Rotating Shifts: Surviving and Thriving

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I've worked full time days, I've worked full time nights and I've rotated. Surprising to some, my favorite shift is -- drumroll please -- ROTATING!

Here's why: Days has the advantage of being, well, in the day time. It's natural for us to be up and about and working in the day time. It has the disadvantage, to quote an LPN I worked with years ago, "three meals and a bed bath." There are lots of people around -- visitors, management, teams of doctors on teaching rounds, consulting services, physical therapy (who always seem to want to walk your patient just when you've fed, medicated and changed all their dressings and have put them down for a nap), case management, pharmacy, RT -- the list goes on and on. It's exciting and you learn a lot, but you're also always on display. You can't sit down and put your feet up for a minute. Someone might SEE.

Night shift is quieter -- you have more autonomy to plan your shift, your breaks, and the times you cover your colleagues for breaks. You can sit down to chart and yes, put your feet up. (After visiting hours, of course.) You have time to look up meds, policies or the photo of the new surgeon coming on staff. Pinterest rules between 3 and 4 AM, and you have time to direct your orientees to allnurses.com. But night shift happens at night. And I have the best of both worlds -- just when I think I cannot STAND another day shift because of all the hustle and bustle -- it's time to rotate to nights. And when I cannot drag myself to work at 7 PM again, I'm rotating back to days.

Now for the tips:

• Attitude is everything. It shouldn't have to be said, but I'll say it anyway. Most people are exactly as happy as they make up their minds they're going to be. So like everything else, enjoy the aspects of rotating (and of each shift) that you like, and tolerate the aspects that you don't. Remember this, too shall pass.
  
• When you're on night shift, BE on night shift. Go to bed at the same time (or a few hours earlier) and get up at the same time on your nights off. I can't vacuum at 3 AM if DH is sleeping, but I can dust or do laundry. Or go to the gym, watch TV shows or movies I've got stored on the DVR, read books, pay the bills, do the taxes or cook. In some places, you can even shop. I used to do all my shopping in the middle of the night -- fewer kids trying to hit you with shopping carts.
  
• Your sleep time is sacred, whether it's 8AM to 4 PM or 9PM to 5AM. Don't let anyone interfere with it. (There are plenty of tips on the Surviving Night Shift threads.)
  
• You probably won't have much control over your schedule at first, but when you DO have control, try to work 2-3 weeks of one shift before rotating. I've discovered that 2-3 weeks works best, although I've tried everything from 6-12 week blocks (which just made me crazy, but works really well for some folks) or rotating twice a week. One former colleague of mine worked Day-Day-Night, off four and then Day-Night-Night. It worked for her. So if 2-3 weeks doesn't work for you, find something that does and try to stick with it.
  
• In most places, there will be day shifters, night shifters and rotators. Try to make friends with all of them; you never know who is going to be there to have your back when your patient crimps two hours into your shift. That's more difficult when you rotate, because you don't see any one person as often. It's worth the trouble, though.
  
• Night shift usually has bonding rituals . . . Sunday night pot lucks or grilling hot dogs every Monday night. Perhaps "liver rounds" at the local tavern at 8 AM. (Don't laugh -- it's how I met DH.) Participate in those as much as you can. It helps you to become part of the team.
  
• You've got friends and family at home, too. Try to get them on board with the rotating thing as much as possible. When you're working nights, your husband can watch "Fight Club" over and over and you won't care (unless he's subjecting the 5 year old to it). He can eat Nachos for dinner, play his obnoxious eighties hits loud and sit around in his underwear scratching himself. YAY for him! There's benefits to the program for both of you. You can come home from work, drive the kids to school and get up just in time for them to come home to a rested Mommy who is willing to play Candyland before dinner. You can bond with your neice (or your own teenager) by chatting on Facebook at 1 AM when she should be sleeping.
  
• Make sure your schedule is on the refrigerator -- or someplace accessible to the whole family -- so everyone knows when you're going to be sleeping days and working nights and when you'll be available to chaperone the junior prom. (No, you wouldn't really embarrass your kids like that, would you?)
  
• If your kids hate you working nights, make sure to make a special routine for them that happens only when you work nights. Breakfast at the local tavern on Sunday morning before church? (Just you, your family and the drunks . . . don't laugh. My sister-in-laws family loves those breakfasts!) Nacho night on your first night off after a stretch? Ditto for the day shift.
  

