What hospital shift is best for you?
Starting out at a hospital you will be lucky if you get a good schedule. Don't count on it, especially if you're a traveler. But if you are working there as a full-time employee don't become discouraged. Shift choice and optimal schedules are given to those who have seniority. So if you plan on staying at one hospital you can switch your schedule as other employees retire or leave. It may take some time though.
Shifts in the lab are going to be divided into three categories normally, days, evenings, and nights. But I will also touch on 8hr, 10hr, and 12hr shift options at the bottom.
Dayshift (1st Shift) usually starts at 6am for normal employees and ends around 2:30pm (14:30) when you work an 8-hour shift. This may vary slightly depending on the hospital.
These hours are good for parents with kids in school. This shift is usually filled with those who have seniority in the lab and those who usually have preferred areas where they choose to work or at least where they do not want to work. This could put you at a disadvantage as a new employee, but those with the most seniority also provide the most wisdom. This means you might learn quite a bit.
With outpatient samples coming into the lab and normal doctors having many appointments daily, labs are quite busy during day shift. With the lab busy first shift usually has the most MLS on staff.
Not only do you have techs (and phlebotomists if the hospital is big enough), but also management. This can cause micromanaging at times but also be helpful should any incidents arise. All of this will need to be taken into consideration to determine what shift would suit you best.
Evening shift (PM shift or 2nd Shift) usually starts around 2:30pm (14:30) and ends around 11:00pm (23:00) when working 8hr shifts. This shift is not the best for young parents as you would not get to see your children very often, but it can be nice to go shopping in the morning when there are fewer crowds around.
The second shift may start with cleaning up outpatient samples or even receiving them as they continue to come in. As the evening continues car accidents and ER visits increase with rush hour traffic causing the lab to pick up.
Depending on the hospital size and how busy they are depends on where management decides what shift performs QC.
Night shift (3rd shift) usually starts around 11:00pm (23:00) and ends around 6:00am if you are working 8-hour shifts. Night shifts may start earlier depending on if you are working 10 or 12-hour shifts but most end by 6:00am.
Nights are the most variable in workload depending on how busy the ER becomes. Some nights you may get very few samples, while other nights you are running around like crazy trying to complete all of the work.
The third shift is usually where most of the QC is performed, though it may be designated to other shifts depending on the lab. Because this may be the slowest time of the day, sample-wise, it is easier to have instruments down for maintenance.
You must remember that this shift is usually the most understaffed, hardest to fill positions, and in general contains fewer MLSs’ than the other shifts. But I personally prefer working nights.
If you are feeling lucky ask for block shifts no matter how many days a week you are working. Block shifts allow the days you work to be together, so your days off are essentially in a block. Whether it is two days together when you work 5-8-hour shifts, three days if you are working 4- 10-hour shifts, or four days off working 12-hour shifts.
No matter what shift you work MLS usually works every other weekend. If you get every weekend off you would be extremely lucky. This is usually reserved for Lead Techs depending and Management.
8hr shifts usually mean you will be working 5 days a week. While 10-hour shifts mean you will be working 4 days a week, and 12hr shifts usually mean you will be working 3 days a week.
While nurses usually work 3- 12-hour shifts, MLS is not always so lucky (at least in my opinion - I prefer more days off after all). Most hospitals have MLS working 8hr shifts but some are slowly changing their hours. I personally try to work at 10-hour or 12-hour hospitals.
Those hospitals offering 10-hour or 12hrs shifts may not be giving these to all the shifts though. When I worked in Florida first shift worked 8-hour shifts while 2nd and 3rd shifts had people working either 8hrs or 2-12hr shifts and 1- 16-hour shift.
What shift and hours would you prefer?
