Night shift is truly a beautiful thing.

[PharmDstudent]

What about government hospitals (NIH, military hospitals)? They're still going to function with limited staff and no pay. I'm really hoping they at least pass something so military gets paid (and not entirely for selfish reasons, although living here on a resident's salary could get fun). Can you imagine a soldier's wife (or husband) who stays at home taking care of the kids (or even works but relies on the soldier's salary) struggling to pay for everything while she worries about the soldier overseas?

And yes, there will be back pay for these people, but at this point who knows how long the shutdown could last.

Although it could be nice to have no parking tickets in DC!

Those are governmental employees, not "the goverment", aka Congress, the Senate, etc

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[rph3664]

All my friends hang out after midnight on weeknights. (The ones I hang out with the most is my friend who also owns a hookah bar, so I'd probably be there all night hanging out, smoking hookah, playing Texas Hold Em.)

My hospital IPPE preceptor used to ask me why I was so sleepy all the time and my answer was that because I don't go to sleep until 2AM-3AM, wake up at 6AM to be at the site at 8AM, and then rinse and repeat until I could get some extra sleep in on the weekends. The hours at the hospital are not friendly towards night people.

If I ran the world, rounds would start between 2-4PM.

I was in pharmacy school during my late 20s, and the hospital where I worked one summer had a tech who worked 7-3:30, M-F and they needed someone to take over her job for about 2 months when she had a baby. (She did packaging.) I was the only tech who volunteered; all the other students thought I was nuts! They would say things like, "Don't you ever go out at night?" Sure, I did! Dinner with friends, movies, concerts in the park, that kind of thing. Over by 10pm, and I would come home. I did the late night thing on the weekends, and also had a second job at a restaurant. Worked for me, and I loved having the stable hours and steady paycheck.

We once had a student tech (he ended up not going the pharmacy route) who, when he worked days, always whined about how he was. I once pointed on that this was his own fault - that closing down the bar is not wise when you know you have to be back at work at 7am!

My old employer had a big turnover of their night shift personnel not long after I left, and most of the people who took over initially planned to do it temporarily. Most of them are still at it and plan to stay a while, because it works out for them and their families, and also so they don't have to deal with all the daytime BS.

 

[ucrx]

Those are governmental employees, not "the goverment", aka Congress, the Senate, etc

I think I'm starting to see things through the DC filter. Around here, people who say "government" and "essential" in the same sentence are referring to all the employees who will (or if non-essential, will not be allowed to) work through a shutdown.

 

[Rebel78]

Better shift is 7 on 7 off 2nd shift. This allows you to maintain a sane sleep schedule and doesn't require a recuperation time between work and off week.

Here's the reality of 7 on 7 off graveyard schedule (may not apply to all but everyone I know who did it all agree), assume Mon - sun work week.

Let's talk about the "off" week which suppose to be nice.

You come home Monday morning... most try to stay up to get back on the normal sleep schedule and go to bed Monday PM.

Tuesday: Get up...and try to recoop.
Wednesday: PRN job?
Thursday: Another PRN job? or kick back or take off
Friday: Feeling good...it's weekend..
Sat: Crap...off week is coming to an end..
Sunday: Crap...gotta work tomorrow
Monday PM...back to work.

The best schedule still is Mon - Friday 8AM-4pm type of work with no weekends and no holidays.

I'm working a schedule now that is M-F, and I work anywhere from 0700-1730, depending on the schedule, 8 hour shift. I do agree with you to a point, but I do miss the 7 off.

You are right in that you lose at least 2 days (starting and ending work week) per 2 week rotation. It's kinda weird, 14 days turn into about 12 and 1/2. One or two days are just a little fuzzy.

Toward the end, when I quit working so much extra and would travel more, I'd get an early flight on my first day off and take a couple Benadryl when I left work.