I'm sure there are dozens of tips I've forgotten, but I'm counting on my friends on AN to remind me and fill you in! Happy rotating!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

My OR requires rotating shifts, days and evenings. We do have a permanent night shift, but only a partial permanent evening shift. Days have the benefits of having more staff around to help out, but it can be monotonous because you're in the same OR doing the same case over and over for the day. Evenings has less staff to help out, but has the bonding rituals- everyone gets the chance to pick where to order out from for dinner, the bake-offs, the poker games on the rare night where there was down time, closing down the bar a block away. While maybe not possible to get that perfect shift arrangement right off of orientation, it will come eventually. And what is perfect for one may be kryptonite for another. That diversity is what makes nursing such a great option.

[krisiepoo]

I just got hired for rotating 12s, thanks for the post.

[macawake, MSN]

Days has the advantage of being, well, in the day time. It’s natural for us to be up and about and working in the day time. It has the disadvantage, to quote an LPN I worked with years ago, “three meals and a bed bath.” There are lots of people around -- visitors, management, teams of doctors on teaching rounds, consulting services, physical therapy (who always seem to want to walk your patient just when you’ve fed, medicated and changed all their dressings

• This is an excellent description of why I was always exhausted after day shifts
  
  A lot of helpful tips for managing a rotating schedule in this post!
  
• The opportunity to work many different combinations of shifts is actually one of the things I appreciate the most about working as a hospital nurse. The diversity is a big advantage. I’ve worked straight days, straight nights and a mix of days/eves/nights. My absolute favorite is straight nights. I find that it meshes well with my personal circadian rhythm. I’m part owl. I’ve been working straight nights for the past four years or so and I love it.
  
  I’m Swedish and here nights isn’t a shift where you see a lot of new grads so it took a while before I got the schedule that is ideal for me. New grads are typically started out on days or day/eves for the first year or two.
  
• The reasoning behind is that there is more staff around during days, more support for the fledgling nurse. Nights have a skeleton crew and the nurse needs to be able to independently make clinical judgment calls to a greater extent and have mastered his/her time management skills. The difference between days and nights is much more noticeable on the typical med-surg floor than in the pacu where I currently work but I still enjoy the quiet, the slower pace of nights. Fewer people buzzing around. A close knit, dependable and skilled (and slightly crazy ) group of coworkers. Sheer bliss :)
  

[canigraduate]

Thanks, Ruby! I am starting back on nights, and I haven't been looking forward to it. I am going to take your first three tips to heart! The last time I worked nights, I let people wake me up and tried to keep a flip-flop schedule. I was miserable. I am going to work on adjusting my attitude right now. This time is going to be different!!

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

I actually enjoy being a rotater myself. The worse part of night shift for me is the drive home. I also appreciate day shift and night shift for the same as you do and it is nice to have a variety. The only difference is that I do 1-4 night shifts per six weeks and they are picked on random days. I don't think I could work more than 2 night shifts in a week, it is too much on me.

[amygarside]

I actually enjoy being a rotater myself. The worse part of night shift for me is the drive home. I also appreciate day shift and night shift for the same as you do and it is nice to have a variety. The only difference is that I do 1-4 night shifts per six weeks and they are picked on random days. I don't think I could work more than 2 night shifts in a week, it is too much on me.

Me too. 2 night shifts a week is too much for me. I am used to work in the morning. I have problems changing my body clock.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Me too. 2 night shifts a week is too much for me. I am used to work in the morning. I have problems changing my body clock.

I think most of us have difficulty with nights and/or difficulty changing their body clocks. Yet rotating shifts are a fact of life for many, many nurses.

[ChipNurse]

I rotate every 2 weeks between day and night shift. While I don't really *like* it, it is beneficial to learn what goes on in both shifts, prevents "shift wars" and I know every one!

[nurseling]

I've worked full time days, I've worked full time nights and I've rotated. Surprising to some, my favorite shift is -- drumroll please -- ROTATING!

Here's why: Days has the advantage of being, well, in the day time. It's natural for us to be up and about and working in the day time. It has the disadvantage, to quote an LPN I worked with years ago, "three meals and a bed bath." There are lots of people around -- visitors, management, teams of doctors on teaching rounds, consulting services, physical therapy (who always seem to want to walk your patient just when you've fed, medicated and changed all their dressings and have put them down for a nap), case management, pharmacy, RT -- the list goes on and on. It's exciting and you learn a lot, but you're also always on display. You can't sit down and put your feet up for a minute. Someone might SEE.

