Depends on the age range. Geripsych, a ton. Adult, not usually a lot unless they're unable to care for themselves. Kids? I assume it's similar to geri. I'm in detox now and minimal family interactions. Mostly just providing the occasional update if the patient is sleeping
In geripsych, are they present on the unit or is this phone interaction? I don’t ever remember any family members being around when I did my psych clinical. I do med/surg now and I just find the family members to be probably the most exhausting aspect of the job.
I'm also in med surg. Thankfully nights have less family interaction usually. But still the business of the floor even at nights is too much. It's better but still too much. I kinda love old people and I am wondering if I need to go somewhere with the elderly. Like memory care. I'm just concerned that the ratios will become 30:1
Maybe try out a Geri-Rehab unit? It’s all elderly people (whom I also absolutely love!) although we do get some younger people who are in their 50s. The work is lighter than Med Surg for sure although we do still have some sick patients and people on IVs. It’s a 10:1 nursing ratio on my unit plus a designated aide. PT also works with patients twice a day, one on one and a group class so usually when I get off my first coffee break most of my patients are in the morning workout class so I have almost no patients on the floor and I have a good 30 minutes to get a head start on charts! It’s also incredibly satisfying to have patients who come in after a hip surgery, are in pain and unable to walk and a few weeks later they are walking out of the hospital and going home to live independently again. Geri Rehab is truly the perfect place to work in my opinion lol
We have set visitation hours and phone times for the patients. Usually they're focused on visiting them. The calls were what took up a lot of my time. Giving updates to family, educating, all that.
Kids are definitely easier than geripsych. They want to talk to their peers, not their care team. And inpatient stays are just as much about therapeutic activities in the milieu as they are about psychiatric care. It’s the families that requires the most attention, although a lot of them don’t get involved in their kids’ treatment. I never worked in peds as a psych RN, only as a provider. But I wish I had because it would’ve been so easy. Kids take hardly any meds and their behavior is much easier to redirect.
I worked juvenile psych for years. I second that the therapeutic activities are really important - I was surprised when I did my adult psych rotation and the only scheduled activities were group therapy (talk, music, art) and the rest of the day they were left to their own devices. One of the most important parts of my juvenile psych job was making sure there was something going on - a craft, gym time, playground, group games - at all times.
I will challenge the assertion that kids are easy to redirect and take fewer meds. Some of my kids were taking 12 pills in one med pass, and redirecting them was impossible when they got their minds stuck on something.
That said, I also worked residential, so all of my kids had had multiple inpatient programs before they got to me.
The sad stories really wore me down over time, I had to step away from it for that reason. It was distressing sending kids home to the situations that caused their problems. And about 90% or the teens were there because of suicide attempts. It was always a relief to get a patient with FEM/FEP.
Younger kids (4-8) do tend to need a lot of support though, and they have some of the saddest stories. I did work in peds psych residential for a while and I couldn’t believe some of the things that were coming out of the children’s mouths. I got bitten a few times too.
But hey, no dementia and hardly any complex medical comorbidities in that population. Very few toileting problems as well.
I did a 12 hour clinical day in school on adolescent psych and same thing. The only parent I ever saw was one to pick up a kid being discharged. Never saw parents outside of that
I’m acute inpatient adult that’s not specifically Geri. So lots of genetics influencing conditions. There is a good percentage of family that should be admitted as well or at least get a visit from adult protective services to verify how disability checks are being spent when the pt lives with family. I’m always suspicious until proven otherwise because experience has burned me.
>I like talking to people, just not a lot.
Not me in the cath lab after being ICU for years 👀👀👀
Treat em, and yeet em out alive and better than they came in
Edit: yeet em, not yet em
That’s 1000% valid. I work in an ER with a hefty peds census (in the top ten in the country by adult/peds ratio) and I always say I would do straight peds if all the patients were orphans. I love kids, can’t stand their parents
This was my exact reasoning when I graduated school and didn’t pick peds or babies. The parents. I can barely get through a shift when these “family members” pretend to care for their 88 year old sick asf parent that they leave alone in their homes unsupervised 24/7 and then get all up in MY face when I’m trying to help them. I used my 2 limited sick days on my baby clinical as I couldn’t go in there one more day during flu season and have these parents REEK of cig and Mary j smoke next to their child who can’t breath.
Same. I just got yelled at yesterday for giving an infant a pacifier because I changed his diaper after he just had an anoplasty and he was a bit fussy. Fuck parents.
the worst thing to hear in report is “the parents are coming and mom wants to try breastfeeding.”
i feel bad about having this sentiments, but it makes completing my tasks so much harder. 90% of the NICU parents i’ve worked with have been great, though
The nice thing is, the good parents really take a load off. I love parents that nest and bathe their baby, feed them and change their diapers. All I have to do is make sure tubes and lines are secure and give meds.
I could never work with adults because family can be disconnected or your dealing with issues because nana called someone's husband a name. Also I like being able to reposition my patient with one hand.
As a parent I think this sounds ridiculous, but as a nurse I do get it. Sick babies are probably hard enough, then you have sleep deprived and scared parents.
That being said I probably would never want to leave my baby.
They are talking about the parents who come in and prevent timely care and who have some issue with everything being done/ not being done. The parents who come in and and have genuine questions and want to know what’s going on or watch without talking or who are willing to wait until task XYZ is done for their visit to begin aren’t an issue. Concern and high emotions are expected. Obstructing care and being rude are the problems.
I'm a parent myself and get it. But there's a difference between wanting to be with your child and wanting to scrutinize everything the child's care team does. Parents are more often then not more of an issue than their child is. I'll take a child without a parent at the bedside ANYDAY.
No I get this for sure!!
Don’t get me wrong, I can totally see why this would be hard especially when emotions are heightened because it’s new parents in the NICU and if they’re already assholes… it’s gunna be worse.
When I was a new grad one of the older nurses told me her favorite babies were intubated, sedated, and wards of the state. It went right over my head. But 15 years later I totally get it.
When I was hospitalized, I told the nurses I was an orphan. (My mom died so I was half orphan). I didn't want to deal with my family. They'd stress the shit out of me.
I worked postpartum and I used to by far prefer nights. No constant stream of visitors, no management breathing down your neck, no mass of students and crowds of doctors with student Drs.
Nights were nice because you could actually help someone breastfeed, help with the baby care, have some peace, let people sleep etc.
Yup. I get to have conversations with my patients. Not being interrupted by PT, dietary, OR, dialysis, so on. We can hang out a little, BS. I can go that extra mile because there aren't 12 other people trying to get their attention.
Lights and noise like bed alarms and BR lights have left me overstimulated to the point of having an anxiety attack at work 3 times lmao 😭. Otherwise, I completely shut down and become stoic
After 10 straight years of night shift I was voluntold to do a week of days...after which I was like "My God, how did I *forget* I have social anxiety? "
We were doing a flip flop thing that I was told was required (because they assumed I wanted days). I did one rotation of days and was like I know everyone has to flip flop but I really need to work nights lol. They’re like, oh that’s no problem that frees up another person to be only days 🤦🏻♀️ it is so much better on nights
Yup I feel that 100%. I’m a night shift nicu nurse too. The patients don’t talk back and the parents usually are gone by then 😂😂 I do enjoy seeing them every now and then but not everyday throughout the entire shift lol
I do evenings (3-11) specifically because I don’t like early mornings and I hate people. Lol. There are still people around but not as many, and by 7 we usually have the lights out and most people are asleep.
