To work nights or not to work nights? that is the question....

[tsbarbre]

I am a new grad and have been orientating at my first nursing job on day shift. I am wanting to switch to nights though because I don't want to burn myself out with my first job and as a float on day shift I think I will. passing meds takes forever and it seems like every day nurse I have met have "short cuts" that they tell me not to do because it's bad habits but it is what they have to do to get the job done. some halls are better than others but as a float I'll never know what I will get until I walk in the door. nights are alot calmer from what the night nurses have told me, lot less med passes and I can get to know the patients instead of at the end of the shift being like "which one was he again?" my husband and mom think it's a bad idea and say to stick with days and see it through. My husband thinks I'll be tired all the time and will be miserable but I already have a hard time sleeping on days where I was really busy because I stay up at night questioning everything I did at work and seeing if I made any errors. Any suggestions? I want to talk to my work about this before I'm done orientating. my night shift would be 11-7 and I work in LTC. oh and I don't have kids so that's not an issue.

[daisydoll]

Yes there are less meds on night shifts, but where I used to work we were always short on nights and management did not give a hoot. I would get 8-9 pts on a surgical floor and found it hard to keep track of who was who. Those patients never slept, and if they did you got really lucky. There was always something going on and I had to stay late 75% of the time to finish pt care and charting. Not to mention my body could not adjust and I was never getting enough sleep. Just wasnt for me.

[november17, ASN, RN]

We have 2 new grads on the dayshift where I work and they are both drowning every single day they work. I think they'll be great in the long run, but the stress level is very high for them. They're pretty stretched out all the time. I'm one of the charges so I spend a lot of time with them to help, but a lot of little things snowball into big things and the next thing you know they're crying in the bathroom. I feel terrible about it and try to help as much as I can, but they're so new they get tripped up really easily.

The 2 grads that went to nights are very relaxed and are pretty happy with the unit.

I think nights is better for new grads, at least where I work. It is a lot more relaxed and you have a bit more time to think over your actions/reactions. Don't get me wrong, I worked a year on night shift before switching to days and I know how busy it can get. Some days I'd wish I would get fired or something, because it was so stressful. But I'm thankful for my time on nights because it is definitely more relaxed and I had time to learn and digest (despite the higher patient loads).

Day shift is just GO GO GO. Especially with my unit, which has the highest volume of discharges and admits in the entire hospital (>15-20 of both per day). So even though there are less patients, you're still likely to get rid of 3 out of your 5 and maybe even end the day with an entirely different patient load then when you started. It can be difficult because of all the paperwork and trying to learn about the patients. Especially post-ops, who are the most likely to be in some sort of crisis and require extra attention.

I know this is anecdotal, and unique to my employer, but I hope that helps.

[RNBelle]

I LOVE nights. I decided it doesnt matter whether I work nights or days I am tired. So I might as well work on the shift I like. I have been an RN for a year. I oriented on days and then went to nights. I had time on nights to make sense out of things and could pace myself a lot better as a new grad.

[Batman24]

I work 7am-7pm. I have covered on night shifts to help a fellow nurse out and the schedule just wasn't a good one for me or my lifestyle. It really is a personal choice as some only want nights.

I did find night much less stressful. We worked hard but it was easier from the standpoint that many of the visitors had gone home and there are a lot less interruptions because doctors usually round, etc. during the day. You also don't get many calls, there's more room to move, etc. It was a much calmer environment because there just weren't as many people around on the whole.

[tsbarbre]

sorry if this post offended some of the nighters but I've compared night to day shift (at MY work) and yeah dayshift has way more to do mostly because the doctors want all the blood pressures, accu checks so on to be done during the morning shift. this isn't at all facilities so I am not calling nights "an easy way out" but I am saying you can learn more on nights because I won't have as many pills to pass on my 25-30 patients. when some people have 30 pills and there is no organization to the drawers it takes a while for a float to do where as a nurse who is permanent on that floor knows by heart what meds that person gets and doesn't have to look at the medex, then look at the drawer, look at the medex, look at the drawer....blah!!!

[rhondaa83]

I knew that I would regret making that statement , and I do. I absolutly did not mean the easy way out because, you are all right, you do not have access to the doctors, I feel the same way working 3-11. Doctors are home with their family, they do not want to be bothered. I have know more than one nurse that likes to work the 11-7 because it is less stressfull (at our facility). I have been there before, trying to take the easy road, and have realized that I have to jump in there and sink or swim, I just did not want the person with the original post to to follow in my footsteps. I wish I were BRAVE! In time I will be, I have only been an LPN on my own since the end of June 08. So long story short, I did not mean to offend anyone and If I did, I am sorry.