7 replies to this topic

[aussie-margaret]

I do

reasons:

less patients (hopefully) in emergency
less relatives
less phone calls
less admin staff running around
less chaos (hopefully)
work with one RN and one Dr, rather than lots of people running around and creating more chaos

[AndreaP]

I work night shift...have for 6 years now. I LOVE IT!

I work nights becuase like you said there is just less of everything, except paper work..

There arent any doctors hanging around
There arent any administrators
We can eat at the desk..because there arent any administrators
The family is usually gone home
No ancilary staff except for Respiratory Therapists...which I love
My patients are all in their rooms and easy to find, and usually asleep.
Its quiet, and non distracting. LOVE NIGHTS!

When I was doing day shift for clinicals i just about went out of my mind because of all the extra people that were there all the time, and the fact that I could never find my patients becuase they were off for some procedure or in therapy.

We have a great time at night!

[3boyzmom]

I like nights too- the only problem is that my body won't cooperate! The longest stretch I ever did was for about a year and a half; by that time I was near nuts from lack of sleep. I can go to sleep in the morning; in fact I had a nice little routine of coming home, having a light breakfast and watching a little TV, and then going to bed around 9:00am. I have a great family who was cooperative and knew I needed to sleep, so I almost always knew that I was able to sleep until about 3:00 or 4:00. The problem was, I'd wake up just about every hour on the hour!!! All day long. Then when I finally got up, I felt like I'd been hit by a train. Headache, the works. I'd shower and dress, and it took over an hour to begin feeling halfway human again. I'd be OK in the evening and all through the night, so it went OK for a while. But as I said, I could only go about a year and a half like that and then I was pretty much done for.

Days are more hectic and chaotic, no doubt about it. They can be a real headache. But.....I have to say, I really do love to sleep at night!!!!! And to know that when I watch my nighttime TV shows, I can go to bed afterward rather than getting up and going to work!!! But hey, I do hear what you're saying, and I agree. As far as being at work, I like it far better at night. If only the rest of me would cooperate with my mind.....

[Jacqui]

I'm another night shifter. I work nights for much the same reason as others above. Also I have children at school and working nights allows me to take them and pick them up and spend a little time at school when necessary. I like getting a little extra money (although it in no way compensates for the awful things that shift work does to your body) and because I work 10 hour nights I get 3 nights off.

[swissrn2002]

Hi, I too am a night nurse. I have always worked nights since I first graduated from nursing school (5 years now). I have had many opportunities to work days or PM's, but nights are more comfortable for me. I love the people I work with, who also have worked many many years only nights. I find we really help each other and watch out for each others patients. I work Labor/Delivery and things can go wrong fast, even if you turn your back for a minute, but my co-workers all keep an eye on the monitors as I do for them. I think the best thing about working nights is working a long night and getting to go home and go straight to bed. Day shift you work all day, go home and do homework with the kids, fix dinner, clean up and back to bed early. At least on nights, you get a good sleep before getting up to do homework, dinner and clean up. I will probally work this shift for many more years if able. I think loving what you do makes a big difference on how you feel about your shift. I couldn't be happier.

[EmmaD]

I have so much respect for people who do nights and have kids!!!

I do nights because it's part of my contract, although we can request them when we want - I usually request them before I go on holiday as it adds to holiday time (if I do 7 nights, I get 7 'nights-off') - bonus!

I like nights because:
I can sit down more
Patients are usually asleep
Relatives are rare (if we have a dying or psychologically distressed patient we allow family members to stay)
At night time, the patients who can't sleep, open up more and reveal a lot of their fears and hopes

I dislike nights because:
We have one doctor who covers 6 wards, when our patients (medical oncology) become sick, they become very acute in a short space of time and some junior doctors don't understand that
I sleep, on average, only 2 hours/day - usually ending up with headaches/migraine by the end of the week.
2 RNs + 16 Patients is hard work when the patients are unwell and immobile - manual handling becomes a big issue
Patients accidentally pull out the IV Cannula in their sleep
Patients (at home) call the ward for advice (or to talk) - we advise Chemotherapy patients to call the ward if they feel 'unwell' (due to the potential for neutropenic sepsis) - they never seem to all during the day!

My list of negatives could go on... on the whole I feel that I don't like nights but I do like the time off afterwards.

[Robyn]

When I used to work in the hospital, I used to trade my day shifts for nights. Like many of you voiced here, nights are just less hassle...less family, less admin, less trouble generally. Glad to see there are others out there like me! I am presently doing occ health which means I work Monday to Friday, 9-5, but I hope to change back to shift work soon...I just cannot adjust to getting up every morning and going to work with only a two day break (weekend).

[Sophie]

I agree with everyone else the hospital is less busy and more relaxed at night. It can be really hard though if you cant get into a good routine. Like someone else mentioned, its hard for some to adjust to working the night shift.