I worked over one night til 11p and it’s crazy how much calmer it is. That’s why I stayed in night for so long, until my body just couldn’t do it anymore.
No parents, no management, but I miss the fuck out of dayshift rounds. Working ICU, the night shift "don't rock the boat" mentality can only go so far when you know there's things that you would want to suggest or discuss with the team, but you have to pass it on to the dayshift RN who doesn't connect the dots on the importance of your suggestions. Or just doesn't care 🤷🏻♂️. It is what it is, I'll take the good with the bad of night shift. Somebody's gotta do it!
That's one of the most frustrating things possible in report, lol. You've busted ass, went above and beyond to not only figure out what may be going on but tailor it to the patient specifically, and they're just staring at their report sheet not writing anything down. When you finish they just ask something that you've already given the information on twice.
Maddening, but some people just want to clock in and clock out.
>Maddening, but some people just want to clock in and clock out.
And I totally get it. But ICU/critical care doesn't benefit from a shitty game of Telephone during report. The amount of times I've passed on info just for it to get lost in the sauce 2-3 days later is honestly ridiculous. Same goes for the MDs too, the amount of times I've mentioned things during Nightshift rounds that are clinically relevant just for the MD to be like "I didn't get that during handoff" is astounding.
Oh my goooood, that shit is brain-rending. Especially when you repeat the same things every night and the info *somehow* still doesn't end up passed on or utilized, despite writing it on the board, in big bold print on the progress notes section.
I'm pretty sure I've stayed late a couple times just to make sure some obscure but super relevant bit of info was passed on to whichever relevent parties. Most I've worked in a row is 6, and watching/hearing the amount of stuff that gets missed, dropped or misinterpreted can be terrifying.
Thinking on it now after typing it out, that's probably why I internalize prioritizing a quality verbal report and have charting nearer the bottom of my to-dos.
Try reading the Highly Sensitive Person by Elain Aron. She did a huge study in the 90s about heightened sensitivity among a smaller percentage in the population, 20 percent, I think, and many work in health care careers.
This book has helped me to recognize my own needs and true, I had a job years ago that needed me to do nights, and I happily worked it because I was less stimulated. But I have been back to days for a while now. Knowing is healing; I've worked in psyc (counseling/therapy) for 20 years. Good luck - you're not alone.
Right?! AuDHD here. I work 1600-0000 but do days on occasion. I will go putter around stocking things and folding linens at shift change just to get away from all the people.
ADHD and autism are pretty closely linked these days too. A lot of the kids in the 90’s/00’s that were diagnosed ADHD would probably be considered in the spectrum now.
Are you me? I also work NICU and I love it.
I do DDNN so I mix both. I get excited to do my nights so I don't have to talk to a million people - consults, PT, OT, LC, , pharmacy, dietitians, docs, parents and their kids, NPs, radiology techs. Going on nights I'm more focused on what's critically in front of me since I have time to digest and process my thoughts, rather than being pulled apart to by several people.
Also I lean towards introversion- talking all day long is draining.
I found that was a really good schedule (DDNN) when I was able to work full time. Just enough of both to not get sick of either, easy to get through if you hated days or nights bc there were only 2 of them.
YES! NICU nurse as well. So far, the parents I’ve worked with are pretty tolerable. But I came in to work the other day and there was a high acuity shift change baby and I wanted to leave immediately. It wasn’t even my baby, but we had management, the neonatologist, family, social work, pharmacist, social work, respiratory, the whole works (don’t get me wrong, they’re all needed and for the baby’s sake I’m glad they were all there).
I was so overwhelmed getting report on my other babies. So much noise in the background. I have so much respect for day shifters who deal with this all the time.
I did permanent evenings for almost 3 years, but my nurse manager was very hands on and present. She set her own schedule and frequently worked 3 shifts of 0500–1300, 3 shifts of 0700-1500, and 3 shifts of 0900-1700 in a two week period with a random shift of choose your own adventure thrown in. Sometimes she would randomly show up at 2200 and hang out for 3-4 hours.
Yep, did NICU nights for about 6 years. I work as a school nurse now and days and people are a lot. I'm good at it but it absolutely exhausts me in a completely different way.
I"m not a nurse, I'm a jail guard and yes, nights are way better for pretty much all of the same reasons as you. The inmates are (mostly) asleep, management is home in bed, lights are dimmed, I can do my job without people bugging me. Plus, I've always been a night person. I would much rather stay up until 6 am than GET UP at 6 am.
I’m PICU and the lights, noise, different therapy, scans, doctors, kids awake screaming, on the call bells. Day shift is very very overstimulating haha nights are still a lot with the overstimulation. But nothing compares to days 😂 we still have rounds at night though.
Night Shift is so much better IMO. Fewer parents, less education, fewer discharges and admits, no management to micromanage, less ancillary staff to interrupt your flow, don’t have to get patients out of bed and up to the chair. I dread the day I have to go to day shift. My coworkers are better at night too, I have picked up a few days and truly I feel like our teamwork is unmatched at night.
I first changed to night shift because as a single parent I could easily be there for my children during the day. I worked in NICU at a teaching facility. We would laugh and talk and take care of our babies and assist each other during any challenges that would arise. One of the Neonatologists even challenged me to a 1:1 basketball game when he learned ( thru crap talking) that I played during HS and college back in the day. I was surprised at how many of my coworkers showed up. We talked crap to each other while playing ball, lots of teasing from the sidelines and then we all hung out after the match.
When my children got older I stayed on the night shift because the vibe is different. I decided to transfer to ER Trauma. I can only describe it as the TV show Scrubs. One of the doctors I knew was a resource on the show, was a good friend and just as quirky as the rest of us. That show was like many of my ER noc shift experiences.
I miss my team. We stuck together, pitched in to help each other, ER docs included (because our trauma team was always left short staffed). That time in my life stays with me.
I pray that you are blessed with a special team of coworkers too.
At our NICU we are very family centred and have private NICU rooms to accommodate the parents at night with parent beds, bathroom and a shower in each room. We try to get them involved in all aspects of care as much as possible ❤️ same with PICU. but that’s just the way our children’s hospital is. It’s all about family centred care lolol. i prefer night shifts too just as it is usually less busy in other ways (less appts etc)
I think people think night shift is so hard on your body and sleeping pattern etc. I can’t see how it’s any worse than the constantly overstimulation and heavier workload that days have to offer. Nice to do both but definitely prefer nights.
Glad I’m not the only nurse that feels this way. Even nights we’d get calls from patients families. I know it’s not their fault and I wana be helpful, but when I have 4 patients, some on drips, and admission and discharge. I can’t give the families attention too.
