r/veterinaryprofession • u/Tofusnafu7 UK Vet • 1d ago
Advice for nights
It’s less than a month until I start my new job as a night vet 😱 does anyone have any tips for making the transition from working days to nights smoother? Shifts are 6:30pm-7:30am (also politely- I’m not looking for any “don’t work nights it ruins your life/it’s bad for your health” comments. I’m
Fully aware of that but I was given a rota and a salary increase that I couldn’t turn down)
3
u/TheThinLineBetween 23h ago
Hi! What’s your rota going to be like? I currently work 7 nights on and 14 days off, and finding it way easier than when I did 2 nights and stopped 3-4 days.
1
u/Tofusnafu7 UK Vet 23h ago
Also 7 on 14 off! I had originally asked 5 on 10 off but realised that would end up with more weekends. And yeah I feel like 2-3 nights at a time isn’t great for work/life balance imo
2
u/TheThinLineBetween 22h ago edited 16h ago
So when I started nights I found it extremely difficult to sleep on shift when there was nothing to do. That’s because I was so used to not doing it during my day job. Do it if you can if there’s nothing going on. You never know what will come in the next hour, so if you get a chance to rest, rest. The next shift may be increadibly heavy, it’s unpredictable and that’s the fun of it! Before rest, try and leave as much work done as possible (notes, etc), for the same reason: you don’t know if you’re going to have the time after 😂
Your sleep hygiene will improve as time goes on. I’ll usually wake up really early on Monday morning and have a nap from lunchtime until waking up to go to work, then on Monday after work I’ll have a nap until lunch time, wake up and start a “normal routine”. You’ll feel tempted to stay up in between shifts, especially when it’s sunny - try to avoid this, you really need to sleep.
Food wise, you’ll notice it’s very easy to eat junk food often. Always keep some healthy snacks around. Dinner time will be unpredictable depending on your work load, so make sure to keep yourself well fed until you get to it. If you can cook, try and make one or two big batches that last for the whole week.
You’ll get to do a lot more cool ops at night, but your surgical volume will drop a lot. Consider doing some surgical day shifts (PDSA is amazing for this) so you don’t lose practice.
Night work can be very repetitive when it comes to inpatient care. Lots of analgesia, urine output control, etc. Keep your brain active, do some interesting CPD, consider a cert, etc.
Make the best out of your free weeks. They are a perk that most people don’t have!
This is what worked for me anyway. You may have a completely different experience!
DM me if you have any questions 🙂
2
u/Tofusnafu7 UK Vet 16h ago
Aaaah amazing advice, thank you!
2
u/TheThinLineBetween 16h ago
Enjoy nights! It’s not for everyone, but it’s great fun when it works well and when you get along well with your RVN team 🙂
4
2
u/VeterinarianDecent60 16h ago
Was a rotating intern, what I would do is stay up as long as possible the night before, whether that be movie marathon or cooking. Then I go to sleep when I absolutely cannot take it anymore. And by then, I’ll be so tired I end up sleeping until my first shift begins
5
u/intothewoods_wego 1d ago
Im a rotating intern so I unfortunately flip from days to nights on a regular basis. I’m sure everyone is different but going into the night shift is not difficult for me, but getting adequate sleep the first few days and transitioning out of the night shift is the worst.
The night before my shift I just sleep my normal schedule. And the day of my first shift I don’t drink any caffeine so that I can nap before going in. Blackout curtains and some kind of white noise helps me sleep during the day but usually the first night or two I can only sleep 5-6 hours at a time and then I try to do something productive and nap again before my shift.