Feeling Flustered

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Specializes in Primary Care.

Hello All,

Since this is the place we all reach out to when we need to vent, I am going to consider this my very first "on the job" vent thread. :D

I've been working at what some people may call a "cushion" job.... It's an addiction recovery place.... the night shift. All I do is basically update the paper MARs every single night and do mini-assessments. I'm so bored here, it's ridiculous.... Just waiting to begin my new job in the place I've been wanting to work for a long time, beginning in January.

So, my vent is that I've been on the schedule for 4 nights in a row ever since I began working here three months ago. I work a 12-hour shift on Thursday nights, then 8-hour shifts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. In the beginning, I've handled it well, but now that I've been doing it for 3 months, I can see how it's interferring with my personal family life. All I want to do is sleep during my 4 days and my kids barely see me. I have absolutely NO social life now, because the time I have off, my friends are working (during the week). I do start an in-patient RN hospital position in January and I'm super excited about it.... So, I'm just hanging in here until my last day of work (which is Christmas night) as I've already put in my notice last week.

Since this is my first RN job out of nursing school, I was wondering if most RN shifts are schedule together like this job. I truly hope that I am not always scheduled 3 nights in a row, especially on the weekends. The pay is great, but not worth the loss of family time and social life. We all must unwind somehow, someway.

Any advice would be great right about now. During the weekends, when we all should be happy and spending loving time with our families, I've become the b**ch due to lack of sleep, night shift work, and wanting to spend time with my kids, but can't due to work and sleep.

Thanks for hearing me out and allowing me to vent for my first time.

Thanks.

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Specializes in ER.

New grad=low man on the totem pole. We all paid our dues. Suck it up.

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Specializes in School Nursing, Ambulatory Care, etc..

Right out of school, I worked swings and then nights for 6 months. I moved to day shift and it felt like I finally had my life back - I got to re-meet all of my friends and hang out with them again! :) I even got to the point, when working nights, that I just "lived at night" - I cleaned the house, did the laundry, even grocery shopped (24 hour Wal-mart!) while my family slept. I'm not going to lie, it sucked. Yes, this is the life of a night shift nurse. But, there is hope - one day, you will have enough seniority to move to the day shift and you will get your life back.

As far as your kids, what I did was made sure I stayed up to feed them breakfast and get them off to school before going to bed (on my nights off). Before I left for work, we had super together as a family and I asked about their day, friends, etc. Again, it's not great, but it's the life we choose.

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Specializes in ER.

PS Have you spoken to your boss about not scheduling your shifts all together?

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Specializes in Primary Care.
New grad=low man on the totem pole. We all paid our dues. Suck it up.

Wow... You seem VERY supportive (Sense a little sarcasm....)

I thought I'd get a bit more support here than just "Suck it up".

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Specializes in Primary Care.
Right out of school, I worked swings and then nights for 6 months. I moved to day shift and it felt like I finally had my life back - I got to re-meet all of my friends and hang out with them again! :) I even got to the point, when working nights, that I just "lived at night" - I cleaned the house, did the laundry, even grocery shopped (24 hour Wal-mart!) while my family slept. I'm not going to lie, it sucked. Yes, this is the life of a night shift nurse. But, there is hope - one day, you will have enough seniority to move to the day shift and you will get your life back.

As far as your kids, what I did was made sure I stayed up to feed them breakfast and get them off to school before going to bed (on my nights off). Before I left for work, we had super together as a family and I asked about their day, friends, etc. Again, it's not great, but it's the life we choose.

That's a good idea.... stay up after I come home to get my kids ready for school on that morning. The only issue is that I don't get home until 7:45am, which is the time my kids have to leave to go to school. My Fiance also works the graveyard shift, but he gets home around 6:15am. This is definitely tough!

I love the night shift, just not all crammed together like this!

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Specializes in ICU.

I work nights and do self-scheduling and the person who finalizes the schedule asked me when I got off orientation if I like my 3 nights all scheduled together or not.

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Specializes in Primary Care.
PS Have you spoken to your boss about not scheduling your shifts all together?

In my original post, I stated that I leave here in a couple of weeks and onto hospital floor work. I was just wondering if hospitals schedule shifts all together like this current job of mine does.

I have spoken to my boss about it, but she likes to have a "consistent" schedule for all employees..... (to make her job easier, I suppose). Oh well, going to "suck it up" for a couple more weeks. :)

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Specializes in Primary Care.
I work nights and do self-scheduling and the person who finalizes the schedule asked me when I got off orientation if I like my 3 nights all scheduled together or not.

Great! That would be nice to have the flexibility. I don't mind working it all together sometimes, but not every single weekend, for the rest of my life...... So, there is light at the end of the tunnel. LOL I can't wait to move on out of this job for now....

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Specializes in ICU.

PS it will get better...I wish I could be more supportive but I am super tired right now! I feel your pain though, trust me, you're not alone. *hugs*

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Hopefully my experience can help you. I've been on night shift working 3 in a row for 3 years and I get to see my family A LOT. When I was on day shift, I would go days without seeing my daughter because I left before she got up and got home after she went to sleep. So it can be done. Here's how I do it. I work every Sun-Tues 7p-7a. I get up early Sun a.m so that I'm kinda tired, and I take about a 2-4 hour nap before I leave for work @ 6 pm. For the next couple days, I sleep during the day, work at night. On Wed. a.m., when I leave work after my 3rd day of the week, I sleep for about 5-6 hours and get up at about 3. I am still tired on Wed. from working at night and generally go back to bed @ MN, sleep all night till Thurs. a.m. so I can take my daughter to work. Yes, I do flip my schedule twice a week, but the extra sleep I get really makes it possible. Personally, I could not work nights if I didn't get to work 3 in a row. I'm much happier on nights, it's easier (day shift is total insanity at my job), I see my daughter every day (even if it's just for half an hour before I go to work--believe me half an hour is better than nothing.) Keeping to this schedule allows me to do errands and things with my family on my days off. I really like it, plus I get paid more. Hope you are able to figure out a schedule that works for you. (Obviously it helps that I am a champion sleeper--if I'm vertical, pretty much any time I can go to sleep. I also have a sleep aid that I take if I need it.) Good luck.

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Specializes in Primary Care.
PS it will get better...I wish I could be more supportive but I am super tired right now! I feel your pain though, trust me, you're not alone. *hugs*

Thank you SO MUCH!!! I need this support.

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