Night Shift Pros and Cons

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Specializes in None.

I'm a new NS in a rural area with few options of where to work and shift availability. I was wondering if anyone could give me some insidght on the pros and cons of night shift. I have a friend who works from 2-10 and she HATES it with a passion. I'm thinking more along the lines of a 7p-7a. My kids are 2 and 5 and will be 4 and 7 when I'm finished. My husband has a 7a-3p job with weekends off (not healthcare related).

How does your shift affect your family life? Do you get to attend your kids evening activities?

Thanks for any information!!!

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Bump... I am interested too

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Specializes in LTC.

My three biggest things about night shift other than being a night owl are: No management, I still have the evenings with my boyfriend, and nights seem to have a very different culture that is much more laid back and team work oriented.

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Specializes in Tele.

before I was a mother, I worked from 7am-7pm and I loved it. I worked extra shifts, I was able to sleep at night, then do things on my days off.

As a mother, I do enjoy working night shift. This is the reason why: you actually do things with your kids. Night shift is flexible in the way that you can sleep if you schedule yourself and your family, 4 or 5 hours before starting your shift. I sleep from 2pm-6pm and get ready for work that first night. I am able to give my baby a bath, go to lunch with my family, get her ready for ballet class so her dad can take her.

Also, I am able to pick her up from school, I get up at 2pm, and my baby gets out at 4:30pm from pre-k, later at kindergarten she gets out at 1:50pm but that's next year. Anyways, I have been doing this since she was born due to the fact that i do not have any family members that are able to pick her up from school or any emergency. It's just me and my husband. so it really does work out well for me. When I work weekends, I still can enjoy my family. I see them in the beginning of the day, I can have dinner with them right before I go in to work >--on the first night. On the second night, in the morning I come have breakfast and see my baby, go to sleep, at 9am, then get up around 3pm or 4pm, spend a little time with my family before I go in to work, and the third night, the same thing.

I honestly enjoy working nights.

the thing that I do not like about nights, is that the day nurses are sooooo picky if you don't do something or forget something or that they think that you didn't do your job and later claim that you slept the whole night. At night we don't have all the support system that day shift has.

I'm in my last semester of my BSN, so after this, I would like to try home health and make money that way because that way I don't have to be working with these not so nice nurses.

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Specializes in None.

I worked in a home health office as the office coordinator and it's something that's appealing to me. I like the m-f hours (8-4), weekends off, the autonomy of being out of the office and taking care of your patients, taking call 1 week a month. However, I've seen the down sides of it too. Nurses can be highly catty. We had 3 programs and 3 nurses (one for each program) and it never failed that when one of the nurses was on call they would have to treat anothers patients and then they would complain to the boss about the other nurse,etc. It was a mess some days.

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I've worked nights for three years. I started out in orientation on days and HATED it with a passion. I hate waking up (always have, always will) and would rather sleep in a bit than wake up early. That being said, I just recently switched to days for furthering orientation (changing floors) and am absolutely loving it. I think it has to do with your floor that you're on that makes a big difference. I'm in the ICU and the culture between the two are totally separate. Let's run down the list, shall we?

Pro's to day's:

-Docs are there to see the patient. You don't wake anybody up when you call them overhead, and they or one of their cohorts are almost always in the hospital if you want them to see the patient.

-Sleep schedule for some is more natural

-More managers sometimes means more assistance when needed

-Most times the RN's are more seasoned and more experienced

-Some hospitals have locations that aren't open on nights, and put you in a bind when these aren't available on nights (ie- PICC team, phleb, etc)

-Since you're there when your patient is awake, you will have more time to make nice with your patients. Some of them have great stories to tell!

Cons to day shift:

-Docs are there. Some docs are (to put it lightly) not nice. You have this on nights as well, but on days you have to be physically right next to them

-Waking up at 4:30 so you're on the floor and ready to go by 6:45

-Managers are there and sometimes tend to breath down your neck

-Higher ups are there

-Families are there (sounds stupid, but I like to focus on the patient, and not play maid to families. Most (99%) of families are 100% fine, it's that 1% that will get you!) If you don't have visiting hours, sometimes it's a bear to get in and get out of the room - important when you're super busy

-More meds are given on day shift when patients are able to take PO, so you're running a bit more trying to get stuff done.

-Since docs are there, there's a lot more "STAT", "NOW", "ASAP" orders.

Pro's about night shift:

-No MD's - you don't have to put up with their attitudes and stroke their egos, but this will also go in "con" because when you need 'em you need 'em and this means you need to call them at home sometimes.

