Evening shift - yea or nay?

Specialties Psychiatric

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Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

I interviewed for a job at a psychiatric hospital and it went well. I am just waiting to confirm that I passed my boards this morning, and I think if they are going to offer me a job, it will be soon.

The nurse recruiter is currently hiring for all shifts and asked me to think about my preference, so I wanted to hear what it is like to work evening shift, particularly in this setting. I have always done day shift (a few nights thrown in when short staffed), but always 12-hour shifts, so I'm wondering about the pros and cons of evenings. I'm guessing stuff like having a social life can be difficult when working 3-11, but to have a regular schedule that would allow me to sleep in a bit, schedule appointments during the day, and possibly take some classes toward my BSN would be nice. Any thoughts you can post to help me make an informed decision would be awesome.

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In psych, I believe the best shift is nights. Most of the patients are sleeping and don't have medical issues that need constant monitoring.

On my floor most of the time you are monitoring the hallway , just in case, and charting. You are usually only giving 1 or 2 meds at 6 am. The only other meds given are an occasional Ambien or for an acting out patient Ativan and/or Haldol. It is by far the easiest shift except for sleep deprivation. No IVs on a psych floor--unless it is a medical psych floor

I also work evening shift and the benefit to that is not as busy as days and you still get to sleep at night. You do lose out in evening social events that occur between 3 and 11 so that is definitely a drawback.

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Specializes in Mental Health.
In psych, I believe the best shift is nights. Most of the patients are sleeping and don't have medical issues that need constant monitoring.

How is this the best? personally I love interacting with individuals and would choose morning. When you are busy time goes a lot faster and if you start the day early and finish at 3 you then have the evening to yourself. I would be inclined to stay in bed later meaning getting less done. Social life is still down the drain if you are anything like me and require your sleep :)

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Back when I was a staff nurse and working the floor, I always preferred evening/2nd shift. You can still sleep at night, sleep in in the AMs, run errands and keep appointments during the day, and I found evenings on the units, when the physicians/social workers/etc. have gone home, families are visiting, and you have more time to just talk with clients, to be more interesting and enjoyable time than either day shift or nights.

Of course, if you want to have as little contact with clients as possible, and do as little as possible during your shift, nights is the way to go.

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Evenings is when we get all the admissions .. And they usually show up at the same time. Or they r here and we haven't gotten report yet ?meanwhile, u have a borderline schizo pt terrorizing the unit and about to code . I personally hate it. I'd reccomend nights

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Exactly....in psych..nights are best. They are all asleep for the most part :) Admission paperwork is not as intense as during day or evening shift. And not that many meds.

If you want a higher likelihood of restraint usage--which involves constant charting--and encountering violent patients...stay with days or evenings. If you want a less chaotic shift PLUS the differential..choose nights, which at my age, I'm not looking for a lot of action. :)

To each their own I suppose.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Personally, I love second shift. I don't have early mornings, I'm not up ridiculously late, I can still do things during the day and my sleep schedule is not set out of whack.

As far as the workflow, administration is out by 5 so there's less management drama, MDs have come and gone so you don't have to deal with them either, it's mostly admissions if you do get new patients, and the evening schedules are usually mellower. Most units have lights out by 10 or so, so the last hour or two can be pretty peaceful.

This shift can be hard if you have a family though, and it does crimp your social calendar more than the other two. But a social life isn't entirely impossible; it just requires some more careful planning.

Also, please don't entertain the delusion that night shifts are ALWAYS peaceful. Yes they generally are calmer but not always, especially if you work gero-psych or a high acuity unit. Some of the most dramatic codes occur during the NOC shift.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

If I were to work 8s, I'd work second shift. Besides the wonderfullness of not waking up before the birds, it's a little slower paced then, so you could potentially hang out with the patients more, and then have plenty of paperwork time after they head to bed.

I don't think I could ever do night shift. No time with patients and no work to do (most of the time) is miserable for me.

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Specializes in NICU.

It truly depends on you. I worked day shift 7a-730p for a year and now I work 7p-730a. On day shift, you have all the discharges, you intereact a lot more with the patients, you deal with the families, meals, groups, and a few admissions. At night, you get most of the admissions, and like someone said, a lot of times they come very close together. The patients are asleep for most of your shift, but you will probably be the one doing most of the paperwork, chart checks, things of that nature. We joke that we are secretaries at night because we stuff charts and make sure everything is in order. The good thing is you don't have managment breathing down your throat, but you also don't have the added personell like therapists and extra techs to help in case of an emergency. I work 3 days in a row each week, so during that time, I have no social or personal life. I work, come home, and sleep. I am working on my BA and do not even have time to do that during those days, I do that on the weekend. I am tired all the time, my body is not used to working on night shift, even after 6 months. My social life suffers on the weekends because I just want to sleep. But I make $5 shift diff on nights.

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Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

Yep...as a newbie, I'm pretty keen on getting in some patient interaction. :) I'm looking forward to starting my first RN job, it would be kind of a letdown to get there and spend most of my time charting! (I'm sure that's not always the case by any stretch, but still.)

Thanks for the insight, y'all; I didn't know about admissions generally coming on evenings, discharges during day, etc. Definitely something to think about, as well as administration/doctors/other support on the unit. I'm currently thinking I'll take the "days" position if there is one - in quotes because the recruiter said there is no permanent days position. You get mostly day shifts with maybe one or two evenings or nights per pay period as needed. That way I can still have some days to sleep in or schedule appointments, but will still mostly have evenings off for that social life I'd like to have.

Ooh, I also passed my NCLEX, so this no longer theoretical, I could ACTUALLY do this!

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I did psych for 15 yrs started on 3-11 shift I thought it was busier shift more admissions come in evening and patients seem to get more agitated in evening time. I loved 3-11 shift though there no management around and all the MD's were done rounding.

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Specializes in Psych.

I love the 3-11 shift. Did that my first year, then moved to days because I wanted to see my children. As soon as the little whippersnappers are out of the house, I will go back to evenings. Yes, you will get the majority of admissions and a fair number of discharges, but I liked the extra time to interact with patients and I despise getting up before the sun.

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