First RN Job = Telemetry = Day or Noc Shift?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Nov 30, 2007

Depends on your lifestyle. Are you a night person? Sometimes the benefits of nights over negated by the fatigue and physical difficulties some people encounter. Sometimes nights is a bit easier because there are less distractions and you can organize your time better, but the ratios are higher.

I would say for better pay and easier entry into practice, go for the night shift, if and only if you physically can tolerate it. Otherwise, there's lots to learn on day shift.

Good luck.

S.T.A.C.E.Y, LPN · Nov 30, 2007

I'd do night shift. Less going on, less docs running around, less visitors, more people sleeping, more time to do charting, more time to look stuff up, more time to talk with patients.

CTRN84 · Nov 30, 2007

I graduated 6 months ago, and I started on night shift. It is much less hectic on nights. There is usually time to look up information in patients charts, and spend more time with patient. The other thing to consider though is how the night shift is going to work for you. Personally, I am having a hard time working night shift.

mrscurtwkids4 · Nov 30, 2007

I'm a newly licensed RN also and I'm working the night sift of a telemetry floor. I agree that it's nice because of having a little more time to do charting, etc (depending on the night and the acuity of the patients). This gives you less of a chaotic atmosphere to get yourself used to the floor and how things work and what is expected of you. Granted, there are somethings that you might have to do that are different from what those during the day would be doing, but I think it might be a better atmosphere in order to continue learning and growing in skills before jumping in with both feet, so to speak.

mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP · Dec 1, 2007

Nights.

Easier to learn the unit, the patients, the doctors, the staff, etc....You can get a feel for how to care for the patients....then you can dive into the chaos of day shift if you want to.

I started my very 1st nursing job on a Cardiac floor and I started on days. It was a blurr of he&& for 7 weeks. The admissions, discharges, cath lab patients, the meds, the orders, the doctors stealing the charts, the U/S stealing the charts, RT, OT, PT, Rehab. Good Lord. Anyway, went to nights and it was so nice to walk to the rack and actually find my chart and actually READ why my patient was there.

Now I work ER and I like nights for a totally different reason........

David's Harp · Dec 1, 2007

First RN Job = Telemetry = Day or Noc Shift?

Umm...I was told there'd be no math...

Seriously, as a new grad I do days with rotation to nights, and each has its pros and cons. Nights are easier for more reasons than days, though. Not nearly as many conflicting agendas on the floor, no family, no juggling trays-versus-NPOs, fewer BG checks, fewer med passes, fewer people to fight for the chart, almost no discharges, fewer admissions.

On the other hand, during the day you always know who's covering which patient. At night it can be a little tricky to work that out, and sometimes it's someone who's on-call for a seriously huge number of patients. Sometimes the last progress note and set of orders were written at 13:00, and that tells you exactly nothing about who to call at 01:00. Our main pharmacy closes at around 11PM, so there's ambiguity around that time as to which one to call for things you're missing. Fewer resources are available, personnel-wise; our Clinical Nurse Specialist is almost never there for nights, and that's a good person to have around when you're new to the profession. Otherwise it's easy to fall into everyone else's bad habits from the git-go. During the day, too, you can always go back in to a patient's room and re-check something you weren't sure about, whereas at night they're trying to get some sleep, thank you very much. And then you realize you need to draw for this or that lab an hour later...:trout: Remember, too, that most day-nurses think you have all the time in the world to do whatever at night, and that that's not necessarily the reality. We have to enter the tele summaries in the chart twice at night: at 23:00 for the monitor techs who work 3-11 and at 07:00 for the ones working 11p-7a. The shift in general just flows differently, is the main thing.

My vote would be for the rotation-thing I do, so you see both sides. I was on nights for a week during rotation and then again for the first week I was off orientation, which worked out well for me, even though the latter ended up being a few of the craziest nights I've seen yet!

Hope some of this helps,

Kevin

anfe · Dec 1, 2007

I agee 100%. I work on a telemetry floor during the day. I got off orientation and its just crazy busy. too much going on. I come home thinkng if I have missed anything, did I do this or that. no time to read charts. I have decided that I am going to work mostly weekend days when its less busy, since I can't handle night shift.

Nights.
Easier to learn the unit, the patients, the doctors, the staff, etc....You can get a feel for how to care for the patients....then you can dive into the chaos of day shift if you want to.
I started my very 1st nursing job on a Cardiac floor and I started on days. It was a blurr of he&& for 7 weeks. The admissions, discharges, cath lab patients, the meds, the orders, the doctors stealing the charts, the U/S stealing the charts, RT, OT, PT, Rehab. Good Lord. Anyway, went to nights and it was so nice to walk to the rack and actually find my chart and actually READ why my patient was there.
Now I work ER and I like nights for a totally different reason........

shellsgogreen · Dec 1, 2007

i'm a recent grad, working days in telemetry. and i am seriously wondering if i should have picked nights instead. it is utter chaos on my unit during the day, and the nurses who work the night say it is much better there at night, no med students taking the charts etc. having said that though, i know that there's also a bonus of working during the day, when you need an md immediately, there's always someone around and i am learning a lot .

i agree w/ the poster who said to try both shifts - if they allow it, it sounds like a great way to make an informed decision.

best of luck!

nurseJ88 · Dec 3, 2007

Thank you very much to all of you who gave me very helpful advices! :lol2: Your experiences truly influenced my decision about which shift, day or night, to take for a smooth new grad transition into the nursing practice. I chose the night shift. I understand both pros and cons. I am willing to adapt to attain successful new grad orientation program in tele.