Yep! I can’t stand too many interruptions, I love informing people of the visiting hours, but my sleep or seemingly lack thereof is really hitting me hard. I’m considering doing more days but I honestly just cannot deal with obnoxious visitors and back to back demands for 12 hours.
I have a night shift personality. Unfortunately I’m incapable of staying awake at night. Is there a place where it’s dark and there’s no visitors during the day?
I can only do night shift. There's way too much going on in the days and evening with the lights, bells, people, management, visitors, extra staff, deliveries, appts... I get overstimmed and migraines easily. When I was in a day/night rotation and had to work my days, I was in so much pain from my migraine that I was almost always throwing up by noon. I was also never a good night sleeper since I was a child, just found my functioning clock to be better and more productive once the sun set.
Clinicals were straight days and I never struggled so hard in my life. I had some understanding instructors, and some not.
I'm now in a straight full time nights position in LTC. I normally have 50 residents, and sometimes I'm scheduled for the whole building (100), but they have been better at finding me a partner.
Not having to deal with visitors & administration are the main reasons I work nights. Not because I hate people, but because I can't deal with these breeds of people. & the entitlement.
Yep! I loved the quieter pace of night shift-especially that no managers or admin staff were around. However, I learn SO MUCH MORE on dayshift and overall enjoy it better (& sleeping normal hours!!)
Yes my introverted self can't imagine having to work harder to be more social for less pay. My night shift coworkers and I calculated our differential to be over $10k for the year.
pretty much same. and I work NICU too.
but it's not "none" of those things in my large level IV NICU. we have a supervisor on nights, parents can stay however long they want as long as they don't fall asleep, and the teams do night rounds on more critical kids or kids going to or fresh from surgery.
I will say, though, I probably have parents less than half the time.
i have a similar issue, I don’t like that many people either and I would’ve loved working L&D, postpartum and maybe NICU but I don’t like socializing much. I realized parents come with babies and as a parent I understand they’re concerned with their new child but it’s just a lot of pressure on me and they’ll have their rapt attention on every move you make so I’d rather not have to deal with those stares.
Anyway, I prefer the med surg floor I work on, it’s mostly older adults who can be on the floor by themselves without any excessive family members at the bedside and if there is family it’s just a couple people. I work nightshift it’s ideal for those that dislike excessive socializing and you can get time to yourself to recharge your social battery.
I'm fine with both. I'm a boss on days "Hi Mr. Smith, it's time to get up and walk a little bit so we can change your bed. Do you want to shower? I have your meds, let me just scan here, name and date of birth please" and I love chilling on nights, shooting the shit and charting. Attendings, love them, always have issue with residents. I'm not a night owl by any means but I can go either way. More staff on days means less work at least physically. Sleeping patients means less work sometimes without management breathing down your neck. It's always a trade-off of what you're comfortable with and what you're willing to frame your life around. I was a doula so I was on-call for 24 hours when I was on, and that was my glory period because I lived 3 minutes from the hospital and some birthing parents wanted me to just be there, awake or asleep and they were free to keep me awake or let me sleep as they saw fit.
I'm a die hard night shifter. I can't stand dayshift. Bonus that there is minimum management around at night. Less bullshit even though staffing is more sparse at nights.
Absolutely Yes! I work in a UK NICU and I always say that I find days 'too peopley'. I cannot concentrate when the unit is busy and all the rooms are hectic. I prefer the stillness of the night, I like getting my hands on the babies, seeing for myself how they are, rather than hearing from parents how they have handled etc. I like organising my workload and I genuinely think that I perform better during the night. I work with some staff who hate nights for the same reasons, they find it to be not busy enough. So I guess that's why we make a good team!
I do weekends, which is the nightshift of hospice. I did M-F hospice for about a year after coming from night shift med-surg, and management breathing down your neck is the worst.
I was nights for a long time, currently on days and absolutely suffering. It's so much more draining having a big group of people around all the time. I don't even mean patient families, just the other OR staff. Loud break rooms, having to mask constantly and say hi in the halls. Yup.
I did nights for 7 years for childcare reasons. I preferred the work as you don’t get stuck with visitors very often, or the drudgery of meal times, baths and ward rounds. People on here often say that nights deskill you. I disagree. You’re often thought of as not much more than a babysitter, but when an emergency, such as an arrest, happens, you’re right in the middle of it. No huge crash team like you get in the day.
My sister now does only days and has a set schedule as an orthopedic surgery nurse, because she has kids and needed the dependability. My friend *much* prefers being a night charge because she doesn’t have to deal with the families or doctors as much, just nurses she has no idea how they became nurses. But most everyone is asleep and you can get your stuff done. Not easy, but preferred.
Yes. I also find night shift much less distracting because there are so many fewer phone calls from family/lab/testing/care team members, less people moving in and out of the unit, no doctors blowing in and out and not answering my patients’ questions so I have to follow up right away on panicked people… The pace of the shift hasn’t changed, in fact I think most nights I’m on my feet more than I ever was on day shifts since we rarely have enough tech support and our patients are all neuro and geripsych and detoxing or belligerent urosepsis grandmas and everyone likes to go cuckoo after 10p, but overall I get to talk to my patients way more and do more hands on care and more independent assessment and management than I did on days and I really like that. I don’t mind talking to families but it can definitely be a drain on the whole shift and your capacity to think through your day. Nights has that going for it for sure.
I liked working nights on a Stepdown unit because it was a great crew, and management was never there until 0600. However, my body and brain didn’t like it. Even with 6-7 hours of sleep, my body never got used to overnights. my ADHD/anxiety got worse, I became super bitchy to family and I developed panic attacks. I’m now mid shift ED (11a-11p) and I love when 7pm rolls around and things start to wind down, the first 3/4 of the shift goes by so fast 😅
I work psych NOC shift and I love it because I don’t have to deal with family, administration or the day time behaviors! When I do cover a day shift I always swear never again; it stresses me out way too much!!!
I agree completely. I didn't realize until recently that a big part of the reason I don't enjoy L&D is because I get really overstimulated by all the interactions. I'm actually making the transition to NICU now and it's like a whole new world, a million times better.
Yes yes yes. Night shift all the way. I’m currently doing days while I’m training for a new unit and I haaate it. Management walking around, lights, bitchier staff (sorry dayshift), and the damn phone. I also feel like I get more sleep on nights weirdly enough. Waking up at 5am makes me grouchy and intensifies my preshift anxiety.
we got hacked and the scheduled time for the system to come back up was 1900. there were so many doctors, IT people, support staff, etc. the lights were on, and everyone was coming to me for everything (i was in charge that night). it reminded me of why i’ll never go back to days.
I went to days (not /entirely/ by my choice, my husband wanted us to have a normal schedule) and I’ve been begging my manager to go back to nights for around 7 months now. Finally getting to return soon. I’m not a morning person anyways, but I think I underestimated how people-y it was going to be. Also we get paid less?? To be more people-y?!?! No, sir. Not for me! Nights forever.
