The stories of both night shift and day shift nursing floated through your nursing school clinicals, but now the time has come for you to begin your work as a nurse and you’re left wondering if night shift vs. day shift nursing is better.
It depends.
For some, staying up late and working through the night is a walk in the park. For others, they might thrive in the hustle and bustle of the day shift.
Understanding the differences — available opportunities, pay, balancing family life, and more — can help you decide which shift might suit you best.
Learn about day shift vs. night shift pros and cons here.
Table of Contents
- Is It Better to Work Day Shift or Night Shift as a Nurse?
- Differences Between Day Shift vs. Night Shift Nursing
- Benefits of Day Shift
- Benefits of Night Shift
- Night Shift vs. Day Shift Nursing: 6 Key Considerations
- Is Night Shift Nursing Less Stressful?
- Trusted Nurse Staffing: Providing Travel Nurses Opportunities To Pursue Both Day Shift and Night Shift Nursing Careers
Is It Better To Work Night Shift or Day Shift as a Nurse?
There’s no straight answer here because the preference for day shift or night shift as a nurse is dependent on each nurse.
For some, the quiet and slower-paced environment of night shift is where they thrive. For others, the slowness of night shift makes it difficult to stay alert and able to perform their best.
For others, the opposite is true. Day shift might be too fast-paced. Or, it might be just crazy enough to help you get through the day a bit easier.
But there’s more to consider than which shift might be easier to survive.
Some nurses have families, extracurricular activities, and schedules that are not conducive to working one shift or another. Some might need the extra pay that working an overnight shift provides. Taking into consideration all of the factors that best fit your lifestyle can help a nurse decide if day shift vs. night shift is the better choice for you.
Not sure where to start? Let Trusted Nurse Staffing help guide you when choosing between night shift vs. day shift nursing and help find a contract that’s right for you.
Differences Between Day Shift vs. Night Shift Nursing
Hours
Every hospital delineates its shifts differently, but oftentimes, the day shift starts at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 7:00 p.m., and the night shift begins at 7:00 p.m. and ends at 7:00 a.m. This can alter from facility to facility, but knowing what your set day or night shift hours will be is important.
Doctor Availability
Most doctors in most facilities work during the daytime, so there is often more activity during day shift and opportunity for nurses to provide support. During night shifts, many doctors are only on-call and come in when they’re needed.
Procedures and Test
Because more doctors work during the day, that is when more diagnostic tests and procedures tend to be done, allowing nurses to assist and provide support during them. That doesn’t mean these aren’t done during the night shift, though. During emergent situations, tests can be performed throughout the night, providing some opportunity for night shift nurses to get their hands dirty, too.
Benefits of Day Shift
Day shift nursing might seem more appealing if you like a fast-paced environment and working a similar schedule as most other professionals, but there are also a handful of great benefits to working day shift as a nurse.
Working in a Fast-Paced Environment
More doctors in a facility means more action during the day shift. Physicians do rounds, providing nurses with opportunities to gain knowledge and ask questions. They also can assist in tests and procedures, often see more patients with a wide variety of ailments, and interact with many other medical professionals throughout their day.
More Opportunities To Get Involved in the Action
With more people in the hospital (both physicians and patients), day shift nurses are often provided more opportunities to utilize their skills and knowledge and be hands-on in the action. It’s also a great time to connect with patients because they’re often awake and alert during day shift, compared to night shift nursing when patients tend to try and sleep.
Maintain a Normal Circadian Rhythm
Did you know there are risks associated with workers who work against their circadian rhythm? Our bodies are naturally programmed to feel more tired and require more sleep at night, so working a day shift as a nurse seems to be more convenient for maintaining a circadian rhythm.
It also could be the healthier option. Our circadian clock regulates our body functions, including:
- Fluctuations in blood pressure
- Body temperature
- Hormone levels
- Levels of digestive enzymes
And, it’s the safer option. Working night shift as a nurse might lead to:
- Sleepiness on the job
- Restlessness
- Decreased attention
- Disruption of metabolic processes
- Worsened mood
- Decreased cognitive function
- More susceptible to disease
Easier to Schedule Personal Time
When you work a day shift as a nurse, you’re working similar hours to many others in the workforce — family, friends, colleagues, etc. When everyone has similar time off from work, it’s easier to schedule personal time to get together.
Benefits of Night Shift
Day shift nursing might sound appealing to some, but if not, don’t stress — night shift nursing comes with many of its own benefits, too.
Potential Shift Differential
The potential to earn shift differential pay might not be available at every facility, but if it is, it’s a great benefit for night shift nurses.
This additional pay is an incentive to nurses who work the often less-desired night shift and shifts that fall outside of normal hours — nights, weekends, and holidays.
With this financial incentive, medical facility employers can ensure they maintain adequate staffing during these times. How it’s calculated will depend on your employer, but one thing’s for sure — you can earn more than day shift nurses.
Camaraderie With Co-Workers
Typically, night shift nursing comes with fewer hospital staff and minimal-to-no doctors, but it usually creates a stronger friendship among co-workers. After all, you must rely on each other for everything during your shift.
Night shift also tends to be quieter, offering more opportunities for co-workers to chat, build personal connections, and get to know one another. This can help set a positive tone for the workplace and increase morale among colleagues.
A Quieter Atmosphere
In many cases — except potentially the emergency room — working as a night shift nurse affords you a quieter work environment. You may be able to get through work tasks faster, spend time on personal development, or simply avoid the hustle and bustle of day-shift nursing.
Why does the night shift tend to be quieter?
- Most procedures are done during the day.
- Patients tend to sleep at night.
- There are no visiting hours.
- Most doctors work day shifts.
