What is night shift actually like?

[MyAimIsTrue]

I'm a new grad, just got an offer (yay!) and of course, will be starting on night shift. I'll be working 12 hour shifts and I'm having a hard time envisioning what I'll be doing at 1 am, or 3:30 am. I understand some things will have to happen, like perhaps a few med passes, or hanging a new bag of fluids, or taking care of someone who's really not feeling well, but it's got to be slower than day shift, right? Or am I just naive? This will be a med/surg/oncology floor, BTW.

[SpaceCowgirl, BSN]

I worked strictly nights for 7 years, now I currently work 2 day shifts and 2 night shifts a week. There is technically less work to do on nights, but you won't actually notice because you also have less techs, no free charge nurse, and no secretary at night; ultimately, the "less work" is distributed among less staff. Daily blood draws, daily EKGs, central line dressing changes, peg tube feeding set changes, and stocking are all done at night. Day shift will also leave plenty of things for you to do, like switch out beds that have been malfunctioning all day, or put air mattresses on, since you have "more free time" on your shift. If you're wondering what you'll be doing at 1 am, don't worry. Around that time, if you've hung all your midnight antibiotics and woken up your couple of patients who were actually asleep to take their horribly timed Q6 PO meds, you'll probably decide to catch up on all your charting and take a quick lunch break. That's usually when the pager goes off for another admission, either a train wreck from the ED or a fresh post op from emergent surgery. I like my day shift job, but I can never give up nights completely - they're too much fun!