Nursing is 24 hours....

Altra, BSN, RN · Nov 7, 2006

Not entirely sure of the answer to the question. As an ER nurse, there is a less predictable flow to 24 hours in the ER vs. 24 hours on an inpatient unit. Sometimes I walk into 4 patients who have all arrived in the last 30 minutes (meaning a big "mess", if I choose to look at it that way) and sometimes I'll walk into 5 stable patients all waiting on a bed. Usually it's somewhere in between those 2 extremes.

I can only assume that the nurse before me continually prioritized & reprioritized all the tasks as appropriate, and that if the LOL in Bed 5 complains that she's been waiting an hour for someone to disconnect her monitor so that she can go to the bathroom, it's because there were, unfortunately, other more pressing issues.

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Nov 8, 2006

We have people on nights who will not call the MD on call -for anything! I've rec'd messages like "he needs more pain meds he was in pain all night" Did they call the oncall MD- NO!

"pts needs more sedation orders, was agitated and screaming all night" did they call the MD - NO!

They won't turn certain pts because they don't want to wake them, so those pts are developing ulcers. We find pts wet - and not just wet like they urinated after last rounds, but drenched from head to toe. Its so frustrating! How can you make people do their jobs?

Ruby Vee, BSN · Nov 8, 2006

i came in at 1900. there was an order written at 1400 for "tap water enemas x 3." no enemas were done. day shift nurse "explained" that central services didn't deliver the enema kit. (day shift nurse had a well-deserved reputation for spending the entire shift in the break room.) the enema kit was delivered 10 minutes after i asked for it!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Nov 8, 2006

Ruby, I used to love the "I ordered it, but it's not here yet". hmm.......you've been waiting 10 hours now, there might be a problem. :)

Brooke13-RN · Nov 8, 2006

I'm on night shift and I get a lot of, we got a new admission and we called the admission nurse. Well the admission nurse only works the 7a-7p shift so if they don't make it they don't make it. Now I don't mind if they got the admission in later, but I've had 2 instances lately where the pt arrives on the floor at two or three and it's now 7:30 when I get out of report and figure out that nothing has been done on the admission. No vitals or weights or anything. That's really my only gripe.

Mulan · Nov 8, 2006

there is so much of that

3-11 gets dumped on by the day shift but then 11-7 wants everything done before they come in

another problem I've encountered is some real nazis working 8 hour night shift

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Nov 8, 2006

I rarely look at what still needs to be done as something that was just left for me to do. If a single nurse always leaves a certain chore I may address this one-on-one. Maybe the nurse has a special aversion to this chore or maybe they are just so unfamilar with it they don't do it cuz they just are not comfortable. As a nurse with a number of years experience I look at this as to who is leaving what. Maybe we can just do it together so the newer nurse is more comfortable with the procedure. Shift change is a very easy time to teach the younger nurses things that they need to know as we have twice the staff we need at that time. It is amazing what you can teach in a half hour or less.

OR male nurse · Jan 18, 2008

there is so much of that
3-11 gets dumped on by the day shift but then 11-7 wants everything done before they come in
another problem I've encountered is some real nazis working 8 hour night shift

This must be universal in the world. I worked at a factory on 2nd shift prior to becoming an RN. It was the same exact way. First shift left all kinds of stuff for the Second shift. When the Third shift would come in they wanted everything done and would complain to no end if they had to do one little bit of extra work. Seems like the night shift (3rd) were really mean Nazis also.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jan 19, 2008

Ruby, I used to love the "I ordered it, but it's not here yet". hmm.......you've been waiting 10 hours now, there might be a problem. :)

AGGH! YES! I come in at 7pm, and I hear that the new admit I'm picking up (that has been on our floor since 4:30) has not had any meds yet because "pharmacy didn't get them in the pyxis yet". Really? They couldn't get it in by now? Oh, and when I walk out to the medroom, you guessed it: all the meds are loaded, and even the individual patient bins (that have the meds doled out specifically for that patient) have been filled. You couldn't give the meds....and they've been here an hour? If you tell me you were swamped (and you were), then that's fine. Tell me that someone else didn't "get them here".....Please.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jan 19, 2008

I think the only thing that this thread teaches us is that EVERY shift is darned sure they are the most worked, and most put-upon. And that EVERY OTHER shift is less conscientious, and more demanding, LOL.

I'm a night-shifter, and have found that the "24 hour day" seems to END with our shift...if anything is left over for days, it turns into a huge "BUT DAYS DOES EVERYTHING!!" whine. And evenings complains that days complained about their load, and left over a ton of stuff for them....which in turn gets left over for nights.

Bingo, every shift is guilty or innocent!

eccentricRN · Jan 19, 2008

this must be universal in the world. i worked at a factory on 2nd shift prior to becoming an rn. it was the same exact way. first shift left all kinds of stuff for the second shift. when the third shift would come in they wanted everything done and would complain to no end if they had to do one little bit of extra work. seems like the night shift (3rd) were really mean nazis also.

i take offense, a little lol... no i think every shift has a little preconception of the previous shift when it really tends to be individuals rather than a shift as a whole. there is usually a couple of people who tend to do less than required or that they truly had time and chose not to... i work 3rd and just because of the hour we operate makes things a tad more difficult... well not difficult but we operate at an hour when most are cozy in their beds... shall we say, not everyone is thrilled to hear from us? :bugeyes: