Just a little night shift venting about day shift...

Lorie P. · Jan 23, 2009

this happened all the time at the last place i worked. day shift coming in at 10-15 minutes late with their breakfast in hand wanting to eat before taking report, irked the crap out of me.

but no one said a word to them, nm always gave the excuse, they have to get up so early, it hard etc, etc. just one of the very many reasons i left bed side nursing.

i lived 35 minutes away and was always on time work the 7p-7a shift and yet some of the day shift nurses lived 5 minutes away and was never on time!

so i understand you needing to vent!

NeosynephRN · Jan 23, 2009

Unfortunately there are rude and thoughtless people on both day and night shift...I mean I work days and never show up late...I am in the building 15 min before shift. I have night shifters that are always late and have their "breakfast" with them, but I do not judge the whole shift by the bad apples.

taz628, BSN, RN · Jan 23, 2009

mmmm, I know what you mean. On my unit, the shifts are a little funky. day shift is supposed to start at 7, and night shift is done at 715 - 'cause nights don't have to report until 715p since we technically don't get a "break" during the shift, and day shift is on until 730p. Very rarely is day shift ever there past 730p unless it's their choice. There have been plenty of times when I haven't even started giving report until 720, 5 minutes past my supposed end of shift. Management knows how we on night shift feel, but apparently nothing can be done about it. Of course, there are a few night shifters who show up at the last minute and some day shifters that show up way early. *Sigh* It would be SOOOO much easier if we actually focused on CONTINUITY OF CARE. Reports would be much quicker. :) But no, I almost never get assigned the same pts days in a row - only seems to happen when the pt is a chronic bell ringer and complainer. =P

swirlygirl · Jan 23, 2009

I know how you feel. I work 12 hr nights shifts on the weekends and you have to practically beg some of the daylight nurses to give them report. They want to have their coffee/donuts and chat first. I usually get on the floor about 15-30 minutes before my shift starts just so I can get my paperwork together and look up labs but some of the daylight nurses try to start giving me report at 6:40pm so they can get out the door by 7pm.

We recently changed to verbal reports on my floor which makes it a little quicker. Our NM used to make the night nurses wait until the daylight shift finished listening to our taped report - we usually had to wait until about 7:45 or 8am to leave!! And guess who was still medicating and caring for the pt's while the daylight shift was listening to report and having coffee??

queenjean · Jan 23, 2009

I'll join in the griping about day shift!!!

My main gripe is that, unless they worked nights before (and not a lot have at my facility), they really don't understand what we do. Whereas all of us on night shift spent 4 weeks or more orienting on days prior to our night shift orientation, day shifters have not done this.

A result is, they don't have a clue what we do. They don't seem to understand that we don't have a unit secretary to answer call lights, phones, and enter orders--we are responsible for that. We don't have a hospitalist in house at nights, which means we can't just call and clarify every piddily little order. So no, I didn't get that diet clarified. Since he's puking anyway, I didn't see the point. That we don't have IV therapy, so if an IV goes bad, *we* have to restart it ourselves--fine, but it's another procedure that takes time. They don't understand that we operate with a slightly higher pt ratio, and that we don't have an admit nurse, so we are responsible for all our admit paperwork and the entire admission process, and that we each usually get one to two admits a night. And they don't understand that we have to get 90% of our pt care done in the first three hours of our shift. They have all day to do some of their tasks. But no, I didn't get that education for the heart cath finished. Why? Because by the time I assessed all 4 of my pts, got their vital signs, passed their meds, and got them ready for bed, no one wanted to stay up past 11pm to discuss the procedure!

Of course in their heads they know these things; but those who haven't worked nights (or haven't worked it for a long, long time) don't truly comprehend how different the flow and the demands are on night shift. No admit nurse, no secretary, fewer staff, no in house hospitalist (or dietary! or housekeeping!), no IV therapist, and all my halfway alert pts want their meds by 2100. AND I'm responsible for chart checks, MAR checks, pain management audits, stocking the nurse supply drawers at every med station, running the controls on the CBG machines, and a zillion other little things that our manager feels we have more time to do than you do. THAT'S why I didn't get certain things done. THAT'S why I say I was running around like crazy. Don't roll your eyes when I say that it was a busy night.

I *know* it's busy on days--I've worked it, sweetheart. I *also* know that you eat breakfast, lunch, and a late snack from the cafeteria, at a great discount, with free soda to boot, every single freakin day. Since the cafeteria closes at 1830, *I* have to bring my own food or order something expensive, AND I have to eat at the desk since we honestly don't have the staff to cover an extended break. It'd be weird to sit in the nurse's lounge at the end of the dark hall, anyway. I know that 3-4 of you take breaks at once, to eat together and socialize--but that would be most of our staff, so we can't quite make that fly.

Argh, thanks for letting me vent. Mostly I'm just disappointed. *I* believe you when you say that it was too busy to get some task done. I know it's busy on days. Cut me the same slack. Appreciate how busy my shift is, too. Don't gripe after you think we've all left that we must just sit around on our a$$es all night, what else is there to do when all our pts are sleeping (yeah, since they all sleep all night)? That you have it waaaay worse than we do. Oh yeah? If it's so good on nights and so bad on days, why not take the shift differential and come to nights? No? Not interested? Whyever not?

blueheaven · Jan 23, 2009

I know how you feel. The tele floor wasn't quite as bad as yours (because our nurse manager didn't put up with tardyness BUT night shift was responsible for making the assignments for day shift. Every morning it was a whine fest over "I had him before my days off. That patient doesn't like me." and any other excuse under the sun...GRRRRR

One morning, we had a terrible night with everyone on the unit either infarcting or having chest pain, Vtach etc. Day shift came in and griped about the assignment for 15minutes. I slammed the Kardex down and told them 'When you get your ++++ together to come and get me at the nurses station. This was in front of the nurse manager too. I didn't get in trouble but if I would have done that now...I am sure I would have been reprimanded or canned.