 

[BanBidil]

The night shift where I work sucks.
I worked for SlaVS Pharmacy. I live in one of the best parts of Los Angeles (west) where the job market reeks. Heres how it goes:

1. You start Wed night, since the work week starts on Sunday, sometimes
you dont get 40 hours, but you get some OT. It goes usually from 10pm Wed til 7:30 or 8am nexxt day. Weekends are 8pm-8am (Sat &Sun).

2. You have to do all the BS they leave over from the day time including type, clean the joint, empty trash, clean bathroom, vaccum (WTF I dont even vaccum my apt that often as I did the Pharmacy). Return to stocks, expired meds and take care of patients from 2 ER rooms throughout the night WHO just happen to have MediCAL Rxs when the Effing servers go down around 3am. Do a CII audit. Still I could get around that and do all that work...I never found it beneath me and considered it part of running a business.

3. Here is where things went south: they cut the hours to minimize OT by 1 hour....always expected you to clean out the queue when there were 12 pages of autofill, and if the robot went down your life is Effed! Tech left at 11pm and sometimes left a mess. So it wasn't a few hours of sitting on your @ss but work which was NOT possible to finish in that time frame. I was working every minute, multi-tasked, sat down and made plans on a timetable but it just wasnt posssible to finish the autofill eachtime. Oh...and there was a Vicodin fiend who jumped over the counter and stole bottles and ran out (thats why they wanted me and not a small asian girl to run the pharmacy at night....I found this out later...after the lied to me about why I was picking up the shift).

4. A messed up sleep schedule + coming home exhauted after working your @ss off and being told you aren't doing enough each time really wears you down...because after all Mgmt: "Deerrrr you work at night you should have plenty of time to do all that, NOOO ONE shows up at night"....... Me: "but but....I swear I tried, look at these charts I made, check the Camera, I was working every minute" Mgmt: " No excuses, sign this write up"........ Me: "Well F U take this job and shove it, im not signing a gd dm thing because this position has a high turnover and your business model will fail....im going back to day shift (until I find a hospital job anyway)."

FYI: The manager (PIC) later tried the night shift herself and then quit the company after a month. Not surprised.

 

[ethyl]

The night shift where I work sucks.
I worked for SlaVS Pharmacy. I live in one of the best parts of Los Angeles (west) where the job market reeks. Heres how it goes:

1. You start Wed night, since the work week starts on Sunday, sometimes
you dont get 40 hours, but you get some OT. It goes usually from 10pm Wed til 7:30 or 8am nexxt day. Weekends are 8pm-8am (Sat &Sun).

2. You have to do all the BS they leave over from the day time including type, clean the joint, empty trash, clean bathroom, vaccum (WTF I dont even vaccum my apt that often as I did the Pharmacy). Return to stocks, expired meds and take care of patients from 2 ER rooms throughout the night WHO just happen to have MediCAL Rxs when the Effing servers go down around 3am. Do a CII audit. Still I could get around that and do all that work...I never found it beneath me and considered it part of running a business.

3. Here is where things went south: they cut the hours to minimize OT by 1 hour....always expected you to clean out the queue when there were 12 pages of autofill, and if the robot went down your life is Effed! Tech left at 11am. So it wasn't a few hours of sitting on your @ss but work which was NOT possible to finish in that time frame. I was working every minute, multi-tasked, sat down and made plans on a timetable but it just wasnt posssible to finish the autofill eachtime. Oh...and there was a Vicodin fiend who jumped over the counter and stole bottles and ran out (thats why they wanted me and not a small asian girl to run the pharmacy at night....I found this out later...after the lied to me about why I was picking up the shift).

4. A messed up sleep schedule + coming home exhauted after working your @ss off and being told you aren't doing enough each time really wears you down...because after all Mgmt: "Deerrrr you work at night you should have plenty of time to do all that, NOOO ONE shows up at night"....... Me: "but but....I swear I tried, look at these charts I made, check the Camera, I was working every minute" Mgmt: " No excuses, sign this write up"........ Me: "Well F U take this job and shove it, im not signing a gd dm thing because this position has a high turnover and your business model will fail....im going back to day shift (until I find a hospital job anyway)."

