I strongly prefer a 24 hour clock system. There have been a few mix ups on my job that added to stress like the one on yours. They could have been saved using a 24 hour clock.

And a night shift will take it out of you. The thing that helped me the most when I was doing them was to have light totally blocked from coming into the room during the day when I was sleeping. I would have a much better day time sleep. I was in a basement room at the time, and just had to put cardboard over a small window.