How is the night shift for a new nurse?

[snowyeyes2]

I graduated last December with an ADN. I finally passed my boards, and I'm looking for a night shift job. I have slight anxiety although not diagnosed. I panic when I am under extreme pressure. I am also very quiet. I though the night shift would be better for me because there will be less interaction. Do you think the night shift is okay for a new nurse??

[schnookimz]

In my experience, new nurses usually start on night shift because it's the quietest and least desirable to other staff.

[julz68]

Night shift would probably be a good fit for you. Days is very fast paced and you have a lot of interaction with doctors, families, rehab, procedures, case management, etc.

Nights can be very busy as well, but not as much interaction with the above. It's a slightly slower pace and I feel you have more time to get to know your patients without all other distractions.

I've worked both shifts, but I am a permanent night shifter now and LOVE IT!

[P B and J]

Hello, I graduated last December as well, and have been on nights on the med-surg floor for about 6 months now. I love it :) If anyone tells you nights are easy, all the patients do is sleep, yada yada... tell 'em to kiss off...

Night shift has issues all its own, at times it can be slower than days, yes, but at times it can be insane too!!

We don't sit around listening to our patients snore, eating bon-bons, and watching video's, as I was told was all night shift nurses do last week lol.

Try nights. You might like it, you might not. If you accept a night position, you'll likely start your orientation on days, and transition to nights after awhile.

Then you can make your own informed decision whether night shift is for you, no one here knows you, your life situation, etc.

Good luck!! I hope you find a position that fits you :)

[ukjenn231]

Night shift is good for a new nurse. It can be slower and give you more opportunity to learn. Less family members, ancillary services, doctors, PT, roaming around changing things and giving orders. Hopefully a patient might sleep for a minute or two. :) I would say there are two cons (besides the sleep schedule): you do have to find assertiveness because you have to decide when to call a doc in the middle of the night and tolerate his incohernet or irate answer to your question. Also, there can be less resources since there are less docs, ancillary services around. But I think its a great place to start

[SwansonRN]

Agreed with anyone else. I have a bit of anxiety myself and I find days can be very demanding. It's not unusual to have doctors asking you to come to rounds while a family member is grilling you and your other patient is calling for the bedpan and your phone is ringing all at the same time :)

Nights are much more laid back...usually! The downfall is that if something goes wrong you may have less support than during the day. Overall I think it's a better environment to learn in than days. Day shifts you need to hit the ground running.

[DoeRN]

I started on nights as a new grad. But I worked nights for 4 years even before graduating. I actually liked nights better because you don't have all the ancillary staff around and you can actually get your work done. Very seldom did I have to stay after to chart. I got out on time and went home. I'm on days now and have thought about returning to nights but even though I worked nights for many years I had major sleep issues. Actually I still do but not nearly as bad as when I worked nights.

Here are some pointers. Cut your phone off, get blackout curtains, buy some earplugs and a sleeping mask. Make sure the temperature in your bedroom is at a comfortable level. And tell everyone you know that calls you that you work nights. Tell them you calling me at 2 in the afternoon is like me calling you at 2 in the morning. If you have to have house repairs or scheduled maintenance try to arrange all of that on your day off.

So it can be done and trust me I would go back if I could sleep. All the patients family members, doctors, pt/ot, dietary, transport, radiology you name it they will call the nurse for things. So on nights you really don't have all of that. Not saying that nights aren't busy because trust me they can be but it is a different busy than days.

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[giantumbrella]

I'm a new grad and have been working night shifts for about 2 months and I love it! The night staff is like a family, we understand and look out for each other. It is much more quiet and slower paced so you won't feel as overwhelmed. Black out curtains are a MUST! You'll do great on nights!

[Katie71275]

I'm a new nurse and I started on days for orientation and have moved to nights now. I work in L&D and I like nights. It's slower for the most part, more relaxed...but there are also fewer resources available. If there's a c-section it's a crash one for the most part, and we have no scrub tech, so one of us scrubs(LPN if there is one)....it's really not bad at all!

[ashleyisawesome, BSN, RN]

It's the best shift to start on IMO. I started out on 12 hour nights, reluctantly. But now I love it! I do a couple evening and day shifts here and there but I love my nocs! I have had several opportunities to go to days and I just cant imagine having to force myself to wake up at 5am everyday and deal with the hecticness that is day shift. Don't get me wrong, night shift can get crazy sometimes and you will learn a lot, but I rarely leave more than 30 mins late from a night shift, whereas I am always leaving an hour or more late after days/evenings because I need to catch up on charting and other things. I am also a bit of an introvert, so the quietness and lack of interaction with a million people (families, doctors, supervisors, managers, case managers, pt/ot, etc) is a bonus for me.