-Families are leaving

-You have less meds to give (also going into con b/c you have TONS more paperwork)

-Patients are (hopefully) sleeping

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Cons about night shift:

-Even though you're up, your patients are not (and they super want to sleep, so **** and stop talking!)

-If you need something important, some docs are just not kind when they're awake at night because you called them. Pick your battles. Sennokot-S clarification can happen in the AM, a Hgb of 6.5 can't.

-Tons more paperwork - flipping charts, reconciling MAR's, etc.

-While patients are more prone to sleeping, if you have a dementia patient, some get what folks coin as "sun downers". For some reason these patients can go from completely alert and oriented in the day to combatant, spitting, just not nice. Or are just trying to get out of bed and "take a walk" at 3am. Sometimes meds help this, many times not, though.

-Some people's sleep/wake cycle HATE this

There's many many more to be said, I'm sure.

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Specializes in Burn, CCU, CTICU, Trauma, SICU, MICU.

Night shift can be an issue in relationships when you have a significant other who does not also work nights. You will see each other less often when your schedules conflict, there is something that just doesn't feel quite right is going to bed alone and knowing that he/she is going to bed alone as well. Sometimes, not being home at night for 3 or 4 nights in a row can make you a little on edge about your relationship, so that certainly needs to be secure.

I don't have kids, so I can't comment on all of that.

Night shift is great for a few reasons: No management, no one breathing down your neck, minimal doctors running around, no pt/ot getting the patients up and down and walked around is less, way fewer new orders to have to worry about, depending on your unit, you may have less medications to have to give on night shift, if you are in the ICU, you will rarely be extubating people in the middle of the night... The staff who work night shift are generally WAY more laid back, more available to help out and have more a team work feel to it because they have less going on as well. AND LESS FAMILY!!!! :)

I worked days for years, and it was fun - seeing lots of people, when I was a new nurse, it was very good for me because I learned a lot because dayshift if when all of the procedures were being done, but after a while - night shift is a breath of fresh air.

As long as you can sort out your sleep schedule, etc... it works out pretty well.

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I did my preceptorship on night shift (7p - 7a) & my husband hated it. He works 4-10's & by the time he got home, we only saw each other for about 2 hours (& that's because I was only 10min away from the hospital). When looking for jobs, he was not too excited about me applying for night shifts but he understood I needed to take what I could get (& that it's more $$). We don't have kids either.

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I'm working nights (7-7 and 11-7) as a new RN and I am having a hard time. I have young kids, a husband, and a house that miss my attention! I work 3-4 nights a week (hopefully it will be only 3 nights soon) and when I am off I am useless at home. Not sure how to handle the stress of work and not getting things done at home as well (I wasn't a fabulous housekeeper to begin with!). I think I'm going to end up working part-time. I worked as a nursing student (nurse tech) at a different hospital, different unit and didn't have the problems I'm having now. I don't know how I juggled school and that job better than I am handling just the job alone right now :uhoh3:. So for me working nights fills a childcare need, but it isn't ideal. I miss sleeping with my husband! I don't find that the tasks I do at night for my pts are that much different than what I did during my daytime orientation, with the exception of not having to do many discharges. Still have to assess, pass meds, keep IV's running, wound care, give out pain meds constantly. I am BUSY all night. I guess it depends on what kind of unit you work on.

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I'm a new grad and had to start on night shift since there were no day openings available on the unit I was an extern on. I HATE it. I'm fighting so hard to stay up by 3 am until shift change, the coworkers are not very helpful (the male ones on my unit are the worst), and its very hard on my relationship since my significant other works a mon-fri job. I say if there is a day shift available and don't mind waking up early, take it....I wish I had the option.

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Specializes in None.

I've never been bothered by getting up early. In fact I'm up at 5:45 right now since I have an hour drive to NS.

I'm just concerned that night shift will be all that is available in our small town and how it's going to affect my family!

Thank you all for your information! I appreciate it!

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Specializes in Hospice Palliative Care.

I am currently working straight nights (11pm to 7am) and I love it. I have kids who are in school and I only work part time so that may help. My DH works mon-fri durring the day and has weekends off. I get home and get my kids off to school and then sleep while they are at school then get up at 2 pm to pick them up. I get to spend the whole afternoon with them and then go to work when they go to bed. My DH and I have a strong relationship though and although he complains about sleeping alone we have gotten used to it and our relationship is not only in the bedroom anyway - I get to spend the evening with him as well. I love the pace of night shift and the teamwork - I don't work acute care anymore. There are lots of benifts and drawbacks to nights and they work well for our family for now.

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