FYI: The manager later tried the night shift herself and then quit the company after a month. Not surprised.

Sounds about right

 

[WVUPharm2007]

The night shift where I work sucks.
I worked for SlaVS Pharmacy. I live in one of the best parts of Los Angeles (west) where the job market reeks. Heres how it goes:

1. You start Wed night, since the work week starts on Sunday, sometimes
you dont get 40 hours, but you get some OT. It goes usually from 10pm Wed til 7:30 or 8am nexxt day. Weekends are 8pm-8am (Sat &Sun).

2. You have to do all the BS they leave over from the day time including type, clean the joint, empty trash, clean bathroom, vaccum (WTF I dont even vaccum my apt that often as I did the Pharmacy). Return to stocks, expired meds and take care of patients from 2 ER rooms throughout the night WHO just happen to have MediCAL Rxs when the Effing servers go down around 3am. Do a CII audit. Still I could get around that and do all that work...I never found it beneath me and considered it part of running a business.

3. Here is where things went south: they cut the hours to minimize OT by 1 hour....always expected you to clean out the queue when there were 12 pages of autofill, and if the robot went down your life is Effed! Tech left at 11pm and sometimes left a mess. So it wasn't a few hours of sitting on your @ss but work which was NOT possible to finish in that time frame. I was working every minute, multi-tasked, sat down and made plans on a timetable but it just wasnt posssible to finish the autofill eachtime. Oh...and there was a Vicodin fiend who jumped over the counter and stole bottles and ran out (thats why they wanted me and not a small asian girl to run the pharmacy at night....I found this out later...after the lied to me about why I was picking up the shift).

4. A messed up sleep schedule + coming home exhauted after working your @ss off and being told you aren't doing enough each time really wears you down...because after all Mgmt: "Deerrrr you work at night you should have plenty of time to do all that, NOOO ONE shows up at night"....... Me: "but but....I swear I tried, look at these charts I made, check the Camera, I was working every minute" Mgmt: " No excuses, sign this write up"........ Me: "Well F U take this job and shove it, im not signing a gd dm thing because this position has a high turnover and your business model will fail....im going back to day shift (until I find a hospital job anyway)."

FYI: The manager (PIC) later tried the night shift herself and then quit the company after a month. Not surprised.

That sounds like ass. Night shift for me is comfy...

 

[Hope1974]

I2. You have to do all the BS they leave over from the day time including type, clean the joint, empty trash, clean bathroom,

Did they really make you clean the bathroom????

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I just take the trash out...maybe refill the vials...put labels in the printer...that's about it. I do inventory, but I don't consider that technician work.

 

[npage148]

we had a Tim Horton's inside the store, and there was free coffee and donuts for the night shift.

Um, yes please!

 

[BanBidil]

That sounds like ass. Night shift for me is comfy...

And I QUOTE: WVUPharm2007

"So when are you passive-aggressive pansies going to make a stand and go on strike? Everyone seems to forget that we hold all of the cards. They need us waaaay more than we need them. If I worked retail, my crazy ass would have already been in the streets with signs that read "Walgreens doesn't want me to take my time with your Rx" and cursing the name of every corporate retail pharmacy in public.

If and when hospital pharmacy gets that bad, you'll see how its done. I'd be like Jimmy ****ing Hoffa making deals with the mafia and ****.
"

 

[WVUPharm2007]

And I QUOTE: WVUPharm2007

"So when are you passive-aggressive pansies going to make a stand and go on strike? Everyone seems to forget that we hold all of the cards. They need us waaaay more than we need them. If I worked retail, my crazy ass would have already been in the streets with signs that read "Walgreens doesn't want me to take my time with your Rx" and cursing the name of every corporate retail pharmacy in public.

If and when hospital pharmacy gets that bad, you'll see how its done. I'd be like Jimmy ****ing Hoffa making deals with the mafia and ****.
"

And that's why I work night shift. Jesus, can't you read? No way I touch daylight pharmacy...

