Can new grads get a 7a-3p shift?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi guys!

I was thinking about nursing school, but I am also concerned about those night shifts. As a new nurse, would I realistically be able to get a 7a- to 3p shift so I could be home at night?

Alternatively, isn't there a shift where I could just work weekends and still be paid the same as if I'd worked all week?

Thanks

Hello All!! My fever induced delerium has subsided and I would like to officially apologize for my rant yesterday:innerconf I am not sure what got into me. I love all nurses and you guys are great. PEACE, SEE YA

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You could easily get a 7am to 3pm shift....the prisons here offer many different schedules and that is one of the shifts the supervisor offered to me. My husband has worked there for the past 4 years and has mentioned the job of Correctional Nurse to me many times. The pay is more than the hospitals, they offer a real retirement (pension), no overtime, almost complete autonomy, and a variety of shifts to choose from. You don't risk being sued by a patient quite as much as in the "free world". Inmates grieve you quite a bit, but most of the time, those grievances don't have much merit and go nowhere.

I admit...I've toured the facilities, which are quite nice and spoken with the nurse in charge. But right out of school, I want more experience and would like to work in a hospital for a few years first. If my husband and I decide to have children of our own (he has two from a previous marriage that we have custody of), I may think about it because of all the perks, benefits, and day shifts that would enable me to be home by the end of the school day.

I can tell you in the hospital I work at, they offer those kind of shifts on the Oncology floor and in the OR. Everywhere else, it's all 12's.

Melanie :p

Speaking of the day shift thing......several of us evening/night nurses were talking about this just last evening. Several of us do the occasional day when help is needed. I have to say that when we all spoke last evening, NONE of us (who chooses eves or nights) would ever do days on a permanent basis. The ONLY redeeming feature that I can see is that you can have a semi-normal evening at home. However, you're usually so tired after a day shift that you have to be sleeping by 9pm to even be able to start to cope with the next day. The tone of days is never that positive, IMHO. Too many chiefs, too much hub-bub, and too many spoild rotten nurses who have ancillary staff every day and can not cope when there is no tech, secretary or cleanig lady. We off shift people do it all and with a SMILE!!

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Speaking of the day shift thing......several of us evening/night nurses were talking about this just last evening. Several of us do the occasional day when help is needed. I have to say that when we all spoke last evening, NONE of us (who chooses eves or nights) would ever do days on a permanent basis. The ONLY redeeming feature that I can see is that you can have a semi-normal evening at home. However, you're usually so tired after a day shift that you have to be sleeping by 9pm to even be able to start to cope with the next day. The tone of days is never that positive, IMHO. Too many chiefs, too much hub-bub, and too many spoild rotten nurses who have ancillary staff every day and can not cope when there is no tech, secretary or cleanig lady. We off shift people do it all and with a SMILE!!

:yeahthat:

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i graduated in june 2004, and i work 7-3:30...and i could work 7-7, if i want. i work in the or, and this is not a real problem. in fact, we do most of our work during that time. however, you do take call, work every other saturday, and you have to love the job. i do! we do have a night shift, and an evening crew, but these posts are typically filled fast. people like the extra pay. but the or is not for everyone. it is a highly specialized area, and personality issues can be a hot topic. just thought i'd give you another perspective. good luck! :)

hi guys!

i was thinking about nursing school, but i am also concerned about those night shifts. as a new nurse, would i realistically be able to get a 7a- to 3p shift so i could be home at night?

alternatively, isn't there a shift where i could just work weekends and still be paid the same as if i'd worked all week?

thanks

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I work the night shift and have been in the ER for 10 years. In our ER new grads have taken the last 5-6 day positions. The reason?? There are no politics on the night shift. As far as I'm concerned...the new grads can take the day abuse. I refuse to.:uhoh3:

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:yeahthat:

Just say NO to crazy schedules like this!

The only way hospitals get away with it is by finding nurses who will give in to it. If no one will do it, they have to do regular scheduling (pick a shift and stick with it.) However, as long as they find people who are willing to put up with their crap, they will keep shoveling it.

Sorry, a bit off topic.

Continue :)

As long as we say OK they will work us to death, we realy need to learn how to stand up for ourself's..

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It has never made sense to me that we allow a new grad to work the night shift, much less send them there as some sort of right of passage. Think about it - your least prepared, least experienced nurse taking care of patients during the time of day when they have the least amount of support when things go wrong?

I think our model has been wrong since I got out of school 20 years ago. New grads should start on days, rotate to 3-11 once they are well oriented and can display some basic level of competency and don't go to 11-7 until they have at least a year or two of experience.

I also think that the idea of permanent shifts as a reward for longevity is a problem. Everyone rotates to all shifts and the pay diff for the unattractive shifts is what soothes the wound, so to speak.

Nursing is a commitment to provide care to our fellow man. It is a calling, not a career opportunity. That isn't to say that it isn't a great career. We just need to remember why we wanted to be nurses in the first place.

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It has never made sense to me that we allow a new grad to work the night shift, much less send them there as some sort of right of passage. Think about it - your least prepared, least experienced nurse taking care of patients during the time of day when they have the least amount of support when things go wrong?

