Is that the general consensus amongst hospital RNs? I for one had a terrible time with night shift... actually I seemed to adjust alright, outwardly. Inwardly, my endocrine system went haywire and I ended up in the hospital with an exacerbation of a previously well managed health condition, and out from work SICK for an entire month.
Due to the health problems, I had to quit that job only 5 months into it. After searching month after month, the only other day shift hospital position I could get was on a HORRIBLE ortho/medsurg unit 70 miles away from my home.
Despite the heavy work load, extreme favoritism, crazy boss, and absence of teamwork, I appreciated the opportunity and tried to make it work for me. The employer itself was a pretty good one I think, but with the commute and the other issues, I only made it for 6 months--- and quit.
Every other hospital job I've been seeing is for night shift.... If I see another day shift advertised will that be a red flag that the unit is very bad?
I was willing to work nights, but I really can't risk getting sick by going on nights again. Should I just stay away from hospitals from here on out?
You can work with me SBE/ however, I love nights/evenings. I would rather work with her than someone who has less than desirable integrity and ethics- that is how one becomes involved in recovery programs or has issues with their licensure.
I was actually quite surprised last night that a poster who did not agree with me tried to belittle me by using my BSN against me asking what a BSN is doing at the bedside anyways- basically implying I'm incompetent and that is why I'm still at the bedside as a BSN. Umm what?
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Ok, ok I will go with that. I have a disorder. I have depression. I do. I live with it. Every day. It pains me. I cope. I never lie to get what I want. I don' t use my "disorder" to get things I want or against others. I don't use it as a "disability". I work hard. I spent years on night shift. When a day position came up, I applied and got it. I have since worked in a clinic where a fulltime dayshift position was mine.
I did not have to be sneaky and have some quack sign off on my "disorder" to get me what I wanted.
I got it the right way. Waited my turn and did it legitimately and the right way.
I sleep well at night and live in integrity.
So yea, I am at peace with my "disorder" and I have boundless compassion for others with similar "disorders". But I have ZERO compassion for those who play on "disorders" to lie, cheat and steal their way to gain what they want.
If that makes me "evil" and without "compassion" for someone on an anonymous board, I am more than at peace with that, too. So be it.
For those standing up for me, I thank you sincerely.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
My posts look they are five hours later than I'm really posting them. Is this a weird setting I have or is something wrong? What time zone is AllNurses in???
If you go into your settings by clicking on your username, you can set your timezone to the one you live in.
And add me to the list of those agreeing with SmilingBluEyes- using underhanded methods to get what one wants is not the right thing to do nor will it endear you to your coworkers. I was blessed to start in a day shift position, but that was because I chose to work in a procedural area where the vast majority of staff works days, the most experienced and those who wish to work nights, and evening shift was part full time evening and part rotating. I then moved to full time evenings, and enjoyed it- fewer people worked that shift and we were a much more cohesive team. Then I moved into a dedicated specialty team, where I have the best of both worlds- day shift and amazing teamwork.
Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
As you probably are not surprised, several posts have been reported.
A few of these posts are really downright mean. It's like if you cannot make your point and/or offer an opinion when another member posts, well, let's get down and dirty and attack their integrity.
Please stop it. It is small, petty, and against TOS.
Debate the topic and don't make it personal. And, if you have to, utilize the ignore feature. Here's how:
Click on your user ID name in the far upper right of any page and select Dashboard.
On the next page click on the green button labeled CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL YOUR ACCOUNT OPTIONS. In the drop down menu, scroll down to select Ignore List. Enter the member(s) name and then click, add member.
I've seen posters in this very thread attack posters in the past saying 'if you're this rude, I can only imagine how you are with your pts' or 'look at how you respond to us in this thread, I can only imagine how you respond in real life' so please stop being hypocritical because your E-friend SBE was called out for being rude. I would quote the ppl who I wrote this post for, but I may get a message saying I'm attacking other posters lol. No comment on the actual OP.
Actually SBE was not being rude. She simply stated that using underhand methods to achieve and manipulate your way into a position that you covet is wrong and unethical. Other posters then insinuate that she isn't a good nurse to her patient, based on what she wrote here.
