Soooo, I just graduated nursing school and would LOVE to get a 3-11 shift. That would be PERFECT for me but unfortunately most hospitals where I live are 12hr shifts that are 7a-7p and 7p-7a. I HATE getting up early in the morning for the 7a shift but I am worried about working the 7p shift because I have never done it before and don't really know what to expect or if it will drag or what exactly..
I know what it is like to work 7a-7p but can people tell me what their experiences have been with working nights 7p-7a? How is it different, do you find your sleeping patterns are drastically disturbed, do nights lag? What is a average shift differential?
Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.
I'm a permanent night shifter, until my body decides otherwise. I worked days a few weeks ago and thought it was the nth level of hell!
It's been tough figuring out how to work out and take care of my livestock, but I figured out a sufficient game plan- hurry up and do the majority of my chores and workouts on my days off, so all I have to do is maybe toss in minimal animal care and one workout in my shift stretches.
Re: sleep, I've had to get creative with my sleep patterns. I typically stay up all day before the first shift, then knock myself out with something the first day sleep time. I used to use Benadryl, but I woke up feeling so groggy, so I've switched to 5 mg melatonin and it seems to work without the elephant-on-my-head effect. Beyond that it's progressively easier to sleep, then I nap 5-6 hours after my last shift and get up around 2-3 pm, to turn back around.
Night shift is great. No doctors in your face, no constant calls from the lab, radiology, social workers, the OR, family members, etc. In other words, you can, for the most part, just focus on patient care. However, there is a misconception by some that there is less work to do at night and all patients sleep. Nothing can be further from the truth. There are nights when I can barely sit down. Not all patients sleep at night and will run you ragged. Plus, there can be other challenges such as a lack of resources, ie. most of the other needed hospital staff has gone home, almost everything is closed, running out of supplies with little to no way to get stock until morning, deciding whether your patient's concerns are important enough to call the doctor in the middle of the night for orders, and of course it affects your sleep pattern.
The negatives and positives I just mentioned may depend on the facility you're working in and I'm just basing the above on my experiences however, I wouldn't trade nightshift for dayshift for anything.
Some people love night shift, I hated it. I felt like a zombie, felt like my days were wasted because I had to sleep. My husband would get home and I'd be awake until 3AM when he had to go to bed at 10. Just didn't like the adjustment. On the shift itself I would get bored between 2-5AM. Patients mostly slept so it was MUCH less stressful compared to day shift (which I have currently been doing for the past several months). I still think you learn well on nights, but there are less resources and you see less done for the patients. During the day I see a lot more of the procedures or have to know more about the procedures and places that my patient's are going for testing. This is just my experience though. Good luck to you!
I LOVED LOVED LOVED working nights. More relaxed yet still a busy pace (at least on my former unit). However, couldn't sleep well during the day. So, irritability was sometimes an issue.
I do not miss 7p-7a nights!! It was horrible for me. But I had a huge commute to and from work (hour's drive easily on each end). And my neighbors had small children (risk you take in an apartment)...
I don't mind nights - I LIKED working nights themselves. It was the never being able to sleep fully, and never having a schedule. I'm much happier on 0700-1700 (even considering call).
OP - if you can, look at procedure areas. We have *ALL* kinds of crazy shifts. :)
My favorite shift is 3p-3a. You get a little dayshift, a lot of nightshift, and those hours work well with my rhythms. I have worked 11a-11p for a large part of my decade-plus of the ER, with a year-long stretch of total nights when I was in the Army. I am not a morning person! But I just recently changed to a Monday-Friday job, and I work 8-hour shifts now, about 7:45pm until about 5pm. (Yes, I am struggling with actually only working 8 hours each day, lol.) It's a huge change for me, I haven't worked like this since 2005! I miss sleeping in.
I started working nights and lasted about three months. I HATED it. Yes, it's more money, but I felt like I was always sleeping. I also felt nauseous, dizzy, and achey all the time because my sleep schedule was so off.
I love being on days. I love the chaos and how busy it is. My days go by so fast. Plus, it's nice to see your patients when they're awake.
I guess I'll go the other route - I dislike nights. It kills my body. I'm also not a morning person. My ideal shift would be 9a-9p (if I had to do 12s), or 10s would be even better for me. Good luck getting that, huh? I always get nauseous around 4-5a, I don't sleep well during the day, and my anxiety is through the roof since I started working nights.
That being said, the camaraderie on nights is nice. And not having to rush your patients everywhere is an added bonus.
Also, since we're a teaching hospital, we only have residents on at night. Sometimes they are really reluctant to make any changes to the plan of care. It gets frustrating.
My shift diff is only 15% for nights (roughly $3.45), and 10% for weekends ($2.30). It's hardly worth my misery. Whiiiich is why I'm hoping to switch to days at the end of the summer. :)
Statistically 3-11 is not a pretty shift. When something goes wrong, you are probably going to stay to finish up. On other shifts, spreading the work across the oncoming shift is standard. I've had to stay a few times on the 3-11 shift, but almost never on the other shifts. Our management realizes this and budgets for the 3-11 shift to incur overtime for unexpected circumstances.
With the 3-11 shift not in play in a 7-7 facility, you either works days or nights. One pays less and requires you to do more work. The other pays better and carries a lighter workload. The tradeoff for being better compensated is the (supposed) toll on your body.
LTC, assisted living, group homes etc. frequently have 3-11 shifts if that is something you are interested in. One of my local hospitals has a 3p-3a shift, you might could look around for something like that.
I just got a phone call from a 7p-7a application I submitted yesterday for an interview tomorrow :) I am so excited so so glad I posted on here to get some more info on what to expect! Woohoo :):)
Wrench Party
823 Posts
I'm a permanent night shifter, until my body decides otherwise. I worked days a few weeks ago and thought it was the nth level of hell!
It's been tough figuring out how to work out and take care of my livestock, but I figured out a sufficient game plan- hurry up and do the majority of my chores and workouts on my days off, so all I have to do is maybe toss in minimal animal care and one workout in my shift stretches.
Re: sleep, I've had to get creative with my sleep patterns. I typically stay up all day before the first shift, then knock myself out with something the first day sleep time. I used to use Benadryl, but I woke up feeling so groggy, so I've switched to 5 mg melatonin and it seems to work without the elephant-on-my-head effect. Beyond that it's progressively easier to sleep, then I nap 5-6 hours after my last shift and get up around 2-3 pm, to turn back around.