Evening shift??

I work out at the local gym. I see other people who work nontraditional shifts there like firefighters, police officers. Shopping is so much easier during the week. Make sure you plan something on the evenings that you are off. Also depending where you live you might ask another evening co-worker to go on a hike. A lot depends on how late you stay up once you get home. If you don't go to bed until 3-4 am like some of my co-workers then you will likely sleep until 11 or 12 and you won't have much time left before you have to go to work again. I am in bed by 12:30 and up by 8am give or take.

I stay up at night until about 3 am so I sleep until about noon. I run errands before work.

I find a social life can be hard working 3-11...most of my friends are not nurses and work 9-5 office type things. The best perk that I have is that at least I consistently work 3-11 Monday-Friday, so I have my Saturdays/Sundays off like the rest of the non-shift work world.

I do tend to stay up late and sleep in naturally, so the shift fits my natural sleeping preference. I like that if I need to make an appointment or have something I have to do in the mornings I can get up early and do it, and even take a little nap before work on the days I don't sleep in late (I usually get up between 11 & 12).

Only downside is the shift has really screwed with my eating habits...I wake up at 11&12 wanting lunch (or sometimes nothing at all), I snack while at work because I typically have little time for a break, and then I end up eating a big dinner when I get home. Thankfully my weight hasn't gotten totally out of control...but I worry that someday it will!

I hate to break it to you but the 3-11 is an easier shift than a 7-15. I do both on my rotation. The workload on Days is a killer. Most of the dressings, fresh postops, and drugs happen then. Evenings you don't have the same rush and movement of patients around the hospital. PT and OT aren't wanting your patient. You just get more exposure to their families.

You might want to look into Toastmasters or some other service groups that do lunch meetings.

I run errands, clean, grocery shop, do laundry, take my car to the shop, ect. On weekends, I'm still able to go out for a few hours, since the bars don't close until 2am. I can meet a friend or family for breakfast or lunch. But on a daily basis, I'm usually studying, watching tv, before going in to work. I don't have any kids, so it's much easier for me to work 2nd shift. I can run my errands without dealing with rush hour traffic. It's less stressful for me working 2nd shift, then 1st shift. When I used to work 1st shift, I was too tired and my feet ached too much to do anything but lay on the couch or bed and watch tv. I didn't get any cleaning, laundry, or studying done.

Sleep =)

I usually get up 10-11, I don't have much to do in the mornings besides catch up on tv. I usually stay up between 1a-3a, depending when I get out, etc. :)

I hate to break it to you but the 3-11 is an easier shift than a 7-15. I do both on my rotation. The workload on Days is a killer. Most of the dressings, fresh postops, and drugs happen then. Evenings you don't have the same rush and movement of patients around the hospital. PT and OT aren't wanting your patient. You just get more exposure to their families.

You might want to look into Toastmasters or some other service groups that do lunch meetings.

Depends on your setting. On my unit, evenings is just as bad, if not sometimes worse than days can be.

Dayshift rarely deals with any of the admissions---most all of them come in after 3pm in the sub-acute setting. So ontop of dealing with our other however many patients, you are assessing an admit, getting them settled, answering incessent family questions and phone calls because there is no unit coordinator after 4pm. Then you're also transcribing their orders, calling about labs, etc...

It's not so fair to generalize that 3-11 is easier.