Although there are potential exceptions to these rules, night shift nurses tend to be in a quieter environment than day shift nurses.
Regular Business Hours Available for Personal Tasks
While you may not be able to hang out with your other friends in the workforce, having daytime available for personal tasks can be an added benefit. You can schedule appointments without having to take time from work or perform other personal tasks that require you to be available during normal business hours.
But don’t forget, you have to catch up on sleep at some point, so schedule your personal time and appointments with that in mind.
Night Shift vs. Day Shift Nursing: 6 Key Considerations
Working as a nurse is tough. Working a shift where you don’t thrive only makes it harder.
By considering a handful of important factors before making your decision on night shift vs. day shift nursing, you’ll be sure to end up working a shift that fits your personal and professional life the best.
If you need extra guidance, Trusted Nurse Staffing can help. Our team of recruiters works one-on-one with travel nurses who not only need help finding nursing contracts that fit their needs but can also help nurses figure out which nursing career path is right for them — including choosing between day shift vs. night shift nursing.
#1: Family Life
Managing family obligations is stressful. Add in working a 12-hour nursing shift, and things just got a bit more complicated.
Maybe you have children at home, but you also have a spouse who can stay home and be the primary caretaker while you work or catch up on sleep.
Maybe you’re a single parent who can’t sacrifice being gone overnight but can manage to work a 12-hour day shift while your kids shuffle between school and a few hours of evening caretaking.
Balancing your family’s needs while also prioritizing your own — finding time to eat, sleep, and take care of yourself — can be difficult, regardless of whether you’re working the day shift or night shift. Take the time to evaluate what your family’s needs are before deciding which shift might fit your family’s needs the best.
#2: Social Life
Do you cherish a girl’s night out? Working the night shift might not be for you.
Going to work after dinner might make it difficult to partake in social activities, but if your go-to friends are your other night-shift co-workers, you might plan daytime activities and look forward to going to work together in the evenings.
Maintaining a social life as a night shift nurse isn’t impossible, it just might take a bit more planning.
This isn’t to say that day shift nurses maintain social lives with ease. Day shift nurses might find it difficult to go out for fun following a draining 12-hour shift. Maybe they require an entire day off to recover from their work week.
Whether you commit to day shift or night shift nursing, know that maintaining a social life will take sacrifice and commitment — you’ll just have to decide which seems more attainable for you.
#3: Health and Wellness
Do you prioritize your health and wellness? Do you workout regularly, eat well, and get enough quality sleep?
Both day shift and night shift nurses can maintain a healthy lifestyle, but some adjustments, sacrifices, and commitments are likely necessary.
Living a healthy lifestyle can help you avoid serious health risks that could come along with working a draining nursing shift if you don’t take proper precautions. Prioritizing this aspect of your life is important.
#4: Morning Person vs. Night Person
As a nurse, it’s extra critical to be functioning at your best at all times, and this ties into getting good, quality sleep.
Being more alert decreases your chances of making critical errors while increasing your awareness of a patient’s changing needs and conditions.
If your body requires a more “normal” sleep routine to function at its best — i.e. sleeping 7-8 hours in the dark of night — then working as a day shift nurse might be best for you. You’ll not only wake up feeling refreshed and energized, but you’ll be ready to tackle the day and do your job well.
However, if you can adjust to sleeping soundly throughout the day, and take on working night shifts with alertness and care for your patients, then the night shift might be the better fit for you.
#5: Nursing Style
Do you thrive on building personal connections with family members and interacting with countless individuals? The hustle and bustle of the day shift might be a better fit for you.
Not only are visiting hours during the day, but there is often more activity in a hospital during the day shift.
On the flip side, if you like things a bit quieter and calmer, the night shift is where you’ll thrive.
#6: Career Goals
Hospitals and other medical facilities can see a lot during the day shift hours. If you’re hoping to gain more experience, be afforded more opportunities to be hands-on with physicians and other medical staff, put your skills and knowledge to the test, and learn more to advance your career, day shift is where you’ll want to be.
By exposing yourself to the fast-paced environment of day shift, you’d better learn all the aspects of nursing.
Additionally, because physicians often round patients at the beginning of day shift, you’ll have a chance to be in on the action and discuss diagnoses, symptoms, medications, treatments, and more.
Is Night Shift Nursing Less Stressful?
Oftentimes, yes, working as a night shift nurse can be less stressful than a day shift nurse. With less staff in the facility and most patients sleeping through the night, night-shift nurses tend to have more downtime, making night-shift nursing a less stressful environment.
A 2011 study sponsored by the American Nurses Association (ANA) found that nurses identified acute and chronic effects of stress and overwork as one of the two top safety and health concerns of their job.
If being stressed is stressing you out, consider working as a night shift nurse.
Trusted Nurse Staffing: Providing Travel Nurses Opportunities To Pursue Both Day Shift and Night Shift Nursing Careers
If you’re a nurse who loves to travel, enjoys flexibility in your schedule, and chases the potential to earn more money, travel nursing might be right for you.
As a travel nurse, you can choose to work night shift or day shift contracts or flip-flop between the two to truly see which might be the best fit for you, and Trusted Nurse Staffing can help. Start your search on Pronto to find day shift and night shift contracts wherever you want to be.
When you work with Trusted Nurse Staffing, you’ll receive many benefits, including:
- The highest pay rates in the industry
- 24/7 access to a real person
- Housing, meals, and travel stipends on top of your regular wages
- Regular bonuses
- Great insurance benefits
- A 4% match 401(k)
- The option to try both day and night shift nursing
- And more
Are you ready to secure travel nurse contracts and find out if day shift or night shift nursing is better for you? Get started with Trusted Nurse Staffing and search for jobs on Pronto today.
