Night shift vs. Day shift...

rdhdnrs · Feb 2, 2003

I worked nights the first year I was a nurse, and felt bad all the time. When I went to days, my kids said I was so much nicer!! I think some people are day people and some are night people. Thank goodness there are both!!! I love the hustle and bustle of days; I like all the consultants, the "suits", the docs, all of it.

K O'Malley · Feb 2, 2003

I would much prefer to work nights if I could only tolerate those hours. In my twenties I worked nights and had no problem sleeping 7-8 hrs during the day but by the time I was in my thirties I couldn't sleep for more than three hours during the day and therefore felt awful all the time. There can be bad nights for sure but the aggravations are fewer, especially the #*%#$@# phone ringing off the hook and constantly interrupting your nursing care. Fewer visitors, fewer docs, no annoying managers, what more can I say.

MICU RN · Feb 2, 2003

well I knew my comments would stir some debate and that is what I was trying to do. It is always fun to see people express their views in a civilized manner. Bedside nursing is hard work whether it is the night or day shift, however, my experience has just been that nights are not as busy most of the time. I know have experienced more down time during nights than days, although I prefer nights for that reason I just enjoy my off time much more when I work days, therefore, I try to do days as much as possible. Recently I was having this same conversation with a night shift person on my unit and I finally had to ask what exactly do mean when you say well it is not as busy ( less docs, family members, ect.) but you work as hard as on the day shift? Less docs usaualy mean less procedures and less orders which means less work. Even when I worked in the ER which is one of the busiest in the nation the night shift had more down time than the day shift. Now both shifts worked their butt off, but just like in the icu I am in now the night shift had more down time. This is just my humble opinion and I certainly don't mean to suggest that the shift does not work hard.

fergus51 · Feb 2, 2003

The few times I float to med surg on nights it seems pretty busy because they have 1 LPN for 4 teams instead of 4, so even though there are fewer orders the RNs are still pretty busy. Are you staffed the same on nights as on days MICU RN?

hapeewendy · Feb 2, 2003

maybe we keep mentioning it because ppl still keep insisting that it isnt true....

we had a few of our permanent dayshifters work a few nights this past month and well they've finally shut their word holes about the not busy at night myth

but I still find people obsessed with trying to say that patients sleep at night and there are less things to do at night yadda yadda

same old arguement just different participants

I wont get into it anymore, I know the work I do and I know that I certainly dont sit around

many times we are short staffed on nights, and where I work ,that doesnt seem to happen as often on days

so dont compare apples to oranges.. its totally different.

Kayzee · Feb 2, 2003

I tried nights and felt like ----. Always liked the PM shift 3-11, but now I am a day shift. Hate getting up so early...but I feel it is much easier on my body and mind than nocs was.

Little One2 · Feb 2, 2003

I used to work on a medicine floor. That is where I started working nights for the first time. For the last four months I worked a rotation of two weeks nights and two weeks days. Twelve hour shifts.

It was hard to adjust to the routine of doing both nights and days and to do twelve hour shifts. I found I prefered working at night. Nights are busy. Patients don't always sleep at night because they are sick and require assistance to the washroom or for other reasons. The day staff (the nurses who never worked nights) started to complaint that the night never did anything. Which is totally false. It frustrated me that these nurses didn't respect the night staff and the nurse manager didn't support the night staff.

I can say from experiences, the night shift is busier at times(patients climbing out of bed, patients screaming, patients wandering).

I also worked with a good team of nurses at night. During the day, there are some nurses who I wouldn't feel comfortable working with.

Therefore, nights were more enjoyable for me because I worked on a good team, there were no doctors, dietitians, clinicial nurse educator, nurse manager, or pharmacist to come and interrupt your work.

mother/babyRN, RN · Feb 2, 2003

Nights are so much tougher on the body, and we work with a skeleton crew who is friendly like family since all we have is each other. I find we do more, float more had work with less staff...We will float and be left short while days appears to get help. Each shift has its drawbacks and perks, but as for no suits around and the cameraderie you have to have, nights is a good shift, although they say it takes 10 years off your life...

Teshiee · Feb 2, 2003

NIGHTS are the bomb! I can't stand day shift I tried it for one month and I found myself tired not wanting to socialize but go straight to bed when I got home. My husband says I was very cranky and hard to deal with. When I went back to nights the house was in harmony again. I think it is preference. As long as I can remember I preferred nights just plum better for me. As far as work load the politics and crap of the day is distant when you work nights and I too find the staff works better together more than anything.

emily_mom · Feb 3, 2003

I'm a day shift person. I hate being gone at night when my family is home. I hate missing 'Must See TV' and I can't stand not sleeping at night.

I have to rotate with my new job....we'll have to see if I like it or not....

Kristy