Night shift is quieter -- you have more autonomy to plan your shift, your breaks, and the times you cover your colleagues for breaks. You can sit down to chart and yes, put your feet up. (After visiting hours, of course.) You have time to look up meds, policies or the photo of the new surgeon coming on staff. Pinterest rules between 3 and 4 AM, and you have time to direct your orientees to allnurses.com. But night shift happens at night. And I have the best of both worlds -- just when I think I cannot STAND another day shift because of all the hustle and bustle -- it's time to rotate to nights. And when I cannot drag myself to work at 7 PM again, I'm rotating back to days.

Now for the tips:

• Attitude is everything. It shouldn't have to be said, but I'll say it anyway. Most people are exactly as happy as they make up their minds they're going to be. So like everything else, enjoy the aspects of rotating (and of each shift) that you like, and tolerate the aspects that you don't. Remember this, too shall pass.
  
• When you're on night shift, BE on night shift. Go to bed at the same time (or a few hours earlier) and get up at the same time on your nights off. I can't vacuum at 3 AM if DH is sleeping, but I can dust or do laundry. Or go to the gym, watch TV shows or movies I've got stored on the DVR, read books, pay the bills, do the taxes or cook. In some places, you can even shop. I used to do all my shopping in the middle of the night -- fewer kids trying to hit you with shopping carts.
  
• Your sleep time is sacred, whether it's 8AM to 4 PM or 9PM to 5AM. Don't let anyone interfere with it. (There are plenty of tips on the Surviving Night Shift threads.)
  
• You probably won't have much control over your schedule at first, but when you DO have control, try to work 2-3 weeks of one shift before rotating. I've discovered that 2-3 weeks works best, although I've tried everything from 6-12 week blocks (which just made me crazy, but works really well for some folks) or rotating twice a week. One former colleague of mine worked Day-Day-Night, off four and then Day-Night-Night. It worked for her. So if 2-3 weeks doesn't work for you, find something that does and try to stick with it.
  
• In most places, there will be day shifters, night shifters and rotators. Try to make friends with all of them; you never know who is going to be there to have your back when your patient crimps two hours into your shift. That's more difficult when you rotate, because you don't see any one person as often. It's worth the trouble, though.
  
• Night shift usually has bonding rituals . . . Sunday night pot lucks or grilling hot dogs every Monday night. Perhaps "liver rounds" at the local tavern at 8 AM. (Don't laugh -- it's how I met DH.) Participate in those as much as you can. It helps you to become part of the team.
  
• You've got friends and family at home, too. Try to get them on board with the rotating thing as much as possible. When you're working nights, your husband can watch "Fight Club" over and over and you won't care (unless he's subjecting the 5 year old to it). He can eat Nachos for dinner, play his obnoxious eighties hits loud and sit around in his underwear scratching himself. YAY for him! There's benefits to the program for both of you. You can come home from work, drive the kids to school and get up just in time for them to come home to a rested Mommy who is willing to play Candyland before dinner. You can bond with your neice (or your own teenager) by chatting on Facebook at 1 AM when she should be sleeping.
  
• Make sure your schedule is on the refrigerator -- or someplace accessible to the whole family -- so everyone knows when you're going to be sleeping days and working nights and when you'll be available to chaperone the junior prom. (No, you wouldn't really embarrass your kids like that, would you?)
  
• If your kids hate you working nights, make sure to make a special routine for them that happens only when you work nights. Breakfast at the local tavern on Sunday morning before church? (Just you, your family and the drunks . . . don't laugh. My sister-in-laws family loves those breakfasts!) Nacho night on your first night off after a stretch? Ditto for the day shift.
  

I'm sure there are dozens of tips I've forgotten, but I'm counting on my friends on AN to remind me and fill you in! Happy rotating!

Thanks so much. What a refreshing perspective, especially that its about your attitude. I work rotating days and nights. Some people tell me it will ruin my life and I say, only a bad attituse about it will ruin my life. Days and nights are great because I get to enjoy the busy hustle of days while getting in some downtime, not to mention premiums working nights. :)

[Karou]

You have some fantastic tips! Most of them can apply to straight days/nights as well as rotating. I especially like the positive attitude and sacred sleeping time. Rotating shifts might never be my cup of tea, but I'm glad they are yours! Nursing is such a huge profession and I love that there is a different shift/schedule that can fit almost anyone's preference.

[amzyRN]

I wish I could work nights and rotating day night shifts because I agree there is a lot to be learned from variety. My body just won't let me. I've tried nights and my body said no. Some people can do it and I've always envied them. I got hired on straight days and feel very fortunate because often a straight days shift is hard to get. I did rotate day evening and even that was hard enough. I like the pace of evenings a little better, less people, only one meal etc. Nights are great too; I sure wish I was able to work them.