Leave first job because of rotating?

[EDnursetobe]

Hi Everyone!

I'm new to allnurses and nursing. I have been working for a few months on a med/surg floor and I generally like it. Anyway my problem isn't so much the job itself, but rotating day and night shifts. I'm having trouble switching back and forth and it's kind of making the job more stressful than it should be because I'm so worried about getting enough sleep.

I definitely don't mind getting more med/surg experience before moving on to a specialty (I hope to do ED someday), but I don't know how long I can keep doing this rotating schedule. Do you think I could move on after like 6-8 months of work? I know people say a year but I'm so tired all the time!

Ideally I'd love to be full time nights, but my floor only hires rotating for everyone (I have no idea why).

anyone have any advice?

thanks :)

[merlee]

I've rarely heard of places that don't want people to work steady nights.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i've rarely heard of places that don't want people to work steady nights.

many places don't want new grads to work straight nights for a number of reasons -- they miss out on the learning opportunities on day shift, and it's really bad practice to staff an entire shift with newbies!

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

50:50 rotating is excessive. That gives so little time to adjust.

While our the days nurses are Days/rotating it's more like 0-25% per schedule. There are dedicated PM & Noc nurses, so the day RN just fill in the gaps, and we try to spread the pain around, so some times there may be a week of rotating, sometimes none at all.

[SummitRN, BSN, RN]

Mandated 25% is idiocy and unhealthy. 50% should be criminal because it is unsafe for most people. In what other profession would such BS fly? It flies in the face of every bit of evidence about human sleep science, human error, and performance. All the justifications about evening out personnel experience between shifts is easily countered by increased error rates, decreased efficiency, increased sick days, increased cost from employee health insurance use, and increased turnover.

The non-medical professions I know that rotate at least have the sense to do it on a 6 or 12 week basis. That is, you consistently work a shift for 6-12 weeks before flipping to the next in order to allow sleep cycles to adjust. This allows even sharing and good employee distribution.

I've worked 24s, 48s, and even 72s in EMS, but that is very different... usually... and probably not a good idea even working only 1 out of 3 days. I know all about being short of sleep. I'd go back to my previous profession before I'd accept a 50% rotating RN position.

[Nrsstudent09]

I'm actually considering something similar. I worked tele for 8 months and found a dream ED opportunity. It was a middle shift which is what I really wanted. Well I started the ED and at the end of orientation they put me on nights instead. This was in May. I have been nothing but miserable. Nights are literally making me sick. I get dizzy spells, I'm not sleeping and I've tried sleeping pills, low blood sugar even though I'm eating during my shift, bad headaches, my menstrual cycle is so irregular. I've been working with my primary to figure out the cause and I think we've come to a decision of shift work disorder. I am actually considering leaving my current position to try and find a day-shift somewhere. I just can't take feeling this crappy anymore so I totally get where you're coming from