Moving to Day Shift...Advice?

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Hello all!

So, I've been working as a nurse for almost a year on night shift now. I started my job in September 2016. I work on a medicine floor the 7p-7a shift. Nights have been hard for me (sleep schedule wise, diet, emotional and physical health, etc.) so I asked a few months ago to be placed on the list of being interested in a day position when one opens up. I thought it would take much longer than it actually did.

Well, it seems that the time is coming, as someone is leaving the day shift, and I was told by one of the Assistant Nurse Managers on my unit that, if I am still interested, I can move to the day shift in the beginning of August. I told them that yes, I am still interested, so I will soon be a day shift nurse!

I am excited to get back on a normal schedule, but also extremely nervous about keeping up with the pace of day shift (fingersticks, family, doctors, changes in plans of care, etc.) and wondering if I can handle it all! I am still a fairly new nurse and obviously still have lots to learn. I feel that I've been able to manage my time well on nights. I just wonder how I would fair on day shift.

Any advice you all can offer about transitioning from nights to days?

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVICU.

I worked days when I worked tele as a new nurse, even doing charge, and it's pretty crazy. Way more doctors around, consults, new orders coming in literally by the minute. Night shift sucks away your social and sleep life, but I've grown to enjoy it because it's *slightly* less chaotic. Your patients will have their questions answered, because doctors are more available (albeit very busy), but on the flip side, many will round on your patients while you're busy and you'll completely miss the plan of care for the day, which is frustrating when the angry families come yelling and make you feel incompetent when the plan changed and you had no idea.

You definitely see more on day shift, but I do feel night shift builds a certain level of autonomy and critical thinking because you're often working with fewer resources and staff. Is it possible for you to do a few trial shifts before you commit? My hospital has a 30-day period where you can go back to your previous position no questions asked.

And for what it's worth, working night shift sucks for sleep, but I thought waking up at 5am and having to go to bed at 10:30/11pm even when I wasn't tired was just as bad =P

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Specializes in CVICU, MICU, Burn ICU.

Congratulations! Day shift is certainly going to be more chaotic than nights. But I think you can focus on the positives: you will learn new things -- getting to be a part of rounds teaches you so much as you start being able to see the medical plan of care being formulated and may even get to have direct input into that. Also all of the other general prep that goes into getting patients ready for procedures and OR and such. TIME MANAGEMENT!!

For me on nights, I usually feel like I can have a relaxed start to my shift and even if I fall behind at any point, I will usually have some time, somewhere in the shift to catch up. Days is not like that. You have to hit the ground running and really beef up your efficiency. But the shift flies by! And your sleep cycle returns to that of a normal human. Priceless. Don't get me wrong -- day shift is exhausting and you get paid less to do more -- but there's nothing like allowing your body to operate according to it's natural circadian rhythm.

You WILL learn your day shift routine. And you WILL learn to deal when that routine gets upended by all the stuff that can happen on days. You WILL feel overwhelmed at first. Give yourself a break and just know it will take an adjustment.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I've actually done a few day shifts on my floor when staffing allowed me to. The day shifts I worked weren't overly hectic in my eyes and I was able to handle it all. I also oriented for 6 weeks on the day shift before I went to nights off of orientation. The day shifts I oriented were busy, yes, but nothing horrible! I'm sure some days will be very, very busy, but I've also had nights like that as well. I guess once I get used to the pace, it'll all fall into place. Thank you for your comment!

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It's about being organized. I did nights for a couple of years. Missed my family and my sleep immensely. I was so happy when I finally got on days. But it was an adjustment. It's just constantly go-go-go, which can be good, but it also drives me insane sometimes. It's a lot of answering family questions and trying to facilitate communication between them and doctors. Sometimes I miss nights where I only had to page docs for the big things. The little things were left for dayshift and now I'm dayshift!!!

I left on time more on night shift than I do on days. But, my body loves me much more now.

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