That's literally one of the only reasons we become night walkers. I would rather feed and grow my little flowers than have to deal with doctors, awake parents, managers, visitation hours, loud noises, etc.
I will say my favorite float used to be to our pedi long term rehab floor. The kids were all on a daily schedule so lights were out by 9pm, all meds were scheduled to be done so they weren't woken up and is was basically rounding every 4 to check vitals (some where even q12)
Yes I did day shift for about 6 mos and switched to nights. LOVED the night shift vibes although my unit had management around the clock. I can actually soak in the information and read the charts, but my schedule was so shitty that I didn’t have time to swap back to ‘normal’ schedule on my days off. I couldn’t cluster my shifts either because of seniority so I felt like I was sleep deprived all the time. My body couldn’t handle it so I went back to days after 6 mos, and I would be so stimulated during days that I can still hear call lights and alarms going off in my car and at home. I held it out for another year but now left for evening shift which is sooo much better.
I used to be terrified of the idea of nights for non-people-related reasons (less staff because of no government-mandated ratios, no help, etc.) but now that I’m in a *normal* place I can safely say I enjoy nights better because of the fact that there’s much less traffic getting in the way doing patient care.
I sometimes love talking with or explaining things to patients’ families, and I do miss seeing the doctors more often, but god it just makes it so much easier to be able to plan my day instead of planning around extraneous factors like the constant calls and changes being made
Absolutely yes lol and all the lights, all the extra ppl to deal with omg yes. Nights all the way. I was days and did not want to be nights, once i started I knew i was never going back.
Yup. Even in the ED when families (for some reason) think they need to hover, I can convince most folks they need to start skedaddling around midnight if things aren't happening.
When I oriented on days I had no idea how people dealt with everyone up in their faces all the time.
If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s objectively terrible for your physical and mental health, and for your relationships outside of the hospital, I’d 1000% work night shift over day shift.
Just switched officially to nights after a year and a half on days/flip flopping to night for bonuses lol….i don’t know why I haven’t done this sooner!! its much easier on my body and mind.
That was pretty much why I worked nightshift for the better part of my first ten years as a nurse. Hearing the clicking of heels coming around the corner in the morning or throughout the day when I would have orientation days (travel nursing a lot) made me wanna puke.
Nightshift has a different vibe usually, but not always. I find if I have a good crew i enjoy working with and we help each other I can do nights or days.
Just never rotating days-nights q 2 weeks like my first icu job 😭 it was like 9 years ago and i still feel like it took a decade off my lifespan lol
I did days for a year and never again. Twice I was reduced to tears because I was being so overstimulated and pulled into 90 different directions at once. I thought I was going to rip the phone out of the wall and throw it out the window because it never stopped ringing.
I hate dealing with visitors too as a HCA during the day too, but I cannot deal with not sleeping at night lmaooo so just gonna stand tall and deal with too many people
Yep, same here. I work nights on a mother-baby floor and the patient w/ their support person can be overstimulating enough when there’s a crying newborn involved - I absolutely cannot handle when the family comes up to visit.
I had to train some on days and wanted to jump off a bridge every day haha
I am a 100% night shift worker. Nursing has burnt me out so much, so until I find something else, I only do nights if I can. No family, no doctors, no management. I just can’t handle all the chaos that’s comes with day and evening shift.
I’m in PACU for that very reason. I still get yelled at over the phone by family not understanding why they can’t come back to a locked unit full of icu level patients so they can see meemaw but it’s still 10x better than the floor
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That's funny. I like human psychology but really can't stand most people.
Not a joke; that's one of the reasons why I'm transitioning into psych.
Thinking about getting a psych job. How much interaction do you have with family members?? That’s what I really want to get away from
Depends on the age range. Geripsych, a ton. Adult, not usually a lot unless they're unable to care for themselves. Kids? I assume it's similar to geri. I'm in detox now and minimal family interactions. Mostly just providing the occasional update if the patient is sleeping
In geripsych, are they present on the unit or is this phone interaction? I don’t ever remember any family members being around when I did my psych clinical. I do med/surg now and I just find the family members to be probably the most exhausting aspect of the job.
Their family can only be there during visiting hours. They are alone on the unit.
That sounds heavenly
I really liked working geri psych!
I'm also in med surg. Thankfully nights have less family interaction usually. But still the business of the floor even at nights is too much. It's better but still too much. I kinda love old people and I am wondering if I need to go somewhere with the elderly. Like memory care. I'm just concerned that the ratios will become 30:1
Maybe try out a Geri-Rehab unit? It’s all elderly people (whom I also absolutely love!) although we do get some younger people who are in their 50s. The work is lighter than Med Surg for sure although we do still have some sick patients and people on IVs. It’s a 10:1 nursing ratio on my unit plus a designated aide. PT also works with patients twice a day, one on one and a group class so usually when I get off my first coffee break most of my patients are in the morning workout class so I have almost no patients on the floor and I have a good 30 minutes to get a head start on charts! It’s also incredibly satisfying to have patients who come in after a hip surgery, are in pain and unable to walk and a few weeks later they are walking out of the hospital and going home to live independently again. Geri Rehab is truly the perfect place to work in my opinion lol
We have set visitation hours and phone times for the patients. Usually they're focused on visiting them. The calls were what took up a lot of my time. Giving updates to family, educating, all that.
Kids are definitely easier than geripsych. They want to talk to their peers, not their care team. And inpatient stays are just as much about therapeutic activities in the milieu as they are about psychiatric care. It’s the families that requires the most attention, although a lot of them don’t get involved in their kids’ treatment. I never worked in peds as a psych RN, only as a provider. But I wish I had because it would’ve been so easy. Kids take hardly any meds and their behavior is much easier to redirect.
I worked juvenile psych for years. I second that the therapeutic activities are really important - I was surprised when I did my adult psych rotation and the only scheduled activities were group therapy (talk, music, art) and the rest of the day they were left to their own devices. One of the most important parts of my juvenile psych job was making sure there was something going on - a craft, gym time, playground, group games - at all times. I will challenge the assertion that kids are easy to redirect and take fewer meds. Some of my kids were taking 12 pills in one med pass, and redirecting them was impossible when they got their minds stuck on something. That said, I also worked residential, so all of my kids had had multiple inpatient programs before they got to me.
I did like 1 half day in a kids/adolescent unit in nursing school and enjoyed it, despite the sad stories.
The sad stories really wore me down over time, I had to step away from it for that reason. It was distressing sending kids home to the situations that caused their problems. And about 90% or the teens were there because of suicide attempts. It was always a relief to get a patient with FEM/FEP. Younger kids (4-8) do tend to need a lot of support though, and they have some of the saddest stories. I did work in peds psych residential for a while and I couldn’t believe some of the things that were coming out of the children’s mouths. I got bitten a few times too. But hey, no dementia and hardly any complex medical comorbidities in that population. Very few toileting problems as well.
