Day shift vs. night shift

SouthernLPN2RN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Nov 10, 2005

I LOVE nights!!! I'm a night owl anyway, so it works for me. I haven't been on nights in 2.5 years, and I'm fixing to go back to them. I have children, just had DD when I did it before, and she was in school, so that will be interesting to figure out how to deal with her and a 2 year old.

lisa1130 · Nov 14, 2005

Thanks for all of the input...very helpful and much appreciated!!:)

mstigerlily · Nov 14, 2005

I think a lot about doing night shift but how do you do when you come home from your shift? Are the kids in school or do you have a husband or family member to watch over them while you re-coup? Does night shift get paid more?

Most of the night shift on my floor have kids. Some 3 or 4 kids even. Of course some people on days have kids too but I notice they tend to have less kids, maybe 1 or 2. I have three myself.

Once they are in school, doing 3 12 hrs shifts 7pm-7:30am (or less if you can make it on part time wages) is fabulous. If you are in a metro area with traffic, you are always going against the traffic. When I worked days it took me about an hour to get to work. At night it takes about about 25 minutes.

When I worked days I left at 6am (never saw kids) got home at 8pm (they were just going to bed. Working nights I see my little one in the am when I come home, sometimes in the middle of the day when I wake up but definitely from around 3pm-6pm depending on what time I wake up. Sometimes it's as early as 3pm, sometimes as late as 5:00 but at least I have a few hours with them. Then on course the 4 days that I have off.

But you have to be able to stay up all night and sleep all day. You cannot function well on 2-3 hrs of sleep. You don't need to stay up all night on your days off if you only work 3 days a week - I don't. But you need to keep sort of a late night schedule. I usually go to be between midnight-2am now, waking up at 7am with my kids. I take an afternoon nap every day around 1-3pm unless I have something that keeps me out all day but I find this schedule works for me and keeps me feeling "normal" and not sleep deprived.

Our differential is $4 an hour - for me this works out to be around $300 every 2 weeks I think which is a pretty good chunk. I think it's good for new grads to start on nights, more time to learn how things work. Days are overwhelming. There are some units that are going to be busy all the time like ED and L&D but most other floors will be slower at night.

zambezi, BSN, RN · Nov 14, 2005

as a new grad, if you decide to work in the hospital setting, you're undoubtedly going to be doing some nights. the question is how many, not if.
the biggest disadvantage to night shift is that you're expected to work at night, when your body would rather be sleeping. (conversely, that's the biggest advantage to day shift. for most people, anyway.) nights has fewer people around: no administration, fewer medical staff, less (if any) management and families (for the most part) have gone home. there are fewer road trips, fewer students (if any), and fewer distractions. you pretty much get to plan and organize your work with less threat of someone ordering at stat head ct or deciding that they're going to put in a line right now! the pace is slightly slower, so you have more time to look things up. (as a new grad, if you're not looking things up, there's something wrong with you! look up drugs, procedures, policies, phone numbers, etc.) there are no meals to be fed, no flowers to be arranged, no irate visitors to be placated. (all right -- there always seems to be one of those!)
days has a faster pace with a lot more going on, and as a new grad you're going to be hard pressed to keep up with the tasky stuff, much less to worry about phone calls from 17 extended family members and the girlfriend who wants to know when the wife won't be around so she can visit. there are meetings, attending rounds, road trips to tests, and all sorts of other things going on. you generally have less control over your day, less time to look things up and more people watching and evaluating your performance. but you do get to meet the attendings and at least know them by sight, also administration. and some people just cannot ever adjust to nights.
nights has a cameraderie going on, that day shift seems to lack in many institutions. there's also an attractive differential in most institutions. if i weren't 50 years old and my body could take it, i'd work straight nights. however, when you get older sometimes you just can't take it.
ruby

this pretty much sums it up. i personally think that everything about nights is better- except for the fact that it is at night- plus you get paid more (our differential is 4.50).

i am switching to day shift and i am so broken up about it- but it is easier on my body since i am pregnant, plus there is childcare during the day. i am one of those people that needs a lot of sleep, so with a new baby it is more logical to work days because i would have to use daycare regardless so i could sleep (and i need a lot of sleep- 7-8 hours to get through the nightshift!). i agree that making sure that you get right amount of sleep for you is an important part of making it through nights. i do have coworkers that have kids in school and like to be awake when they wake up, take them to school, and can wake up at 300 and hang out in the afternoon- for me, that woulnd't be enough sleep!

the the teamwork is nowhere near the same on days and it is on nights. i am taking a big paycut going to days (4.50/hr). if i were not pregnant i would still be on nights for sure! the night shift is like my family. the day shift is so busy doing all the things that ruby mentioned that it is hard to even find help, much less for relationships. if i were a new grad, i definately think that it would be better to start on nights- more time to find a system, to look up meds, etc...days is just so busy with the "tasks", new orders, doctors taking the chart, pt, ot, meals, families, and the phone that never stops!