 

[khydroxide]

The night shift where I work sucks.
I worked for SlaVS Pharmacy. I live in one of the best parts of Los Angeles (west) where the job market reeks. Heres how it goes:

1. You start Wed night, since the work week starts on Sunday, sometimes
you dont get 40 hours, but you get some OT. It goes usually from 10pm Wed til 7:30 or 8am nexxt day. Weekends are 8pm-8am (Sat &Sun).

2. You have to do all the BS they leave over from the day time including type, clean the joint, empty trash, clean bathroom, vaccum (WTF I dont even vaccum my apt that often as I did the Pharmacy). Return to stocks, expired meds and take care of patients from 2 ER rooms throughout the night WHO just happen to have MediCAL Rxs when the Effing servers go down around 3am. Do a CII audit. Still I could get around that and do all that work...I never found it beneath me and considered it part of running a business.

3. Here is where things went south: they cut the hours to minimize OT by 1 hour....always expected you to clean out the queue when there were 12 pages of autofill, and if the robot went down your life is Effed! Tech left at 11pm and sometimes left a mess. So it wasn't a few hours of sitting on your @ss but work which was NOT possible to finish in that time frame. I was working every minute, multi-tasked, sat down and made plans on a timetable but it just wasnt posssible to finish the autofill eachtime. Oh...and there was a Vicodin fiend who jumped over the counter and stole bottles and ran out (thats why they wanted me and not a small asian girl to run the pharmacy at night....I found this out later...after the lied to me about why I was picking up the shift).

4. A messed up sleep schedule + coming home exhauted after working your @ss off and being told you aren't doing enough each time really wears you down...because after all Mgmt: "Deerrrr you work at night you should have plenty of time to do all that, NOOO ONE shows up at night"....... Me: "but but....I swear I tried, look at these charts I made, check the Camera, I was working every minute" Mgmt: " No excuses, sign this write up"........ Me: "Well F U take this job and shove it, im not signing a gd dm thing because this position has a high turnover and your business model will fail....im going back to day shift (until I find a hospital job anyway)."

FYI: The manager (PIC) later tried the night shift herself and then quit the company after a month. Not surprised.

sounds exactly like my current situation. wouldnt mind if they gave me a tech at night to help me out but thats never happening. 12 pages is too much for one person if you ask me. i hate that effin robot.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

sounds exactly like my current situation. wouldnt mind if they gave me a tech at night to help me out but thats never happening. 12 pages is too much for one person if you ask me. i hate that effin robot.

There is a store in my district that has ~11 pages of autofill and they have a tech.

 

[Pharmacy Kid]

And I QUOTE: WVUPharm2007

"So when are you passive-aggressive pansies going to make a stand and go on strike? Everyone seems to forget that we hold all of the cards. They need us waaaay more than we need them. If I worked retail, my crazy ass would have already been in the streets with signs that read "Walgreens doesn't want me to take my time with your Rx" and cursing the name of every corporate retail pharmacy in public.

If and when hospital pharmacy gets that bad, you'll see how its done. I'd be like Jimmy ****ing Hoffa making deals with the mafia and ****.
"

Isn't that quote from 2005 or something?

 

[Rebel78]

How many scripts are on a page of autofill?

The most scripts I ever did in a night was about 250, I never had a tech where I worked. Nights where I'd push 200, I'd finish the scripts, grab trash take it to the back, grab a few cases of vials and dump them in the drawers, and I'd go home. That was fairly uncommon, really just the first year or so. After then, (when we got a good manager) I'd have around 50-100 scripts depending on the night, I could pound those out by 1AM and work on a lot of other stuff.

If I was still filling at 2:30 from the que, it was a bad night IMO.

 

[Glycerin]

It is too bright and sunny in Florida. Shouldn't be a problem when I go to Seattle this summer.

Have you been to Seattle in July or August? 99% of the days are sunny, since it's our dry season, and daylight lasts 16 hours a day.