As an adolescent psych nurse I really don’t deal with parents as much as you think I would. Our charge nurse usually deals with them😂
I did a 12 hour clinical day in school on adolescent psych and same thing. The only parent I ever saw was one to pick up a kid being discharged. Never saw parents outside of that
😅 I'm usually charge so I'm well versed in dealing with families. That's how it is in my geripsych unit too.
I’m acute inpatient adult that’s not specifically Geri. So lots of genetics influencing conditions. There is a good percentage of family that should be admitted as well or at least get a visit from adult protective services to verify how disability checks are being spent when the pt lives with family. I’m always suspicious until proven otherwise because experience has burned me.
in corrections, zero
>I like talking to people, just not a lot. Not me in the cath lab after being ICU for years 👀👀👀 Treat em, and yeet em out alive and better than they came in Edit: yeet em, not yet em
Me too lol. I’m really good at listening
I work NICU days and literally pray the parents don't come in most days. Sounds bad but I get it.
That’s 1000% valid. I work in an ER with a hefty peds census (in the top ten in the country by adult/peds ratio) and I always say I would do straight peds if all the patients were orphans. I love kids, can’t stand their parents
This is why I never went into peds lol. I love kids too but the helicopter parents is a no go for me
Yeah fuck that noise lol
Yeah helicopters are loud as shit
instructions unclear, riding parents like a 🚁
This was my exact reasoning when I graduated school and didn’t pick peds or babies. The parents. I can barely get through a shift when these “family members” pretend to care for their 88 year old sick asf parent that they leave alone in their homes unsupervised 24/7 and then get all up in MY face when I’m trying to help them. I used my 2 limited sick days on my baby clinical as I couldn’t go in there one more day during flu season and have these parents REEK of cig and Mary j smoke next to their child who can’t breath.
Same. I just got yelled at yesterday for giving an infant a pacifier because I changed his diaper after he just had an anoplasty and he was a bit fussy. Fuck parents.
the worst thing to hear in report is “the parents are coming and mom wants to try breastfeeding.” i feel bad about having this sentiments, but it makes completing my tasks so much harder. 90% of the NICU parents i’ve worked with have been great, though
I can't imagine doing peds or NICU bc family would just be there too much for me to get work done
The nice thing is, the good parents really take a load off. I love parents that nest and bathe their baby, feed them and change their diapers. All I have to do is make sure tubes and lines are secure and give meds. I could never work with adults because family can be disconnected or your dealing with issues because nana called someone's husband a name. Also I like being able to reposition my patient with one hand.
That's a good point! I hadn't thought of it. Yes definitely I have felt like nicu nurses probably have better backs than me lol lol
I work in the ICU and I hate when family comes over.
Same.
But also I have PT and ST! If you're lucky they'll do your hands on and ST will even do a feed!
As a parent I think this sounds ridiculous, but as a nurse I do get it. Sick babies are probably hard enough, then you have sleep deprived and scared parents. That being said I probably would never want to leave my baby.
They are talking about the parents who come in and prevent timely care and who have some issue with everything being done/ not being done. The parents who come in and and have genuine questions and want to know what’s going on or watch without talking or who are willing to wait until task XYZ is done for their visit to begin aren’t an issue. Concern and high emotions are expected. Obstructing care and being rude are the problems.
I'm a parent myself and get it. But there's a difference between wanting to be with your child and wanting to scrutinize everything the child's care team does. Parents are more often then not more of an issue than their child is. I'll take a child without a parent at the bedside ANYDAY.
No I get this for sure!! Don’t get me wrong, I can totally see why this would be hard especially when emotions are heightened because it’s new parents in the NICU and if they’re already assholes… it’s gunna be worse.
Yes, but my body just cannot anymore. I semi joke that my dream assignment is 2 stable CPAP babies on full feeds that are both orphans 😂
When I was a new grad one of the older nurses told me her favorite babies were intubated, sedated, and wards of the state. It went right over my head. But 15 years later I totally get it.
When I was hospitalized, I told the nurses I was an orphan. (My mom died so I was half orphan). I didn't want to deal with my family. They'd stress the shit out of me.
lol
Yup. Between family members, staff, lights on, noise...days are too overstimulating for me
Don’t forget management. Love not seeing their faces on nights.
same. been NOCS for 10 yrs LTC.
Oof god bless u, I couldn’t do LTC for that long on days or nights. Though I have a feeling days would be a lot worse in LTC.
They are
I worked postpartum and I used to by far prefer nights. No constant stream of visitors, no management breathing down your neck, no mass of students and crowds of doctors with student Drs. Nights were nice because you could actually help someone breastfeed, help with the baby care, have some peace, let people sleep etc.
Yup. I get to have conversations with my patients. Not being interrupted by PT, dietary, OR, dialysis, so on. We can hang out a little, BS. I can go that extra mile because there aren't 12 other people trying to get their attention.
Lights and noise like bed alarms and BR lights have left me overstimulated to the point of having an anxiety attack at work 3 times lmao 😭. Otherwise, I completely shut down and become stoic
After 10 straight years of night shift I was voluntold to do a week of days...after which I was like "My God, how did I *forget* I have social anxiety? "
We were doing a flip flop thing that I was told was required (because they assumed I wanted days). I did one rotation of days and was like I know everyone has to flip flop but I really need to work nights lol. They’re like, oh that’s no problem that frees up another person to be only days 🤦🏻♀️ it is so much better on nights
Whether you prefer days or nights, flip flopping is cruel and bad for health. I wish places would get rid of it.
Yup I feel that 100%. I’m a night shift nicu nurse too. The patients don’t talk back and the parents usually are gone by then 😂😂 I do enjoy seeing them every now and then but not everyday throughout the entire shift lol
They don't talk back but they definitely tell you how they feel and it's not always pleasant 🤣
I tell everyone that I work nights because there are too many humans breathing my air during day shift.
I tell people I work nights because I really don't like most humans.
I do evenings (3-11) specifically because I don’t like early mornings and I hate people. Lol. There are still people around but not as many, and by 7 we usually have the lights out and most people are asleep.
Big same here. Less visitors, admin is gone by 5, and everyone is winding down getting ready for bed.
Wayyyy tooooo many people on days for me! Plus why they gotta have the lights on full blast!
I live for night shift. Going on 14 years.
I worked over one night til 11p and it’s crazy how much calmer it is. That’s why I stayed in night for so long, until my body just couldn’t do it anymore.
so what do you do now? You still in the NICU?
Still in the NICU but work 2 days/week.
I worked bedside for 10 years, all of those years at night. Can't possibly understand day shift. Too many people, JHACO, and bright lights. No thanks!
When my body could handle it, NICU nights was the fucking jam. An introvert’s absolute dream.
No parents, no management, but I miss the fuck out of dayshift rounds. Working ICU, the night shift "don't rock the boat" mentality can only go so far when you know there's things that you would want to suggest or discuss with the team, but you have to pass it on to the dayshift RN who doesn't connect the dots on the importance of your suggestions. Or just doesn't care 🤷🏻♂️. It is what it is, I'll take the good with the bad of night shift. Somebody's gotta do it!
