Opinions on weekend only night shift position

Tait, MSN, RN · Jul 10, 2011

Since it is OR does that mean you are on call? **Nevermind I see it isn't**

No real advice other than I wouldn't want it to be permanent, however it might work out, especially since you said you are considering additional schooling and being off during the week would facilitate that.

hopefulwhoop · Jul 10, 2011

I might have misunderstood the OP, but I think she stated she won't be on call. Personally, I wouldn't do it. That schedule makes it pretty hard to have a social life. Is this every single week or are there weeks you don't work weekends? Where I work, there are nurses who work weekends, but can have every 4th weekend off.

Tait, MSN, RN · Jul 10, 2011

I might have misunderstood the OP, but I think she stated she won't be on call. Personally, I wouldn't do it. That schedule makes it pretty hard to have a social life. Is this every single week or are there weeks you don't work weekends? Where I work, there are nurses who work weekends, but can have every 4th weekend off.

Ah yeah I skimmed to fast and missed that part. Thanks for pointing that out! :)

Orange Tree · Jul 10, 2011

Those are weird OR hours. I see that you won't be on-call, but is it possible that you would be canceled frequently?

forsteva · Jul 10, 2011

My sister worked something similar, and she was miserable. She had no social life, missed out on a bunch of family parties and opportunities with friends and she was just really unhappy. She ended up quitting that job and talking a new one with better hours, and she's much happier and has a new boyfriend and since she doesn't have to work on Sunday we make all our family parties then so that she can make it. So personally, I wouldn't do it. I don't think it's worth it to miss out on so much.

crb613, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2011

I am considering applying for a position in the OR that would consist of Friday, Saturday, Sunday 7pm-7am. I am wondering if anyone has any input about the drawbacks of doing this. Pro's: I have the whole week off to be available for my family, frees me up for additional educational opportunities, no call with this shift. Cons: would miss a lot social opportunities, the hubby has Saturday and Sunday off, would miss most extended family gatherings (that could also be a pro:smokin:).
I recognize that I could not do this indefinitely, but I figured I would be ok with it for a few years. Anyone working something similar have opinions?

I don't know if you have ever worked night shift before so I just wanted to point this out...... you get off on Monday morning spend that day sleeping.....so you are actually only off Tue, Wed, Thur.... Friday you have to take a nap in order to be up all night. Also it is hard to switch back & forth...I tried for a while, but now I pretty much stay on my night shift schedule all the time.

Tait, MSN, RN · Jul 10, 2011

I don't know if you have ever worked night shift before so I just wanted to point this out...... you get off on Monday morning spend that day sleeping.....so you are actually only off Tue, Wed, Thur.... Friday you have to take a nap in order to be up all night. Also it is hard to switch back & forth...I tried for a while, but now I pretty much stay on my night shift schedule all the time.

Completely agree with this as a veteran of night shift.

Florencebyondthepale · Jul 10, 2011

I have worked night shift, never consistently, but I try to do it as much as possible (my personal preference). I am that person who is willing to do even day/night shifts in the same week because it doesn't seem to have much of a residual effect on me. I do get that I would be sleeping a good bit Monday and am used to it because I usually cover for the night shift regulars when they go on vacation.

Orange Tree, in my current OR night shift finishes whatever cases have gone into the late evening and takes care of overnight emergent and trauma cases, which is completely unpredictable. We also set up the rooms for the morning cases, so I would not think that the shifts would be cancelled.

missladyrn · Jul 10, 2011

I did this shift for 7 months. I did actually like this schedule for the most part. This year it just so happened to also include Christmas Eve & Christmas, NYE and New Years. That was a bummer but I imagine if you have a fair manager they will not make you work every holiday, when hired I was told every other holiday, but that was not how it worked out. We were told to call out sick if we didnt like it, which a lot of nurses did. So there the rest of us were, on the holiday completely short staffed. Thanks crappy manager!!! The weekend staff was a close knit team, loved the people I worked with.

Pros-

*if you have trouble sleeping during the day (I did) after the first shift you will have NO problem falling alseep when you get home. Weekend nights have lots of car accidents etc, so we were always busy on Fri & Sat nights with lots of admits. Most went to or then to my floor. So you will be busy! By Monday I was so tired I would literally sleep away the ENTIRE day and be sore and stiff and feel awful.

*few days off in a row for your body to recover

*No traffic

*Weekend diffs and night diffs!

*same group of weekend night staff members so we grew really close. Way more of a "team" than I ever saw on day shifts.

*not much management around - since ours sucked so bad it was nice to not have to see her. lol.

* less people, no PT,OT, DRs, Case Managers, family members and less people = less chaos.

*very easy to pick up OT on weekday nights, they called me pretty much every single day to ask. Too bad they never understood that night shift people sleep days so I had to turn my phone off.

*I couldnt really eat at night so I would drink protein shakes and I lost 11lbs.

Cons-

*You have no life. I had to keep to the schedule on the weekdays or else I couldnt make it through 3 shifts in a row. Monday is totally wasted sleeping, and Friday would also be spent sleeping.

* staffing is terrible on weekends, always start understaffed then we would have a lot of call offs and float. CNAS were scarce.

*Impossible to get a weekend off. Everytime I tried to request my earned PTO I got denied due to lack of staffing.

*very difficult to get a shift swap, the weeknight people would occassionally swap, but it was very difficult.

* had to turn my phones OFF. My MIL insisted on stopping by and calling every day because she couldnt comprehend that I need to sleep during the day. Telemarketers, well meaning friends, and other random calls would come, so the phone had to be OFF.

*being up all night on your days off makes for a lonely tv filled night.

*Oh and it is very hard if you get sick. Not feasible to call out for 3 shifts in a row. Gotta suck it up and keep it together if you are not feeling 100%. Weekends are already short staffed, and since I really loved my coworkers I didnt want to leave em short.

That is all I can think of.

RNperdiem, RN · Jul 10, 2011

It depends on your lifestyle.

The job itself sounds like a dream job, especially if there are night and weekend differentials involved.

How much weekend time off would you really need?

How many weekends are you allowed to take off to attend the social gatherings you really want to attend?

What about the children? Are they old enough to understand to be quiet while mom gets her sleep during the day?

Is your husband aware and willing to do the weekend family heavy lifting?

Can you either sleep in earplugs or sleep through noise? In my neighborhood lawnmowers and leaf blowers make weekend day sleeping very noisy.

Lucky724 · Jul 10, 2011

I worked Sat and Sun. Baylor days for quite a while. I liked it but I didn't have childcare issues or anything much to work around. I don't know that I would do Fri, Sat and Sun though..why give up weekends or flexibility if you are still needing to work 3 days/wk?