IndySkies · Jan 23, 2009

These problems seem to me to be the result of weak managers. You need to vent professionally in staf meetings, (I know, they are never scheduled at a time that is convient for you). Or need to vent to the manager, again and again

Blee O'Myacin, BSN, RN · Jan 23, 2009

That's terrible. Our dayshifters are expected to clock in no later than 0645, ready to accept report. It's usually chaos at 7p, so unfortunately our night shifters sometimes have to wait for us to get our ducks in a row. But showing up late and eating breakfast while night shifters are cringing in the daylight is just harsh. I agree with the above poster - talk to your manager as a group.

eriksoln, BSN, RN · Jan 23, 2009

This is incredibley funny. It really is. Not in a laughing at you way, but in a........wow that makes me think and remember things way.

I'm going to come off as a know it all here, but, I cant lie about my experiences. My first job as an RN, and most of the 5 years I was a CNA, the thing that made me get GREAT reviews more than anything else was.......flexibility. No kidding, I worked all three shifts extensively......daylight, evening and nights. No lie here, I had MANY weeks I'd to all three the same week when I was an RN.

I got to know the gripes/resentments for each shift about the other. Now I'm a travel nurse and I am contracted into one shift (sometimes two if I accept eve/day or eve/night, but thats rare). So, I basically sit on one shift for 13 weeks then move onto another position, different shift. The complaints are SOOO common from one hospital to another. I started working as staff in Pittsburgh PA, went to Balt. Maryland and have made my way all the way out to Seattle WA. And, its still the same.

Working all three shifts like that, hearing the gripes everyone has........gave me one piece of insight that helps me so much as a travel nurse. Its all complete BS. Not an ounce of truth to any of it. I can point out to you DOZENS of nurses I know who cried cried cried that life would be so better if only (fill in the blank) shift would get it toghether. Then, IDK, a child is born.......a spouse changes jobs and hours so the nurse wants to also.........the nurse starts a second job and has to adjust their schedule.......whatever.......then the nurse ends up working the shift she spent the last year and a half dragging through the mud every time they worked.

I know you see whats coming here..........you have to. YES. That nurse is now living it up backstabbing and talking about the shift she just left and how "life would be so much better if (fill in the blank with the name of the shift said nurse just finished working on) would get their act together.

This is what I've learned. Certain people just........have negative energy that has to go somewhere. Bad mouthing the other shift is a convenient place to put it, so thats where it goes. If they werent spending their days pointing out every shortcoming of the other shifts, they'd probably have to turn to drinking or something.

Part that made me laugh most was.......you complaint about tardiness. I've worked at a lot of places..new job every 13 weeks.....and 99% of the time its the other way around. Daylight, being fearfull about their having to juggle doctors and getting pt's to test and everything else, comes in early and on time. Night shift, being a beast of a whole different nature, comes in 10-15 minutes late chronicly. Seriously, I have NEVER worked on a unit where daylight has an abundence of frequently tardy nurses. I have worked in more than than a handfull of places with frequently tardy eve/night shift nurses though.

But, I'm not here to attack you. I might actually have something to contribute if you arent already sending viruses through emails to me.

My way of dealing with a nurse who upsets me in any way.......is to confront the nurse......not label them as the poster child for their shift and damn the whole shift. Speak with the ones doing these things to you on an individual basis, make it an issue between you and them, not between nights/days. You are more likely to succeed in being assertive when you confront the individual, less likely when you challenge an entire rotation of nurses.

I do understand a great number of nurses on the same shift do this. So facing them one by one is daunting I am sure. But nothing will come of spreading poison that ruins shift2shift cooperation. Plus, once you assert yourself with just a couple of the major offenders......others will notice the incident. Some will do a bit of self reflection and change their ways without being confronted, hopefully.

I had to take this approach on a job in Balt. where a few nurses on night shift were infamous for not getting their 6 am meds passed. I kept confronting the ones doing it one at a time, on the day same day meds were left for me to sort out for them, before they left. I always remained professional and the jest of what I had to say was "If you leave these medications not given, I will have no choice but to document them as having been given late. I'll have to follow with an explination of why they are being given late. Do you really want that explination to be the one you gave me..........I was too bussy doing chart checks/ Someone fell last night/ I had too many incontinents? Or do you want to sort the mess out before you leave and leave a better explination?" After awhile, they called my bluff and I did write them up, and they did get called into the office, and they did stop trying to give me their 6am meds to do. And in the process, I didnt make enemies with the good nurses on that shift because I was gossiping about their shift (and hence them) to everyone else.

Its that simple. Assert yourself with the person doing the thing that upsets you so. Dont waste your time trying to change an entire rotation by bad mouthing them behind their backs. It WONT work.

smalltownnurse2506 · Jan 23, 2009

When I worked med/surg the rule was enacted that LPN's had to have an RN listen to report with them there was often more than one person that you were giving report to. Numerous times I would walk in and sit down in the morning, and there was no attempt from those receiving report to end their conversation. I would just start report and talk over them. It was also not uncommon for a side conversation to start during report. I would continue to talk during this too. I always hoped somebody was listening.

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Jan 23, 2009

Its our night shift that waltz in late, but leave right on time. Some nurses on nights won't answer a call bell after 7:00 am -shift ends at 7:30 - if they do, they just say "Your day nurse will be in soon". Night shift won't put in maintenance reqs for broken things, just tell day shift it needs to be done. They won't call a doctor for increased pain meds - they just tell day shift that the pt "was in pain all night and needs an increase".