"But the patients sleep all night don't they?"

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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Said by a new hire who is doing his orientation on days but is moving to night shift after he is done with this month. HAHA! I told him I would remind him of his words after a month of night shift.

Was it mean of me to consider saying "Oh YES, they ALL sleep for 10pm to 7am, you will be able to read, play on facebook, sleep, eat and do NOTHING, nights are a breeeezzzzzeeeee!" and then watch him turn up for his first night of orientation with a bag full of entertainment? Hehe.

I work in an ALF from 11pm-7am. They sleep ALL night. I love it. I watch movies, workout, study.. I take full advantage.

I HATE YOU. Can I come work with you? LOL. I just went back to nights after a year of seconds, and I've been on the one hall with the severely demented resident with Down's Syndrome...talk about sundowning, just screams and strips all night long. I miss second shift!:)

That said, when I'm on other halls, I don't have time to read or anything like that but I do have time to move at a slower pace and breathe once in a while!

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I had a lady once who pee'd and soaked the bed EVERY 30 MINUTES! Not just a little bit of pee... she was soaked head to toe. She refused a Foley when it was offered. I wanted to cry when the RN came and said. "I'm so sorry... I have to give this patient lasix". That was not a fun shift!

I have one of those...he is tube fed and they run so much water through him, I change his bed at least 4 times a night.

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Oh, don't get me started on peeing - got my own resident who likes to cut loose when you change her brief. Every. Single. Time. Allah help us all if she was ever given Lasix - I'm pretty sure she'd wash the facility out to sea!

----- Dave

Hahahahahaha I'm sorry this was hilarious I'm in tears!

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

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Specializes in DD, Mental Health, Geriatric.
I work in an ALF from 11pm-7am. They sleep ALL night. I love it. I watch movies, workout, study.. I take full advantage.

I can relate. My job right now is pretty cushy for a CNA job. I work the weekend at a five-resident AFH and everyone's down for the count by 9pm except for two ladies who like to stay up and watch TV in their rooms but they can take care of themselves, walking to bathroom, getting dressed and undressed, etc, so I don't have to worry about them as I know they go to bed when they like. So from 9pm til 8am I am technically off duty and just available to answer a call buzzer in case of an emergency and I have the whole basement with a living room, kitchenette, laundry room and a bedroom with a big double bed and cable TV for myself that is off limits to the residents. I go to bed myself there around eleven thirty or so and spend from 9pm til then reading or watching TV. Only one of our residents ever presses her buzzer at night and its normally not til early am and most of the time its to request her routine morning tylenol or to help her to the bedside commode, (which in our facility is abuse of the call buzzer that's only meant for life and death fallen and can't get up etc emergencies and they all are able to toilet themselves so we aren't suppose help with that if they buzz us for it no matter the time. But I do it anyway and then gently remind them about the buzzer is only for emergencies, etc). I work Saturday and Sunday and the quietest times other than at night are after lunch and before snack and dinner from 1:00-3:00-5:00. As a case in point right now its 2:24pm and I'm at work sitting on the sofa with one of the residents writing this reply while she and her housemates watch a movie, (and one lady is reading a romance novel like always). Lol!

~Ami

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I can relate. My job right now is pretty cushy for a CNA job. I work the weekend at a five-resident AFH and everyone's down for the count by 9pm except for two ladies who like to stay up and watch TV in their rooms but they can take care of themselves, walking to bathroom, getting dressed and undressed, etc, so I don't have to worry about them as I know they go to bed when they like. So from 9pm til 8am I am technically off duty and just available to answer a call buzzer in case of an emergency and I have the whole basement with a living room, kitchenette, laundry room and a bedroom with a big double bed and cable TV for myself that is off limits to the residents. I go to bed myself there around eleven thirty or so and spend from 9pm til then reading or watching TV. Only one of our residents ever presses her buzzer at night and its normally not til early am and most of the time its to request her routine morning tylenol or to help her to the bedside commode, (which in our facility is abuse of the call buzzer that's only meant for life and death fallen and can't get up etc emergencies and they all are able to toilet themselves so we aren't suppose help with that if they buzz us for it no matter the time. But I do it anyway and then gently remind them about the buzzer is only for emergencies, etc). I work Saturday and Sunday and the quietest times other than at night are after lunch and before snack and dinner from 1:00-3:00-5:00. As a case in point right now its 2:24pm and I'm at work sitting on the sofa with one of the residents writing this reply while she and her housemates watch a movie, (and one lady is reading a romance novel like always). Lol!

~Ami

I would LOVE to have your job lol sounds like heaven!

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Specializes in DD, Mental Health, Geriatric.

I would LOVE to have your job lol sounds like heaven!

Lol I realize I'm pretty fortunate. Especially considering its my first job in over seven years of health reasons unemployment! I actually applied for a position at the owner's second AFH which is nothing but heavy care, full assist, two hoyers, all wheelchair bound but the owner told me she saw the look of dread cross my face and offered me a job at the easy house instead. She was afraid of me running for the hills. Lol.

