ER nurses

When I'm at work I concentrate on that but I don't take it home. There is a home me and a work me. Both are me but they don't overlap.

I never have done mornings well well so my family is used to not talking to me then. In fact they prefer it.

Yea I really like the night shift but i feel as though the rest of my life will probably suck if i dont have a sound routine in place to ensure that im still making the most out of it lol

Work your shifts in a row, sleep late on day 1, get up after 4-5 hours of sleep on the last day. Go to bed immediately when you get home, if possible. I can't stress this next point enough... ready??? Blackout curtains, ear plugs, and white noise. This combo seriously changed my life.

Work your shifts in a row, sleep late on day 1, get up after 4-5 hours of sleep on the last day. Go to bed immediately when you get home, if possible. I can't stress this next point enough... ready??? Blackout curtains, ear plugs, and white noise. This combo seriously changed my life.

I agree! When I worked nights I was strict - straight home, no eating, decon shower, and straight into bed: dark-curtained, cool bedroom, eye-mask, and rainymood.com on my smartphone!

Life balance is difficult - I did miss out on some daytime stuff (big family things) obviously. But some things I liked were:

On nights off being awake in the middle of the night, I could get lots of personal work done, the world was quiet. Sometimes I'd cook an entire week's worth of meals overnight, listening to music or a book on tape. It was so peaceful. I'dgo to sleep in the morning when my family all left for school and work. They'd wake up and the house would smell awesome from all the baking (sorry gotta wait till dinner!).

It worked for me because my kids were in high school - so I never missed an after school event - I could get to a sports game at 4p, have dinner with them afterwards and help launch homework, and then get to my 8p-8a shift. They didn't need me in the morning...in fact they were probably happy not to have to deal with me before school!

Also loved on a random night off calling any good work friends and meeting for drinks at like midnight or 1 in the morning! (I live in NYC so bars are open mostly all night). Everything just had a different feel when I worked nights, I felt part of something unique, and the night squad was really a dream team: serious collegial bonding happens on night shift. You see some gnarly stuff after midnight in the ER....

Not sure how you avoid burn out actually. I'm totally burned out at this point - and I have been on days a few years now.

Good luck - just remember everything changes, take good care of your body with good food and hydration - all those things you learned in nursing school to avoid stress...but ER nursing is a super-stressful job and I think periods of burn-out - if not total collapse - are hard to avoid.