older new grad not a night person

Midwest4me · Jan 27, 2008

It's just a matter of setting your mind to it and making sure you get adequate rest. I've had so many people tell me "I could never work nights!" I'm really not a night person either but I work four 10-hr shifts and have off 3-day weekends and prefer that schedule.

I take a 4-5 hr nap prior to going in on my first night shift of the week. When I've finished my last shift of the week, I take a 2-4 hr nap, get up and do errands, etc.

OR to further lengthen my days off, prior to the last shift of the week I stagger my sleep hours and get a longer nap right before I go in to work and then stay up the whole day after getting off. I usually try to treat night shift like day shift and stay up several hours after coming home from work so that I sleep right up until I have to work the night shift. Hope this helps. Good luck with your decision!

Lorie P. · Jan 27, 2008

Night shift takes a toll on the body. I am now in the process of finding a daytime job after 4 years of night shift. This body ain't as young as it use to be.

I love night shift, but my body doesn't.

I have always worked night shift even years ago while in the military.

But after several major surgeries, getting older and raising a 9yold, it is time to come off nights.

angel337, MSN, RN · Jan 27, 2008

i think you should keep looking for a day position. if there is nothing available try pm's, 3-11pm isn't too bad and its easier too adjust your sleep routine. nights can be brutal if you are not a night person and i think it is important as a new grad that you get the adequate rest you need. good luck with your search.

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Jan 28, 2008

There are specialties that will take a new grad (OR) where you don't have to work nights, with the exception of call every so often.

Many places are starting to offer different shifts too-I'd keep checking.

floatRN · Jan 28, 2008

I'm not a night person either. I've been a nurse for almost four years and have managed to never work nights. I did 3-11 for a couple years. There always seem to be alot of openings on 2nd shift where I work. You could do that shift and have an almost normal sleep schedule. It is possible to find a day shift-it just takes a little more time. I am in the process of changing jobs. I had to look at several hospitals but finally found a 7a-7p job on med-surg with no rotating shifts. Keep checking job postings online for nearby hospitals frequently because new jobs could be posted any time and a day shift position won't stay open as long.

MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2008

I too am an older new grad....never worked nights, but started with a 10a to 11p shift....then went to day shift. If you keep looking you may be able to find something similar. I'm like you, could never work overnight

Good Luck with your search.

Maisy;)

Riseupandnurse · Jan 28, 2008

I was always a day person but did 3 years of nights after graduating, 40 years old. It was awful. Never felt rested, sick all the time. No semblance of a normal life even on days off. I've always said nights should get double the pay of days, even if it is less busy. My advice is to keep hunting for a days position.

vamedic4, EMT-P · Jan 28, 2008

I'm on the other side of the fence from many of you, I work nights and I LOVE it. The key is to get a schedule you can work with. You've already said that nights aren't your thing, so the key is to maximize your sleep time during the day. This may mean staggering your days to work (for example, I've worked nights for 12 plus years and I know I can't do days in a row...so I usually work the same days every week...Sun/Tue/Fri. It allows me to be home during the week when my kids are home, I sleep while they're in school, et cetera.

I think it is very important to have flexible scheduling...not everyone can work 3 in a row, 4 in a row, and it's not fair that you should have to since they're already requiring you to work nights to begin with.

To the OP, I hope you find employment that meets YOUR requirements. Best of luck to you.

vamedic4

mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP · Jan 28, 2008

I worked a wide variety of shifts in my adult life, never much fancied the ol' night shift but let me tell you my story......

1st job out of NS was a day shift job. Thought I would LOVE it - really hated getting up at 5 a.m. to make a 1.5 hour drive to be to work by 7a only to get home at 9p to fall into bed to start the whole routine over again. But I held on because new grads just don't day shift jobs.

2nd job MUCH closer to home (now 15 mins. instead of 1.5 hours). Started out there 11-11 and that shift was nearly the death of me. Never felt rested, always missed my family, never saw my son if I worked several days in a row. 3 days and I was wiped out. But I held on because I got a day job there too after several months. Once again, I should feel blessed to have a day job....I'm a new nurse!!!

3rd job I took was nights and I took it by choice (and this is my current job). I took it for a large variety of reasons but basically my pay and schedule was more conducive to my family and I. I work every M, T, W nights and I LOVE my schedule now. I work 3 and I'm off 4 every single week.

Never would I have thought I could do a night job but it has really suprised me. This comes from a person that live and breathed getting into bed by 9p every single night for years upon years.

The key to my sucess though is the fact that I treat my sleep during the day just like I would treat my sleep at night. I don't run errands at noon and I don't do my grocery shopping at 2 p.m. Those are saved for my days off just like if I worked a *normal* day job.

For me it was finding the balance I needed that 1st night back......so on Sunday I stay up as late as I can, lay down for 2-3 hours (a nap if you will) get back up by no later than 3 a.m. and stay up the rest of the night. I watch TV, balance the checkbook, surf the net, catch up on reading. I put my son on the bus at 7:15 and then it's back to bed until he's home. I wake up for that 1st night and I feel rested and ready to go. The rest of the week it's just like I work days....I come home, eat and go to bed. Thursdays I come home and I sleep until 1 or 2 and then I'm up the rest of the day and *usually* I have no problem with going back to bed that night. By Friday it's back to normal again.

Nights ended up being a very feasible and a MUCH happier option for me which really surpised me in the end BUT I had to find my balance. Not everyone can do 3 nights in a row but for me it works and it works really well and I'm very happy with my work schedule (FINALLY).

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2008

What happened to the days when you signed up for a certain shift? There are day people and there are night people. Why do we put staff through this unneccessary stressor on the body? With an aging work force, nurses over a certain age are becoming dinosaurs on the floors with this, in part, being a factor.

I worked rotating shifts as a new grad. I was 50 when I graduated. It was terribly hard on me. The new grad experience, combined with rotating shifts was so stressful, I was sick my first six months with an infection I couldn't shake. There wasn't enough coffee in the world to keep my eyelids from closing before report. If I had to stay late to chart, it was disasterous. What would normally have taken me a half hour took me an hour and a half because I couldn't stay awake. Driving home was scary. Thank God I didn't live too far and it was opposite traffic. I left hospital work after a year of hospital shenanigans. I personally feel that hospital work is for the young and fit.

This might be something you'll just have to deal with in the beginning. Find out when you interiew how far into your service the night commitment will be required of you. You might find a facility that gives you straight days until you have completed a good daylight orientation. If we must work rotating shifts, at least give the new grad a good six months on days before doing the night thing. Working nights has a different routine and requires an orientation of its own, albeit a short one.

There are nursing jobs that don't require a night commitment but usually a year of med/surg experience is required. All good advice given in the other posts. I wish you the best of luck.