That's one of the most frustrating things possible in report, lol. You've busted ass, went above and beyond to not only figure out what may be going on but tailor it to the patient specifically, and they're just staring at their report sheet not writing anything down. When you finish they just ask something that you've already given the information on twice. Maddening, but some people just want to clock in and clock out.
>Maddening, but some people just want to clock in and clock out. And I totally get it. But ICU/critical care doesn't benefit from a shitty game of Telephone during report. The amount of times I've passed on info just for it to get lost in the sauce 2-3 days later is honestly ridiculous. Same goes for the MDs too, the amount of times I've mentioned things during Nightshift rounds that are clinically relevant just for the MD to be like "I didn't get that during handoff" is astounding.
Oh my goooood, that shit is brain-rending. Especially when you repeat the same things every night and the info *somehow* still doesn't end up passed on or utilized, despite writing it on the board, in big bold print on the progress notes section. I'm pretty sure I've stayed late a couple times just to make sure some obscure but super relevant bit of info was passed on to whichever relevent parties. Most I've worked in a row is 6, and watching/hearing the amount of stuff that gets missed, dropped or misinterpreted can be terrifying. Thinking on it now after typing it out, that's probably why I internalize prioritizing a quality verbal report and have charting nearer the bottom of my to-dos.
Definitely me I did orientation on day shift for 6 months and the overstimulation and stress killed me. I’m so much happier on nightshift
Try reading the Highly Sensitive Person by Elain Aron. She did a huge study in the 90s about heightened sensitivity among a smaller percentage in the population, 20 percent, I think, and many work in health care careers. This book has helped me to recognize my own needs and true, I had a job years ago that needed me to do nights, and I happily worked it because I was less stimulated. But I have been back to days for a while now. Knowing is healing; I've worked in psyc (counseling/therapy) for 20 years. Good luck - you're not alone.
Someone let me know on another post that a good chunk of the people she based her research on later were found to have adhd.
Most people that claim to be highly sensitive end up being autistic too lmao
Right?! AuDHD here. I work 1600-0000 but do days on occasion. I will go putter around stocking things and folding linens at shift change just to get away from all the people.
ADHD and autism are pretty closely linked these days too. A lot of the kids in the 90’s/00’s that were diagnosed ADHD would probably be considered in the spectrum now.
Are you me? I also work NICU and I love it. I do DDNN so I mix both. I get excited to do my nights so I don't have to talk to a million people - consults, PT, OT, LC, , pharmacy, dietitians, docs, parents and their kids, NPs, radiology techs. Going on nights I'm more focused on what's critically in front of me since I have time to digest and process my thoughts, rather than being pulled apart to by several people. Also I lean towards introversion- talking all day long is draining.
I found that was a really good schedule (DDNN) when I was able to work full time. Just enough of both to not get sick of either, easy to get through if you hated days or nights bc there were only 2 of them.
100% and I love practicing skill sets of both days and nights.
Right? It’s such a good balance of shifts.
Too much PTSD from COVID. I hate everyone at this point.
Felt. 🫂
YES! NICU nurse as well. So far, the parents I’ve worked with are pretty tolerable. But I came in to work the other day and there was a high acuity shift change baby and I wanted to leave immediately. It wasn’t even my baby, but we had management, the neonatologist, family, social work, pharmacist, social work, respiratory, the whole works (don’t get me wrong, they’re all needed and for the baby’s sake I’m glad they were all there). I was so overwhelmed getting report on my other babies. So much noise in the background. I have so much respect for day shifters who deal with this all the time.
Yes, that's one of the many things I miss about night shift.
I worked permanent evenings for a number of years and I loooooved that I didn’t see a manager for basically that entire time
I did permanent evenings for almost 3 years, but my nurse manager was very hands on and present. She set her own schedule and frequently worked 3 shifts of 0500–1300, 3 shifts of 0700-1500, and 3 shifts of 0900-1700 in a two week period with a random shift of choose your own adventure thrown in. Sometimes she would randomly show up at 2200 and hang out for 3-4 hours.
Yep, did NICU nights for about 6 years. I work as a school nurse now and days and people are a lot. I'm good at it but it absolutely exhausts me in a completely different way.
I work in the ICU nights only because of the same reasons. I get overstimulated very easily so working days used to really drain me.
Yeah. I get overstimulated with the amount of people on days
Patient families are the worst part of Healthcare work. That's why I work nights on a unit with strict visiting hours.
I"m not a nurse, I'm a jail guard and yes, nights are way better for pretty much all of the same reasons as you. The inmates are (mostly) asleep, management is home in bed, lights are dimmed, I can do my job without people bugging me. Plus, I've always been a night person. I would much rather stay up until 6 am than GET UP at 6 am.
Yes.
1000% yes!!!!! I also am so glad those awful fluorescent lights are mostly turned off!! Everything about nights is so much better.
I’m PICU and the lights, noise, different therapy, scans, doctors, kids awake screaming, on the call bells. Day shift is very very overstimulating haha nights are still a lot with the overstimulation. But nothing compares to days 😂 we still have rounds at night though.
I just don’t want to deal with management, clinics, and suits. So night shift it is lol
Night Shift is so much better IMO. Fewer parents, less education, fewer discharges and admits, no management to micromanage, less ancillary staff to interrupt your flow, don’t have to get patients out of bed and up to the chair. I dread the day I have to go to day shift. My coworkers are better at night too, I have picked up a few days and truly I feel like our teamwork is unmatched at night.
I first changed to night shift because as a single parent I could easily be there for my children during the day. I worked in NICU at a teaching facility. We would laugh and talk and take care of our babies and assist each other during any challenges that would arise. One of the Neonatologists even challenged me to a 1:1 basketball game when he learned ( thru crap talking) that I played during HS and college back in the day. I was surprised at how many of my coworkers showed up. We talked crap to each other while playing ball, lots of teasing from the sidelines and then we all hung out after the match. When my children got older I stayed on the night shift because the vibe is different. I decided to transfer to ER Trauma. I can only describe it as the TV show Scrubs. One of the doctors I knew was a resource on the show, was a good friend and just as quirky as the rest of us. That show was like many of my ER noc shift experiences. I miss my team. We stuck together, pitched in to help each other, ER docs included (because our trauma team was always left short staffed). That time in my life stays with me. I pray that you are blessed with a special team of coworkers too.
I know u kicked the doc in the booty!?
Sure did☺️. He was a good sport.
Literally all of us.
At our NICU we are very family centred and have private NICU rooms to accommodate the parents at night with parent beds, bathroom and a shower in each room. We try to get them involved in all aspects of care as much as possible ❤️ same with PICU. but that’s just the way our children’s hospital is. It’s all about family centred care lolol. i prefer night shifts too just as it is usually less busy in other ways (less appts etc)
Yes. But my health suffers greatly.
One of the top bonuses about nightshift is never seeing management
I think people think night shift is so hard on your body and sleeping pattern etc. I can’t see how it’s any worse than the constantly overstimulation and heavier workload that days have to offer. Nice to do both but definitely prefer nights.
