8 hour evening shifts?

baby&mommynurse · Jun 1, 2005

I used to work 8 hour evening shifts. I liked it for a while and I did it for 2.5 years. I consider myself a night person since I like to be up late at night and I like sleeping in. Working evenings allowed me to do what I liked. I also got a pay differential for working 2nd shift. There are drawbacks, though. If you have to work holidays, you can still be with your family for part of the day, but that means the rest of the day/evening is spent at work. And if you enjoy going out in the evening with friends, you can't because you'll be working. While you're at home, everyone else as at work and when you get home, everyone is going to bed or is already asleep. After a while, I found myself staying up later at night because it took me a while to wind down after work and I slept in even later in the morning. By the time I woke up, it was time to start getting ready for work again. I ended up longing for a sense of normalcy and moved to a day shift position.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jun 1, 2005

I worked four 3-11 shifts a week for a couple of years and loved it.........in fact, I still miss it. TPTB at my hospital decided to make the 3-11 shift go away about 9 months ago and I went to 11-7 days. I hate it. I don't have enough time in the AMs to really do anything, and when I get home most evenings, I'm so dog-tired it's all I can do to spend an hour with my family before I crawl downstairs to bed. Day shift is CRAZY---too many admissions/discharges/orders/families/'suits'/people milling around, and all that for less money too.:stone

OTOH, I work Monday and Tuesday, have Wednesday off, then work Thursday and Friday every week---no weekends :) So there are trade-offs after all. I just wish I could afford to work part-time.......now THAT would be nice!

Jolie, BSN · Jun 1, 2005

I worked 3-11 for most of my nursing career and loved every minute of it. I was never a morning person, and getting up at 5am was very difficult for me on the rare occasions that I had to work days. I would get up at about 8am, spend the morning and early afternoon taking care of the house, errands, shopping, meeting friends for lunch, etc. I left for work at about 2pm, got home around midnight, watched TV for an hour, and went to bed. Hubby worked odd hours, so working 3-11 didn't make it any more difficult for us to spend time together. And I had no children then. I think 3-11 must be difficult for moms with kids, especially once they are in school and participating in activities. But as a single person, or married without kids, it is ideal, in my opinion.

SharonH, RN · Jun 2, 2005

How many nurses out there work eight hour evenings? I really wanted three/four twelves but that is not an option at the facility I was hired at. My question is, how do you adjust to working five days a week evenings? Theoretically it sounds ok, like you have all night to sleep, you can get up a little late, and you have all morning to do housework or run errands. However, people tell me that once I start I won't want to get involved with too much before my shifts because I will have the idea of having to be to work at 1500 looming over me. Has anyone had this experience?

For a long time, I worked 3-11 and loved it. I am a late night person who likes to sleep in so that worked well for me. However I did find that I could not get a lot done in the mornings, by the time you get up good and get running it's time to get ready for work! Also over the years, I found out that 3-11 is the hardest shift to work particularly during the crazy hours of 3-7. It's at that point that all the patients are awake, visitors are coming in, patients are returning from procedures and surgeries and things are very hectic. And once my kids got old enough to be in school, that shift was out because I would have never seen them.

AKav8trix · Jun 2, 2005

Day shift is CRAZY---too many admissions/discharges/orders/families/'suits'/people milling around, and all that for less money too.:stone

Amen! For me the few benefits of day shift just aren't worth the stress and lack of pay differential. Besides, my brain doesn't function that early in the morning. I love evenings!

However, there is the trade off of not being able to participate in some social activities when I'm working full time. Part-time, I was usually able to trade a shift when something came up in the evening that I didn't want to miss.

tntrn, ASN, RN · Jun 2, 2005

I've worked evenings most of my 28 years in nursing. When I worked full time, I'd work 4 in a row, 1 off, 6 in a row and 3 off. When my kids started school, I went to days for a few years so I could see them in the evenings, but I can get a TON of things done before I go to work at 3 pm. In contrast, when I worked days, I'd be too danged tired to do anything after I got home from work.

At present, and hopefully for the rest of my work years, I'm doing strictly per diem, and average two shifts a weeks. Luckily, our contract was written for 8 hours shifts and all other varieties are considered innovative, and thus can be yanked with some notice. I think the 12's in our unit will be history before long. Scheduling is a nightmare, especially when someone calls in sick or goes on vacation.

mommatrauma, RN · Jun 2, 2005

For a long time, I worked 3-11 and loved it. I am a late night person who likes to sleep in so that worked well for me. However I did find that I could not get a lot done in the mornings, by the time you get up good and get running it's time to get ready for work! Also over the years, I found out that 3-11 is the hardest shift to work particularly during the crazy hours of 3-7. It's at that point that all the patients are awake, visitors are coming in, patients are returning from procedures and surgeries and things are very hectic. And once my kids got old enough to be in school, that shift was out because I would have never seen them.

...What Sharon said, I agree 100%...I worked 3-11 for 2 years straight, but I also worked every other weekend, so I didn't have to do the Mon-Friday gig...when I found a 12 hour job, I jumped on it...I did it when I had no children...back in my party days...so it was perfect....work in the afternoon...go out after work for a bit...sleep in in the morning...rarely got anything done, mostly because I LOVE to sleep...but I had those two weekdays off b/c of the weekend work...so they were my DO days...I got all my stuff done those two days...It does wear on you a bit, because it does tend to be the busier shift, although the upswing is that it helped the time go faster...and once I had my son, I had to switch because babysitting til 11p isn't easy to come by and my sig other is a medic, so his schedule is just as messed up with shift work....so it was good for a bit..but it like everything else, gets old after a while...although, go figure, now i work 11a-11p...but less days definitely helps!!