Night shifts in university? (3 nights in a row)

Hi guys I received my rota and have seen that I have 3 night shifts in a row. Friday Saturday and Sunday. Honestly guys I don’t know if this is normal. I recently discovered through my friend that some universities like the one she attends would never allow this and has a maximum amount of night shifts / weekend per year as they said having more night shifts as a student decreases your chances of completing the course. Does ur uni have this rule?

Original post by Georgia_xxxxxx

Hi guys I received my rota and have seen that I have 3 night shifts in a row. Friday Saturday and Sunday. Honestly guys I don’t know if this is normal. I recently discovered through my friend that some universities like the one she attends would never allow this and has a maximum amount of night shifts / weekend per year as they said having more night shifts as a student decreases your chances of completing the course. Does ur uni have this rule?

Hey,

Each placement provider and university will have different rules on shifts on placements.

I would chat to your academics at your university and ask them if this is normal and if they can offer any support. It is better to ask the question instead of just going ahead with it.

I hope this helps. :thumbsup:

Reply 2

Tracey_W

17

Original post by Georgia_xxxxxx

Hi guys I received my rota and have seen that I have 3 night shifts in a row. Friday Saturday and Sunday. Honestly guys I don’t know if this is normal. I recently discovered through my friend that some universities like the one she attends would never allow this and has a maximum amount of night shifts / weekend per year as they said having more night shifts as a student decreases your chances of completing the course. Does ur uni have this rule?

Hi
@Emily_B any feedback advice you can add 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Unfortunately sometimes you'll be rota to work 3 nights on a row and it's similar to day shift, generally you'll have to do the same hours as your mentor/supervisor works during your placement. It's normal for nurses to do this.

I did 3 nightshifts back at beginning of December and my students I have under me had to do these as well.

You'll probably not be doing this sort of shifts every week as you'll have days of in between each other shift you do but it's depends on how they allocate your shifts each week over the month.
You can ask to swap them but you'll not be able to swap them all the time ( you should have been asked if you can do these and had a opportunity to swap them for different days). Our students generally get to swap one, possible two shifts over there time on placement with us.

When I was doing my own student midwife training it use to be that you have to complete about 60 hours of nightshifts over the three years of the coursework but nowadays you do lots more nightshifts than previously. It's part of preparing you for when you are finally qualified as a nurse you are use to working nightshifts, day shifts and weekends as part of your job.

It's up to the individual university and hospital trust you are working under to decide what shifts you are working.
It doesn't affect your coursework as your hour's will hopefully work out over the year between what hours you do on placement and at university should work out fine

NHS band 7 senior charge midwife

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 3

Manchester Met - Student Rep

Official Rep

16

Original post by Georgia_xxxxxx

Hi guys I received my rota and have seen that I have 3 night shifts in a row. Friday Saturday and Sunday. Honestly guys I don’t know if this is normal. I recently discovered through my friend that some universities like the one she attends would never allow this and has a maximum amount of night shifts / weekend per year as they said having more night shifts as a student decreases your chances of completing the course. Does ur uni have this rule?

Hi there,
I’m a health student in Manchester but an SLT. I’d reckon getting in touch with your student hub or personal tutor just to to disucss it if your not sure! Each uni does things differently 🙂
Best wishes
Emily

Reply 4

Emily_B

16

Original post by Georgia_xxxxxx

Hi guys I received my rota and have seen that I have 3 night shifts in a row. Friday Saturday and Sunday. Honestly guys I don’t know if this is normal. I recently discovered through my friend that some universities like the one she attends would never allow this and has a maximum amount of night shifts / weekend per year as they said having more night shifts as a student decreases your chances of completing the course. Does ur uni have this rule?

Registered nurse and practice assessor to student nurses here. I've never heard of a cap on the number of nights and weekends students are allowed to do.
3 nights in a row? Completely normal.
3 nights over the weekend? Also completely normal.
Do students get this on placement rotas? Yes. Are they expected to do this? Absolutely. Do they get this every singe week? No.
If you got given regularly 4 nights, then that wouldn't be productive for your learning. If you got given more than 4 nights, that definitely wouldn't be OK.

The only limit my students get is a maximum of 48 hours' placement per week. They have to experience 24 hour care as per the NMC. As long as the placement area rotates into nights as well as days, and it's usual to do 3 nights, then yes 3 nights together is fine, especially if it's only for 1 week (great way of trying to figure out how to sleep during the day/between nights, ready for when you qualify!)
Each NHS area (NHS trust in England and health board in Wales and Scotland) works slightly differently. I mostly do days but do get nights; 3-4 night shifts when I do get them is normal and those are my shifts for the week. A friend who works for a different trust will only do 1-2 nights at a time; she could do 2 days 1 night or 2 nights 1 day in a week but that's how her place works.

Night shifts in university? (3 nights in a row)

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