Glad I’m not the only nurse that feels this way. Even nights we’d get calls from patients families. I know it’s not their fault and I wana be helpful, but when I have 4 patients, some on drips, and admission and discharge. I can’t give the families attention too.
Yep! I can’t stand too many interruptions, I love informing people of the visiting hours, but my sleep or seemingly lack thereof is really hitting me hard. I’m considering doing more days but I honestly just cannot deal with obnoxious visitors and back to back demands for 12 hours.
I have a night shift personality. Unfortunately I’m incapable of staying awake at night. Is there a place where it’s dark and there’s no visitors during the day?
I can only do night shift. There's way too much going on in the days and evening with the lights, bells, people, management, visitors, extra staff, deliveries, appts... I get overstimmed and migraines easily. When I was in a day/night rotation and had to work my days, I was in so much pain from my migraine that I was almost always throwing up by noon. I was also never a good night sleeper since I was a child, just found my functioning clock to be better and more productive once the sun set. Clinicals were straight days and I never struggled so hard in my life. I had some understanding instructors, and some not. I'm now in a straight full time nights position in LTC. I normally have 50 residents, and sometimes I'm scheduled for the whole building (100), but they have been better at finding me a partner.
Nights make the job barely tolerable. No family, allied health, phone constantly ringing, constant questions, managers.
Not having to deal with visitors & administration are the main reasons I work nights. Not because I hate people, but because I can't deal with these breeds of people. & the entitlement.
Yes. Way too much stimulation on day shift.
I hated nights. I couldn’t stay away at all nor could I sleep.
🤚🤚🤚 Just one of the many reasons I do nights.
Me. I couldn't do this job if I had to work daylight.
Day shifts suit my family better, but I do love me a cheeky night shift chaser
I loved the night shift, I just hated how it made it so hard to live on a “normal” schedule when not working!
Yes! Not even just family members, day shifts are too cluttered with people in general. Not to mention the fluorescent lights
1000% , it’s too much speaking to different people for the entirety of the day
I’m the opposite. I’m begging my manager to give me a days only line lol
Yep! I loved the quieter pace of night shift-especially that no managers or admin staff were around. However, I learn SO MUCH MORE on dayshift and overall enjoy it better (& sleeping normal hours!!)
What NICU do you work in that doesn’t allow parents at night?
Yes my introverted self can't imagine having to work harder to be more social for less pay. My night shift coworkers and I calculated our differential to be over $10k for the year.
pretty much same. and I work NICU too. but it's not "none" of those things in my large level IV NICU. we have a supervisor on nights, parents can stay however long they want as long as they don't fall asleep, and the teams do night rounds on more critical kids or kids going to or fresh from surgery. I will say, though, I probably have parents less than half the time.
i have a similar issue, I don’t like that many people either and I would’ve loved working L&D, postpartum and maybe NICU but I don’t like socializing much. I realized parents come with babies and as a parent I understand they’re concerned with their new child but it’s just a lot of pressure on me and they’ll have their rapt attention on every move you make so I’d rather not have to deal with those stares. Anyway, I prefer the med surg floor I work on, it’s mostly older adults who can be on the floor by themselves without any excessive family members at the bedside and if there is family it’s just a couple people. I work nightshift it’s ideal for those that dislike excessive socializing and you can get time to yourself to recharge your social battery.
I do it because I prefer not to deal with management. 🙃
I'm fine with both. I'm a boss on days "Hi Mr. Smith, it's time to get up and walk a little bit so we can change your bed. Do you want to shower? I have your meds, let me just scan here, name and date of birth please" and I love chilling on nights, shooting the shit and charting. Attendings, love them, always have issue with residents. I'm not a night owl by any means but I can go either way. More staff on days means less work at least physically. Sleeping patients means less work sometimes without management breathing down your neck. It's always a trade-off of what you're comfortable with and what you're willing to frame your life around. I was a doula so I was on-call for 24 hours when I was on, and that was my glory period because I lived 3 minutes from the hospital and some birthing parents wanted me to just be there, awake or asleep and they were free to keep me awake or let me sleep as they saw fit.
I'm a die hard night shifter. I can't stand dayshift. Bonus that there is minimum management around at night. Less bullshit even though staffing is more sparse at nights.
No bosses, no regulatory visits, no regularly scheduled trips to other parts of the hospital, fewer people. I always liked nights and weekends best 😊
Exactly. I like doing my job without noise, cross talk, phones and other interruptions.
Absolutely Yes! I work in a UK NICU and I always say that I find days 'too peopley'. I cannot concentrate when the unit is busy and all the rooms are hectic. I prefer the stillness of the night, I like getting my hands on the babies, seeing for myself how they are, rather than hearing from parents how they have handled etc. I like organising my workload and I genuinely think that I perform better during the night. I work with some staff who hate nights for the same reasons, they find it to be not busy enough. So I guess that's why we make a good team!
I do weekends, which is the nightshift of hospice. I did M-F hospice for about a year after coming from night shift med-surg, and management breathing down your neck is the worst.
I was nights for a long time, currently on days and absolutely suffering. It's so much more draining having a big group of people around all the time. I don't even mean patient families, just the other OR staff. Loud break rooms, having to mask constantly and say hi in the halls. Yup.
I have been on days for about five years now and I still consider myself a night shift person. I love the vibe on nights and weekends.
I did nights for 7 years for childcare reasons. I preferred the work as you don’t get stuck with visitors very often, or the drudgery of meal times, baths and ward rounds. People on here often say that nights deskill you. I disagree. You’re often thought of as not much more than a babysitter, but when an emergency, such as an arrest, happens, you’re right in the middle of it. No huge crash team like you get in the day.
My sister now does only days and has a set schedule as an orthopedic surgery nurse, because she has kids and needed the dependability. My friend *much* prefers being a night charge because she doesn’t have to deal with the families or doctors as much, just nurses she has no idea how they became nurses. But most everyone is asleep and you can get your stuff done. Not easy, but preferred.
Yes. I also find night shift much less distracting because there are so many fewer phone calls from family/lab/testing/care team members, less people moving in and out of the unit, no doctors blowing in and out and not answering my patients’ questions so I have to follow up right away on panicked people… The pace of the shift hasn’t changed, in fact I think most nights I’m on my feet more than I ever was on day shifts since we rarely have enough tech support and our patients are all neuro and geripsych and detoxing or belligerent urosepsis grandmas and everyone likes to go cuckoo after 10p, but overall I get to talk to my patients way more and do more hands on care and more independent assessment and management than I did on days and I really like that. I don’t mind talking to families but it can definitely be a drain on the whole shift and your capacity to think through your day. Nights has that going for it for sure.
I loved night shift when I worked bedside for those reasons, but hated staying up all night because I felt like shit all the time.
I liked working nights on a Stepdown unit because it was a great crew, and management was never there until 0600. However, my body and brain didn’t like it. Even with 6-7 hours of sleep, my body never got used to overnights. my ADHD/anxiety got worse, I became super bitchy to family and I developed panic attacks. I’m now mid shift ED (11a-11p) and I love when 7pm rolls around and things start to wind down, the first 3/4 of the shift goes by so fast 😅
Hell, I live my not-work-life in night shift to get away from people.
