Even before I became an RN, a job that involves shifts, holidays, and weekends, I bounced around in jobs that rarely coincided with the nine to five world. Although I am not one of those cool eccentric people who raises parrots for a living or paints weird masterpieces, I always had a sense of not quite fitting in with the universe. I am lost at large gatherings, the cultural references that make everybody else laugh or feel comfort always left me scratching my head, I have had to train myself to learn "small talk" and am now half way decent at it. It stopped bothering me years ago but all of that might explain why even though I have plenty of seniority at my job and could move to days, I have never made the effort. I have worked the seven to seven shift for eight years.
Prior to that, I swung from schedule to schedule doing nights and days. One of my colleagues at work has been a night hawk for 25 years. According to this article, about eight million Americans work the night shift which is defined here as work between midnight and eight in the morning. About 22 million Americans work evening, swing, rotating, or on call shifts. There is in essence a parallel world that exists belong the nine to five universe.
People work nights for a variety reasons, some by choice, some are junior and have no choice. There are traditional jobs in which nights have always been a feature: cops, nurses,firemen, security guards, and factory workers have always done so. Frequently, organizations will pay a premium for doing so. When I was single, the money allowed me to make extra payments on my student loans, now that I am married, it allows me to put some in savings and for retirement. If one works nights by choice, the ability to come up with rationales for doing so is endless. For some working couples with families it is actually easier to arrange child care if one of them works nights. Ironically enough, this study notes that divorce rates might be higher among those who work nights.
My fellow shift supervisors and I enjoy the autonomy and freedom that comes with working nights. We can consult the boss by phone if needed, but we are also in charge of the hospital. As long as we use some kind of logical framework to arrive at key decisions, we get a minimum of grief even when those ideas seem odd in the light of day. The down side is of course, during medical or non-medical emergencies, we are own our own, we rely on our experience our ability to make quick calculations, and the air of team work we promote.
We were once invited to a training and and information session about disaster planning in which we were told two key things: that at night we were only in charge until the entire disaster team could arrive and convene a meeting and establish command posts, and that if we had a total power or communications failure, we would use ham radios. I assured that even if it was 0100 AM in the morning, the team would arrive. I asked whether that would even be feasible if roads were destroyed by an earthquake. I was also told that the ham radios which seemed like an excellent idea, would be located in a building across the parking lot from the PC (patient care area) and it would be my job to designate an individual to do so. I suggested the ham radios be located in the patient care area, at the main security desk or in a supervisors office since they would be used to communicate evacuation plans. I was met with stony silence and never invited back to another meeting. It was clear to me that the planner just assumed if there was a city wide or national disaster if would happen during convenient business hours. I wasn't expressing doubt about the intent of team members to arrive just the practicality. I pointed out that local authorities would be engaged in the triage of alternative forms of transport and it might not be made available to all. It led me to question the logic of disaster planning in other institutions and whether they had considered the ramifications of sentinel events occurring at night.
Accidents at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and the spill from the Exxon Valdez all happened on the night shift. The article that mentioned this suggests that errors were made because of faulty reasoning associated with sleep deficits. I can't discount those were contributing factors, but I would also add there was likely a lack of contingencies plans drawn up in the event of a night shift event, a lack of communication with authorities, and a lack of available expertise to assets the problems. You can't plan for scenarios to unfold under ideal circumstances.
Sleep disruption and health problems are associated with those who work the off shifts. Workers on the night shift experience higher rates of gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular problems, they are more likely to have insomnia, sleep apnea, and general sleep deprivation. There had been some studies that found links between the development of certain cancers and working the night shift. One study that contradicts those suggestions was done on Swedish workers and found no relationship. My gut reaction is that Swedish people regardless of what shift they work probably have a healthier lifestyle and that may play into the findings.
Night workers are more likely to have car accidents. This is likely related to fatigue. Night workers are more likely to make serious mistakes on the job and have work related accidents. We are also more likely to have psychological problems related to trying to balance family and personal lives with working unusual shifts.
There will always be professions that work nights, despite overwhelming evidence that there are glaring negatives associated with doing so. Everyone has their own way of coping. I do not stay on nights when I am off. I prefer to get up between 0600 AM and 0700 AM on my off days and take an afternoon naps if I get tired. I have managed never to need sleeping medication. I am very fortunate, I was always able to sleep any time anywhere. I am very grouchy on my first day off because I typically sleep a few hours and then get up.
It is easy to get trapped in social isolation, it is difficult to maintain relationships when you work unusual shifts. And yet I cannot deny that when I meet a fellow night hawk, I feel an instant bond, I have a sense that we belong voluntarily or not to a secret club. When I drive home early on a Saturday morning, I see a world not in chaos, I see the locals out riding their horses down the main roads, and egrets and fishermen out at the swamp. There is no traffic, so frantic rush to get from here to there, folks are still sleeping or just getting up. For a moment, at the start of the day all is quiet. Of course, my family and friends think it is unnatural and strange. Maybe it is, but for me the nine to five world is alien and disturbing, when I do go out to run errand on my day off I feel like a visitor from another planet. That suits me just fine.