Night-shift workers, do you think you could successful work days?

[Bruce_Wayne]

Just wondering what night-shifters think about if they could successful work days or not? I know a lot of people choose nights for many reasons and I was wondering if working night shift was something that works so well for you that you'd have a hard time goes to days?

What about day shifters? Could you work nights?

What about day shifters, do you think your night shift could successfully work days?

What about night shifters, do you think day shifters at your facility could work nights?

I want all opinions on this all ways, any combination is fine with me.

I know that I couldn't work nights, my sleep schedule would be too messed up and I have too many things to do during the day.

I think a lot of my nightshifters would have a hard time adjusting to working days. They have their routines and things they like to do and many of them told me that they don't like having so many doctors round and so many managers walking around. We have a fair amount of day regulars that will catch an occasional night, but we have no night shifters that will take an occasional day. I think it's a culture thing, the night shift has their own culture lol.

[systoly]

I've worked all shifts with at least 3 years on each shift. Personally, I find day shift is the easiest shift by far and at this point in my life I no longer accept any nights in spite of handsome bonuses. When working with nurses who were filling in on a shift other than their primary shift, I noticed it to be hard for most everyone, no matter what their usual shift is. Day nurses filling in on nights looked like they just ran a marathon about half way through the shift and night nurses on days had a hard time keeping up with the pace.

[Patchouli]

i work nights and absolutely love my fellow night crew. we pull together as a team, and always have each other's back. i do not see the same collaboration on days. team members on nights have come in on many occasions to help out days when they are short staffed. however, i cannot remember one time that a day crew member came in at night to help us out when we were struggling. i think nocturnal nurses are definately a different breed. we are used to being short staffed, working with less ancillary staff, making the decision on when to actually call the physician at 3 am, because there are no docs to ask at this time, and the one you may need to call is fast asleep. we are used to working with each other when we're slap happy and dead tired. i wouldn't trade my crew for anything, love them all.

[Orange Tree]

Days would be super-hard for me. I feel physically ill when I'm up early in the morning no matter how much sleep I've had. When I was a teenager, and lived at home with my "day" oriented family, I would go walk through the woods all night and talk to the trees! I have just never been able to sleep at night.

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

I could never work nights. I'm one of those people that gets really depressed in the winter and I need to see as much daylight as possible in order to be happy. Even on 3-11, I had low energy, messed up sleep patterns, and felt down in the dumps. I also like the fast pace of day shift. I used to work 3-11 and the last couple hours when everyone was in bed really dragged.

[Poi Dog]

I have worked all 3 shifts, but am a true night shifter and have no intention of changing to days. Never had any of the day shifters in my place work a night shift, but I have stayed over and worked days. The biggest shock is to the CNA's when I pitch in to help them - something they say the day nurses never do, even if they have the time.

Too much chaos, drama, politics and favoritism on days IMHO. Night shifters are better team players and multi-taskers out of necessity. Right now, I work with a great crew who busts butt when needed and has fun when time allows.

You've described my facility and the bs that plays out.

[MouseMichelle]

I have worked all three shifts.. I'm now night shift part time and I love it. I feel that a day time nurse or even PM nurse would have a lot of difficulty pitching in, and multitasking, and making sure all patietns are safe (this is LTC)...on day shift you have a lot of back up nurses on nights I'm it so I have to learn to think for myself.

A lot of dayshifters have told me they would be too scared to work nights because of the responsibilities.

I feel I could adjust to am/pm just fine but it would take me a while to get used to all the hustle and bustle but I would personally feel safer with 4 nurse backups if I need it.

[NewTexasRN]

I'm actually a day person who works night shift. Crazy huh? I love night shift because my stress level is not as high as day shift with the admissions and discharges. I don't have as many discharges, which means I don't get as many admissions. Don't get me wrong I do get admissions on night shift, but a nurse on day shift can get up to 10 pts or more in one day. I'm sorry I just can't take less pay for more work and more stress. I get to actually know my pts on night shift. I've noticed that day shift nurses barely have time to introduce themselves. There are less doctors and family members stressing you out too. Sorry, but I have a very negative view of day shift. As far as making the transition to days I know I can definitely do it, but I would never do day shift as a floor nurse. It's not really worth the stress. I really don't know how much longer I stay on nights, but I will do it for as long as I can.

[TinyHineyRN]

Too much chaos, drama, politics and favoritism on days IMHO. Night shifters are better team players and multi-taskers out of necessity

This quote DEFINITELY represents my unit also! I think, as a necessity, night shift nurses learn to be very independent. We have to; we have virtually NO resources! We have fewer ancillary staff (ie, Child Life, support partners who can bring supplies and equipment from the stock room, dietary who can bring meal trays for new admissions, doctors and residents). This is not to say that day shift nurses are helpless, but on nights you learn how to do a lot more with a lot less!

As a night shift nurse who rotates to days with the needs of the unit, I have experienced both sides. I have worked nights where people are (typically) more relaxed and laid back....its the culture of the shift! And I have worked days with the mass chaos! I think if you are used to having more resources at your disposal, it is harder to work in and adjust to an environment where you have virtually yourself, your coworkers, and thats about it!

[JDZ344]

We all rotate at my workplace.

[MassED, BSN, RN]

I've worked all shifts with at least 3 years on each shift. Personally, I find day shift is the easiest shift by far and at this point in my life I no longer accept any nights in spite of handsome bonuses. When working with nurses who were filling in on a shift other than their primary shift, I noticed it to be hard for most everyone, no matter what their usual shift is. Day nurses filling in on nights looked like they just ran a marathon about half way through the shift and night nurses on days had a hard time keeping up with the pace.

"night nurses on days had a hard time keeping up with the pace. "

Oh, please. Night nurses work with the SAME volume in an ER, most nights even MORE, with less staff, less resources.... it's by far much harder, and that is coming from my point of view of having worked all types of shifts. Nights have is much more difficult all the way around.

[evolvingrn, BSN, RN]

I could work days .....Absolutely but i don't want to. I sometimes have twice the number of pts than them and because there are only 3 nurses at night and our rooms are very large they can't separate by acuity at night like they will on days and pms.......so i sometimes have just as busy ...if not more so than days. The difference is they do more discharges and they often get hit with an admission at the end of their shift. The thing i HATE about days is the other staff, drs. casemanagers, unit assistants, volunteers, students, social workers, chaplains. Those people also demand your time. Trying to get a computer is very hard, and not having access to a computer makes it very hard to stay on schedule. pms does the most admissions and i work 12's so i do those a fair amount and i also get them when they come at night. I only had 5 pts last night but 3 of them had family that spent the night and needed education and attention. on the days, its common for all your pts to have needy families.

I definitely think most of our day shifters could work the night shift. most of them got the position they have because they have years and years of experience.

[LegzRN]

As a night shifter, Yes, I feel as though I could handle days because, well, I spent 6 months doing days before I realized the grass was greener on the other side.