I work psych NOC shift and I love it because I don’t have to deal with family, administration or the day time behaviors! When I do cover a day shift I always swear never again; it stresses me out way too much!!!
I agree completely. I didn't realize until recently that a big part of the reason I don't enjoy L&D is because I get really overstimulated by all the interactions. I'm actually making the transition to NICU now and it's like a whole new world, a million times better.
Yes yes yes. Night shift all the way. I’m currently doing days while I’m training for a new unit and I haaate it. Management walking around, lights, bitchier staff (sorry dayshift), and the damn phone. I also feel like I get more sleep on nights weirdly enough. Waking up at 5am makes me grouchy and intensifies my preshift anxiety.
Yes. I can't stand all the noise and bustle of the day shift. People everywhere, too many interruptions.
we got hacked and the scheduled time for the system to come back up was 1900. there were so many doctors, IT people, support staff, etc. the lights were on, and everyone was coming to me for everything (i was in charge that night). it reminded me of why i’ll never go back to days.
I went to days (not /entirely/ by my choice, my husband wanted us to have a normal schedule) and I’ve been begging my manager to go back to nights for around 7 months now. Finally getting to return soon. I’m not a morning person anyways, but I think I underestimated how people-y it was going to be. Also we get paid less?? To be more people-y?!?! No, sir. Not for me! Nights forever.
That's literally one of the only reasons we become night walkers. I would rather feed and grow my little flowers than have to deal with doctors, awake parents, managers, visitation hours, loud noises, etc. I will say my favorite float used to be to our pedi long term rehab floor. The kids were all on a daily schedule so lights were out by 9pm, all meds were scheduled to be done so they weren't woken up and is was basically rounding every 4 to check vitals (some where even q12)
Yes I did day shift for about 6 mos and switched to nights. LOVED the night shift vibes although my unit had management around the clock. I can actually soak in the information and read the charts, but my schedule was so shitty that I didn’t have time to swap back to ‘normal’ schedule on my days off. I couldn’t cluster my shifts either because of seniority so I felt like I was sleep deprived all the time. My body couldn’t handle it so I went back to days after 6 mos, and I would be so stimulated during days that I can still hear call lights and alarms going off in my car and at home. I held it out for another year but now left for evening shift which is sooo much better.
I used to be terrified of the idea of nights for non-people-related reasons (less staff because of no government-mandated ratios, no help, etc.) but now that I’m in a *normal* place I can safely say I enjoy nights better because of the fact that there’s much less traffic getting in the way doing patient care. I sometimes love talking with or explaining things to patients’ families, and I do miss seeing the doctors more often, but god it just makes it so much easier to be able to plan my day instead of planning around extraneous factors like the constant calls and changes being made
I prefer nights, I cannot stand some of my coworkers on day shift. Some incredibly obnoxious attitudes.
There were definitely parts of the book that were not identifiable. She clearly points this out in the beginning, but I felt understood. And stronger.
And that is interesting. Thanks for that nugget of info.
The only reason.
Yes lol
Absolutely. 100%. Didn’t realize how much so until I started working days. Screw all these people and all the bright lights during the day.
Not having management around is super nice.
Absolutely my reason
Yes
🙋🏾♀️
Nursing student here. That’s literally the reason why I wanna work night shifts🙃
Yup. That's exactly why I do nights
Yes exactly
Absolutely yes lol and all the lights, all the extra ppl to deal with omg yes. Nights all the way. I was days and did not want to be nights, once i started I knew i was never going back.
Less admin shit to deal with too. Pseudo autonomy feels great.
Is this not why we ALL work night shift? hehe
Yup. Even in the ED when families (for some reason) think they need to hover, I can convince most folks they need to start skedaddling around midnight if things aren't happening. When I oriented on days I had no idea how people dealt with everyone up in their faces all the time.
Yes. Nights and nights only for 14 years and going strong.
I love working nights because management is not around. Fewer people getting in the way of me doing my job in peace.
I prefer nightshift because I can do my damn job and not deal with admin.
I love the night shift because I don't have to give people their bath. It's the only thing I hate doing about this job.
Me. I want to switch to nights. When I pick up extra shifts.. I usually do nights.
Yes, absolutely but it isn’t great health wise, so I work days.
12 years on night shift…. I’ll die before I’ll go to days.
I did nights for the last 8 months before going back to a regular non bedside day job and it absolutely made it more tolerable.
I love night shift. There are no admin around, Joint Commission isn't coming around at 3am, and the overall decibel level goes down at night.
I also work in NICU but we are rotating schedule so we still have day shift to cover. I prefer working nights really less people to deal with.
One of the many reasons I work nights
1000% why I chose nights
I do telephone triage so I wouldn't have to deal with the same patients and families for 12 hours straight. 🙃
If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s objectively terrible for your physical and mental health, and for your relationships outside of the hospital, I’d 1000% work night shift over day shift.
I always loved working evenings or nights. That feeling on evenings when all of the muckety mucks go home is glorious!
Just switched officially to nights after a year and a half on days/flip flopping to night for bonuses lol….i don’t know why I haven’t done this sooner!! its much easier on my body and mind.
That was pretty much why I worked nightshift for the better part of my first ten years as a nurse. Hearing the clicking of heels coming around the corner in the morning or throughout the day when I would have orientation days (travel nursing a lot) made me wanna puke. Nightshift has a different vibe usually, but not always. I find if I have a good crew i enjoy working with and we help each other I can do nights or days. Just never rotating days-nights q 2 weeks like my first icu job 😭 it was like 9 years ago and i still feel like it took a decade off my lifespan lol
You've just described every single night shifter. Please, take all the shifts so I don't have to.
I did days for a year and never again. Twice I was reduced to tears because I was being so overstimulated and pulled into 90 different directions at once. I thought I was going to rip the phone out of the wall and throw it out the window because it never stopped ringing.
I hate dealing with visitors too as a HCA during the day too, but I cannot deal with not sleeping at night lmaooo so just gonna stand tall and deal with too many people
Yep, same here. I work nights on a mother-baby floor and the patient w/ their support person can be overstimulating enough when there’s a crying newborn involved - I absolutely cannot handle when the family comes up to visit. I had to train some on days and wanted to jump off a bridge every day haha
I am a 100% night shift worker. Nursing has burnt me out so much, so until I find something else, I only do nights if I can. No family, no doctors, no management. I just can’t handle all the chaos that’s comes with day and evening shift.
I’m in PACU for that very reason. I still get yelled at over the phone by family not understanding why they can’t come back to a locked unit full of icu level patients so they can see meemaw but it’s still 10x better than the floor
I work days, and I like to work with less people. I hope I could do nights. I choose to work all weekends and holidays.
Day shift, night shift… I’m just trying to be okay 😂
Wait, is there a reason to be on nights other than other people? Unless you're new, I guess.