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Specializes in Geriatric and Mental Heath.

Things are great from 11-5 and then all hell breaks loose. my residents HATE that breakfast is at 7am and fight getting up. I don't know why breakfast can't be later.. I figure old people have earned the right to sleep until noon.

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Specializes in Geriatric and Mental Heath.
I can relate. My job right now is pretty cushy for a CNA job. I work the weekend at a five-resident AFH and everyone's down for the count by 9pm except for two ladies who like to stay up and watch TV in their rooms but they can take care of themselves, walking to bathroom, getting dressed and undressed, etc, so I don't have to worry about them as I know they go to bed when they like. So from 9pm til 8am I am technically off duty and just available to answer a call buzzer in case of an emergency and I have the whole basement with a living room, kitchenette, laundry room and a bedroom with a big double bed and cable TV for myself that is off limits to the residents. I go to bed myself there around eleven thirty or so and spend from 9pm til then reading or watching TV. Only one of our residents ever presses her buzzer at night and its normally not til early am and most of the time its to request her routine morning tylenol or to help her to the bedside commode, (which in our facility is abuse of the call buzzer that's only meant for life and death fallen and can't get up etc emergencies and they all are able to toilet themselves so we aren't suppose help with that if they buzz us for it no matter the time. But I do it anyway and then gently remind them about the buzzer is only for emergencies, etc). I work Saturday and Sunday and the quietest times other than at night are after lunch and before snack and dinner from 1:00-3:00-5:00. As a case in point right now its 2:24pm and I'm at work sitting on the sofa with one of the residents writing this reply while she and her housemates watch a movie, (and one lady is reading a romance novel like always). Lol!~Ami
Lol I take the good with bad. I know I am very lucky that my job is lax. It's perfect for a nursing student. It's too bad that the pay is crap so I can't stay here long term.
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During our second semester of nursing school, we were assigned to night shift clinicals on a pre/post operative/ICU-step down floor. We did two shifts, one on Monday, and one on Wednesday. Each shift lasted from 1845 to 0100. I was the only person in the group who had worked nights before, so the other nursing students were very ignorant. Before we went to nights, I heard a lot of people saying things like, "Oh, I can't wait to do these night shift clinicals. The patients will be in bed, ready to sleep, and they will want us to leave them alone. I'll give my 8 and 10 meds, do vitals, get an assessment, and then have them in bed by 10:30. That will leave me over 2 hours to chart, study, and catch up on reading for class." I tried to convince my clinical group that it didn't work this way in the real world, but no one would listen to me. Needless to say, they were shocked after the first night of clinicals.

I love night shift, but I hate that everyone always assumes that we sit around and do nothing on nights. I can almost hear the disdain in a day shift worker's voice when they say, "Oh, well, it must be nice to work on nights and not be busy all the time. I wouldn't know how that goes because I work day shift."

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Specializes in hospice.

I was LMAO reading this entire thread (when I wasn't burning green with envy at the two of you who have the super cushy jobs... damn where can I find one of those?) because I have been working nights in a hospital telemetry unit for the last five months.

Dear God, most of these people do anything BUT sleep! This is my first job after getting certified, and I have learned a few rules. The most important is to never, EVER, utter the Q word. If you happen to be having a quiet night, SAYING that will immediately unleash utter chaos on your unit. It's like a spell, I swear.

Night shift is easier in one sense, in that you have much less testing going on. People aren't constantly being taken down to CT, or MRI, or endoscopy or whatever.

But, maybe it's because I work on a high acuity unit with older, more disabled patients, or because they CONSTANTLY run my floor short of CNAs, but night shift is plenty hard enough. People who think it's easy are in for a rude awakening.

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Specializes in DD, Mental Health, Geriatric.
Things are great from 11-5 and then all hell breaks loose. my residents HATE that breakfast is at 7am and fight getting up. I don't know why breakfast can't be later.. I figure old people have earned the right to sleep until noon.

I agree with you there! We two of our five who will skip breakfast nearly every morning cause they don't want to get up before noon. With one I will just bring her morning meds in to her and that way she can take them at the proper time instead of having her morning meds at the same time as her lunch meds and two others only want breakfast sometimes and one wants breakfast closer to lunch so there's a rule that if they miss the breakfast call when there's a hot meal on the table and they don't get up til later on and still want breakfast we fix them toast and cold cereal because it's a waste of food otherwise. But if I was their age with all their aches and pains I think I would have earned the right to sleep however late I darn well please! Just don't expect to be cooked a whole new meal if I missed the first one, you know? Oh, my facility is implementing "Morning Bingo" today and I will be the second caregiver to do it and it has to be played between 10am and 11am so we will see who shows up for it. Lol!

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