Day in the life of a 10p-6a Nightshift CNA please

[Autymnfyres]

Morning!

I've been searching around and haven't found the differences between the actual sorts of duties and exactly what one/an example of a typical nightshift - does in comparison to say, an evening 3 p - 10p duties are.

I'd love to see any details in addition to the basics of course. I have two different job offers and am musing a bit. I enjoy working with older adults and especially when there is the opportunity to get to know them a bit now and then, hear their life stories etc. I wonder how much less of a connection I will 'feel' if I accept an overnight position as opposed to the day or afternoon/evening position. Otoh I will be in school full time this fall and was thinking overnights for weekends would work well and allow me to make a little money while adding to my skills etc.

Any comparisons from those who have worked both/or all three as an CNA/LNA in an L.T.C. specifically please? Thanks very much!

[MSofia]

I understand I'm in the same boat with school and having to work at night. But yes if you work the over night shift there will be a huge disconnect from the residents. You will do the least amount of work on this shift.

-re position every 2 hrs.

-make sure they are dry

and that's it your facility may have you do extra things

2nd shift is the same tasks as first shift

-but you also will give them dinner

-get them dressed for bed, transfers, brush their teeth

And first shift (the busiest shift)

-feed them breakfast and lunch

-get them up do a bed bath or shower

-peri care make sure their clean

-get them dressed, brush teeth and hair

[Rodrinka]

I work 2nd shift 2-10, and we do showers, vitals, get residents ready for dinner, toileting, and after dinner is what we call the bedtime rush because everybody wants to go to bed. 3rd shift is more quiet, repositioning and changing briefs every 2 hours, at my facility 3rd shift has to charge the batteries for the hoyers and EZ stands and clean the whirlpools, and pass new water cups, may have a few vitals to get also.

[Autymnfyres]

Thanks so much for replying and giving me examples! Okay, well maybe I can involve myself with holiday happenings they may have at the nursing home occasionally throughout the year and make some connections that way. Maybe I will also do stocking and even help pre-set up for baths etc in the morning before I leave. I want to make sure I learn all I can (within the constraints of the shift obviously). Also, heh, I am not one to stand around; would much rather be helpful and busy. The shift will seem to go by faster that way also probably.

Thanks again!

[Nurseeverywhere, CNA, LVN]

The thing about night shift is that all the fall risks decide to stay up all night and besides having 16 or more patients you will have to keep the fall risk residents safe. I always had two getting up and since there was very few staff it would get complicated. Never a slow night.

[Nurseeverywhere, CNA, LVN]

Oh and call lights like crazy. Everyone assumes NOCs are quite but that's just not true.

[Autymnfyres]

Oh, very good reminders about the potential fall residents, *nods. Well on the weeks where my three night shifts truly do have the call lights blinking on and off continuously -- I'll just take advantage of that leg work and cut out part of my lower body workout routine that week, *giggles!

I do know its true some of the residents literally seem to never sleep or only like every second day when they are really exhausted heh.

Thanks so much for the tips everyone, much appreciated!

[LifeIsGood76]

I don't do NOC shift, but at my work, the people who do NOC shift have significantly more residents. I work PM (2:30pm-10:30pm) and usually have 8-14 residents. The NOC shift CNAs have anywhere from 18-26. I think many people assume NOC shift is quiet, but from what I've seen, they are just as busy (or even busier some nights) than days or pm shift.

[Paws2people]

One word about the difference in noc shift: sundowners.

[SweetSouthernLove, ASN, BSN]

I work a 7P-7A shift and I do just as much work if not more than day shift. I do vitals, meal trays, bed baths, toileting, Q2 turning, and ambulating patients. I also stock nurse servers, I do any vital rechecks or monitoring of changes in VS and also verification of type and screens and going to the lab to get units of blood.

Also, many times during the night patients will be unpredictable - just last night I had a patient vomit in his bed twice, heart rate in the 140s and was in respiratory distress. He had his linens changed twice and almost a third time when he nearly missed his emesis bag. These patients are not sleepy because usually they are very sick.

Also, in certain units there will be more busy patients than others. I was on Med/Surg and the patients are just completely different in every aspect from my particular unit. I do love night shift for the simple fact that there is not as many disciplines in the way of the care you are giving at the hospital. Respiratory comes, but for us we do all our pts. PT at night. If they want to walk in their rooms or hallway or ambulate in anyway we must assist them due the fact that it is night time and they need supervision for safety precautions.

Doctors are mostly by phone though we have some hospitalists that split nights and weekends. The advantage you will have is more downtime to handle your acutely ill patients, where as day shift you are changing linens, dealing with family members, and also baths and other things patients may need help with. The first thing I do when I get to work is outline what I am doing for my rounds (vitals, who is super sick and probably is going to puke, pee, or poop in the next 30 minutes, and getting report from my RNs) and then try to get that done as quickly as possible. Vitals are time sensitive and the RNs rely on them so I make sure I do them promptly, and this usually leaves chunks of time for my other tasks.

Like others have said, some nights I may have 7,8, or 9 patients and then some nights I may have 12 max. due to our hospital being super fabulous and RNs taking vitals and picking up as a team. I also try and assist any RNs as much as possible, make them learn that they don't have to ask you twice for anything, that you aren't lazy and just there for a paycheck - this will pay off! Many nurses pull me away and show me procedures, tricks they picked up from OTJ training, and most importantly the best way to deal with their patients if they should create crisis situations for you (and by crisis I mean calling you every 7.5 minutes for pain medication that they can press the button for themselves!) This will make for a busy night but overall I don't feel the need to switch to days yet for school but have considered it just so I could do all my activities during the day time instead of day/evening. I hope this helps, it is just a little run down of how I plan my agenda! Pick the job you feel you would love the most and go for it!

[a_dee93]

I work 11PM-7AM.

Between 11PM-12AM, we do checks to make sure no one is out of bed and everyone is breathing. Twice a week we do wheelchairs. We get the linen cart ready and our garbage/laundry containers ready. We also make sure all the EZ stands and lifts have fully charged batteries. We also pass out towels for those we wake up and get dressed come morning time along with cleaning the TV room if evening shift leaves it a mess. Also gotta make sure all our EZ lift residents have their slings. All while answering lights.

12AM-1AM, depending on the nurse, we just wait to officially receive our assignments.

1AM we begin doing our rounds, making sure the residents are safe and dry, clean their rooms, empty their trash, clean their bathrooms, etc. Vitals also need to be done by 2:00, no later than 2:30.

2AM-4AM We have to pass out briefs to our residents. We take turns taking our 30 minute lunch breaks (there's four aides on our floor).

4:30AM-7AM We do our last rounds and we get up five people each.