I think our model has been wrong since I got out of school 20 years ago. New grads should start on days, rotate to 3-11 once they are well oriented and can display some basic level of competency and don't go to 11-7 until they have at least a year or two of experience.

I also think that the idea of permanent shifts as a reward for longevity is a problem. Everyone rotates to all shifts and the pay diff for the unattractive shifts is what soothes the wound, so to speak.

Nursing is a commitment to provide care to our fellow man. It is a calling, not a career opportunity. That isn't to say that it isn't a great career. We just need to remember why we wanted to be nurses in the first place.

I disagree. I, for one, would not rotate shifts under ANY circumstances. It is unhealthy and I would leave nursing forever before I would accept this "wound" which NO amount of pay diff would "soothe".

Nursing is my career. It is NOT the central focus of my life and rotating shifts (and other ridiculous scheduling nightmares) totally disrespects the fact that I have a life that does NOT revolve (literally) around my job.

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It has never made sense to me that we allow a new grad to work the night shift, much less send them there as some sort of right of passage. Think about it - your least prepared, least experienced nurse taking care of patients during the time of day when they have the least amount of support when things go wrong?

I think our model has been wrong since I got out of school 20 years ago. New grads should start on days, rotate to 3-11 once they are well oriented and can display some basic level of competency and don't go to 11-7 until they have at least a year or two of experience.

I also think that the idea of permanent shifts as a reward for longevity is a problem. Everyone rotates to all shifts and the pay diff for the unattractive shifts is what soothes the wound, so to speak.

Nursing is a commitment to provide care to our fellow man. It is a calling, not a career opportunity. That isn't to say that it isn't a great career. We just need to remember why we wanted to be nurses in the first place.

I sort of see your logic about day shift having the most support and so forth. This sounds good in theory but in practice it would not work. I think they should get a pretty good orientation on day shift as to see what it is like and work a little of all the shifts (during orientation period when they are not supposed to count as staff) but having days as the starting off point would not work. Night shift is very inconvenient to many people and I think it would piss off alot of senior nurses if they were made to work night shift to accomadate new grads. Don't get me wrong there are many nurses that work nights and have no desire to work days, but alot of people I know on day shift have "earned" their way there by working all the crappy shifts and night shift is often seen as the crappy shift (bacause of the hours)

I say this as a new grad that works night shift. On my unit most of the nurses that work days have been working at the hospital forever and that is just how it works where I am. But we also have some really great nurses on night shift too that like it just fine so it balances out with us. This is not the case will all places, I know.

And I'm sorry but I was not beckoned by a higher power to become a nurse so I'm not going to put my body through the wringer by working inconsistant crazy hours (flipflopping to day shift and night shift). I'll rotate to 3-11 occasionally to help but that's about it. And nursing is a career opportunity to me. I'm lucky that I find my job to be very satisfying and do find meaning in it but I'm also looking at the pay/working conditions and benes too.

But in short (or long) I do think it is a good idea for new nurses to have exposure to all the shifts during orientation. The only thing that scares me are the places that have a disproportionate amount of inexperienced nurses on one shift. I dont think nurses get sent to nights because of a rite of passage, but often that is where the greatest need is. And when a day position comes open a senior nurse on another shift often gets "bumped up" But I guess I'm just lucky where I work. And really if a new nurse needs a day shift they can be found...one does not have to automatically work nights because they are new...but at some places it is just like that.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Nursing is a commitment to provide care to our fellow man. It is a calling, not a career opportunity. That isn't to say that it isn't a great career. We just need to remember why we wanted to be nurses in the first place.

What if one wanted to be a nurse for a career, not a calling? There are a lot of nurses who disagree with the "nursing is a calling" concept.

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I think it is good to ask these questions before you get into nursing school. Never say never. When I graduated 15 years ago I assumed I would be working Night shift. I didn't want to work evenings as I was a newly married boy was I shocked when all they had available on the floor I was interested in was day shift. I hadn't even considered that it would be an option. Since then there have been many other new grads hired onto days. Some of our night shift staff likes it and don't want to leave. I did days til I had kids and have now been working part time evenings. I don't miss the hectic pace of days. Days is like a rate race from the minute you get out of report til you leave. Evening starts off fast pace but gradually winds down over the course of the night. Except for the patients that have sun-downers.

Back to the the "Princess Alert". Here is an example: each fall we rate the holidays we want off on a 1-5 scale 1 being top holiday off. The holidays are Thanksgiving, Xmas eve, Xmas day, NY eve, and NY day. So obviously you pick the holiday you want off most and give it a 1 and the one you don't really care about a 5. This one nurse was shocked when she only got her first 2 choices off and she is fairly new. She told us I put a "1" for all of them, I wanted them all off...........We stood there looking like we were catching flies. We told her that if anyone would get them all off it would go by seniority. Even our most senior nurse had to work 2 holidays.

So just realize if you end up going to nursing school, you might find your self working night shift on holidays.

But there are many opportunities out there, more than in other professions.

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Well i just got out of nursing school in DEC. I started out working a combination of 3-11 and 11-7 in a nursing home. This is as an Lpn not an RN though. From what i have seen it is very hard to get a 7-3 shift, not impossible though. Most 7-3 I have seen available are in Doc's offices and for alot less pay. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

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