I don't think it's a matter of paying dues. A lot of people can't do night shift and as soon as a day shift openings in their facility they jump on it. I'm not a day shift person. I'm OK 9-5, But if I have to be there at 6:30 AM everyday (a can do it a couple days a week) and have to leave for my commute at 5AM, and wake up at 4:30 am, and go to bed at 8:30 PM, I'm going to be in a haze all day. It's a setup for failure. I'd rather be homeless than loose my license. My suggesstion is, that if night shift is a setup for failure for you, don't do it. P.S. where are all these night shift jobs you speak of?
I for one LOVE the night shift. I work in a busy ER and love my team and the closeness that comes with working nights with limited staff and resources. I will probably always be a night shifter, although at times it is hard. Nursing is hard - much harder than they teach you in school. It is hard on the nurse AND his/her family. So hospital life may not be for you. I agree to look into other areas of nursing. I wish you the best.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
It's not paying dues. It's the reality that much of nursing is a 24/7/365 operation and SOMEBODY has to work nights. I've been working rotating D/N 12-hour shifts for more than 20 years. Do I like it? Not at all. But it's the reality of the career I chose and it's what I have to do to continue working in my field. There are only a handful of permanent day lines in our rotation; several of them are health-related accommodations. There are more permanent night lines because under the terms of our contract, they have to be requested by the person working them - either through applying on postings where the shift pattern is designated straight nights, or by written request to management - and cannot be unreasonably denied. What really gets under my skin is the number of new grad nurses who accept positions on our unit and immediately begin complaining about having to work those oh-so-obvious nights. The ones who immediately start looking for someone to trade their day shifts for the poor new nurse's nights. It smacks of entitlement and I really believe a lot of the blame for it lies with our nursing faculties. They're the ones teaching nursing students that they have the world on a string and can basically dictate the terms of their service. The main reason that most unionized facilities in Canada have rotating shifts is fairness. Everybody works their share.
The OP's situation is a bit different. If working nights is seriously impacting on control of her bona fide chronic health problems, then she must find work that allows her to work only days. But if it's the flipping from day-mode to night-mode and back again that's causing the problem, the solution could be to work one shift only and to stay in one mode all the time. Several people I know who have type 1 diabetes find nights actually helps their glycemic control, but only when they stay in night-mode. Recognizing that a health-related accommodation will follow a person around is a big part of the decision to seek one in the first place. I feel that the OP dropped the ball by not giving the solution provided by her initial employer a chance. Beginnings are always rough. It might have worked out well given time. But she'll never know now.
Is that the general consensus amongst hospital RNs? I for one had a terrible time with night shift... actually I seemed to adjust alright, outwardly. Inwardly, my endocrine system went haywire and I ended up in the hospital with an exacerbation of a previously well managed health condition, and out from work SICK for an entire month.
Due to the health problems, I had to quit that job only 5 months into it. After searching month after month, the only other day shift hospital position I could get was on a HORRIBLE ortho/medsurg unit 70 miles away from my home.
Despite the heavy work load, extreme favoritism, crazy boss, and absence of teamwork, I appreciated the opportunity and tried to make it work for me. The employer itself was a pretty good one I think, but with the commute and the other issues, I only made it for 6 months--- and quit.
Every other hospital job I've been seeing is for night shift.... If I see another day shift advertised will that be a red flag that the unit is very bad?
I was willing to work nights, but I really can't risk getting sick by going on nights again. Should I just stay away from hospitals from here on out?
Nights aren't for everyone (myself included, although I still do it from time to time). New employees often do have to cover less desireable shift, but what constitutes 'less desireable' differs from one facility to the next.
However, from reading the rest of the OPs posts, I wonder if the problem was really a day-night shift issue. She was given days but it still didn't work out. Then she mentions trouble at home, which would interfere with any job, night shift or not. My advice to the OP would be to be honest to herself about what really the barriers were. Learn and adjust. Then wherever she ends up, she spends at least a year.
ED Nurse, RN
369 Posts
You can work with me SBE/ however, I love nights/evenings. I would rather work with her than someone who has less than desirable integrity and ethics- that is how one becomes involved in recovery programs or has issues with their licensure.
I was actually quite surprised last night that a poster who did not agree with me tried to belittle me by using my BSN against me asking what a BSN is doing at the bedside anyways- basically implying I'm incompetent and that is why I'm still at the bedside as a BSN. Umm what?