patients and feel more effective as a nurse than when I work on day shift. Day shift is bombarded by too many staff (physicians, NP's, PA's, RT, OT, PT, EDUCATION, Administration, Quality and Safety personnel, Dietitians, ST, etc.) It's overwhelming in that sense. And at any time, multiple patients could be discharged, so those nurses also don't take breaks much either. However my nursing floor seems to have a break in the mornings, whereas, nightshift gets slammed at the beginning of the shift and dayshift gets slammed at different intervals, but usually not really early in the morning. (It may be different at different hospitals or regions, but this is the consensus out of the 3 hospitals I've seen). The fact that nightshift gets slammed at the beginning of the shift sets the stage for the rest of the night. So, if we get multiple admissions and finally get settled by 12 or 2am, patient complications (like the ones I mentioned above) begin to happen. It's like a circus on either shift. The only reason we get paid more is because we are making an adjustment in our daily living to accommodate for abnormal work hours, and honestly---most people don't like working night shifts. You cannot pay day shift nurses enough to work nights, but you can ask a night shift nurse to work during the day more easily. (at least that's what I've observed). It rips your schedule apart. So, if I work three nights in a row, I need one full extra day to recover by sleeping it off. Also, we get interrupted during the day at home by phone calls, staff-meetings, doorbells, neighbors, cars, lawnmowers, construction, salesmen, family members who just don't understand, etc. I had to put a sign on my door to prevent people from disturbing me because it got so out-of-hand. And because I never see the daytime, my vitamin-D3 levels were so poor that I started having excruciating bone deterioration/pain and muscle weakness/pain. It's not easy on your body at all, so those few dollars are because of those types of losses. So, if anyone ever tells you that day shift does more than night shift, ---trust me: WE BOTH make sacrifices and we both work HARD. It's just a different process.

One of our dayshift nurses came to nights for 3 months and she said, "Man. I've been completely led to believe for the longest time that you guys did nothing, but I was clearly wrong about nightshift. I also admire that you get to spend more time with patients and really be a 'nurse' rather than feeling like you're shuffling patients in and out during the day. Every day shift nurse needs to work on nights."

She's right, but I also agree that every NIGHTSHIFT nurse needs to work days. LIKEWISE, every ER/ICU nurse needs to work the floor, and every FLOOR NURSE needs to work the ICU/ER!

:snurse: :no: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NO MORE WARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :no: