which shift is busier?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I work steady 3-11 in a LTC facility. Just noticed that the 1st of the month, all the dayturn treatments were put on afternoon turn along with all the 11-7 catheter changes. When I asked the DON why this was done, she said it was because dayturn was too busy and midnight shift didn't have time. Well, HELLO...what about afternoon turn? We do the exact things that dayturn does except in reverse along with the added pressure of more family members, MD's that aren't in their offices and pharmacy that doesn't answer after hour calls....very frustrating...any thoughts, ideas, solutions??? :confused:

redshiloh

345 Posts

Very old argument...each shift thinks they are the busiest. Day shift is probably pretty busy, but nights not having time? Are they short staffing them? Cause I can't really see any other reason they would be that busy.

oramar

5,758 Posts

That is a crock. How long has it been since your DON worked evenings? Where does she get that business about 3-11 not being busy, certainly not from personal experiences. Instead of just facing up to the fact that the ratio of patients to nurses is to high they come up with crap like that.

blue280

71 Posts

Specializes in geriatrics.

Nights on our unit has had staff cut drastically. Its to the point of being unsafe and I know each shift thinks their shift is the busiest. I think ALL shifts are overworked, its just a different kind of busy for each shift. days has the problem of all the different disiplines coming at the nurses with questions. Doctors are rounding and multiple orders have to be followed up on. PM's has all the surgicals coming back, with all those hourly assessments and then there is family who wants all their questions answered now. Nights of course is staffed to the bare minimum cuz the pts sleep all night and there are no meds to pass, right? So each shift does work real hard in its own way. What we've done is to rotate some of the tasks and otherwise we do the best we can with what we got.

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

This is another area where my floor lucked out on having a great nurse manager. She will schedule herself on random evenings and nights to "inform herself" on what's going on. Won't tell anyone what ones she has scheduled herself for. This way she sees firsthand how and what needs improvement when the "we're busier than you are" arguement arises.

At my facility, it's a toss up between the day and evening shift on who's busiest. Both are hectic.

inna

43 Posts

I work days 12 hr shift in M/S unit where doctors would make rounds, give new orders, family would be making phone calls to ask how was the patient's night or family questioning you why is that my mother wasn't cleaned yet...where patients are being moved out of bed to the stretcher several times a day for a diagnostic test, where we have to feed a total care patient breakfast, lunch and dinner... bathe them and change their sheets... where most of bedside procedures are done....

12 hr shift days is busier..... in my opinion

Monica RN,BSN

603 Posts

Specializes in ER, ICU, Nursing Education, LTC, and HHC.

I don't think it is fair to say that any one shift is truly busier than the other, but from a management perspective I am well aware of the ratio and staffing numbers we maintain to stay within an allotted budget. In order to do this, day shift will always get better staffing, and there will be less in afternoon, and even less on nights. This is what contributes to the "busyness " of each shift respectively, if there were equal numbers of employees on all three shifts then it would be fair to determine that one shift COULD POSSIBLY be less busier than another. ( unless you factor in the number of admissions that seem to come in on the afternoon shift, often more than the day shift.. )THEN who is busier???

healingtouchRN

541 Posts

Specializes in Cardiac/Vascular & Healing Touch.

ok let me step onto the soap box again. my unit has no tech nor secretary, so I get to do these deeds. We also had 6 vents, & one IABP last nite, so guess who got to do all the baths???? (did I mention that my pt went bad & had to be intubated? so that was 2 hours of one on onw, & that I had an femerol art line to d/c so those q 15" x4, q30" x 2, then q hours check during this time--& he had copd so he need updrafts, tried to get out of bed) yup, nites, with 4 nurses. (nine critical pts.). days shift says "we pass trays, well since when do INTUBATED pt's eat???? I did take an eaten tray of a pt who has been intubated since admit to the dirty utility room last nite. wonder who ate it? family can't just stay in our unit....maybe it was our day staff?? anyhoo, it gripes me to continually hear the arguement. when I was on days, everyone got to got to the deli for breakfast & lunch. nites has not that chioce. nothing is open, you either order out or brown bag. I work 12's & I don't leave my dept except to run to a code, or go get meds & MAR's from pharmacy. Our staffing is so short I dont' trust them enough to leave for a 30 min break. Not to mention, nites are also supposed to "clean up the unit". What is up with this? isn't that housekeepings JOB!?

enough about nites being slow & nite staff sleeping. I don't take a dinner break & I don't smoke, so I run my legs off keeping people alive. lets just all agree, NURSING IS BUSY, & stop with the shift crap. nuff sed.:(

sbic56, BSN, RN

1,437 Posts

Specializes in Obstetrics, M/S, Psych.

Days is craziest ...hands down. I have worked them all. The confusion that administative stuff brings on is the problem. If I could work w/e days forever and still have my weekends off...impossible, I know, I would have it made.

fergus51

6,620 Posts

Depends on the unit. L&D was always the same days or nights. NICU seems just as busy on nights, although there are fewer parents, all the weights, bloodwork and elective procedures are done on nights. If days were so terrible there wouldn't be so many people at my hospital begging to get out of doing nights. I realize other units are different.

AussieAIN

38 Posts

I don't think any one shift is busier than another. Each shift is buy in its own way, though having work all shifts I have to say that the time between about 7am and 7pm can be the busiest. I say this because this is the time frame when most docters and family members visit or call/called, the time most of the drugs are handed out, all showers are done. Though night shift can be busy because in the facility I work in thats when most of the orders are done and paper work which wasn't able to be done earlier is done.

Though having said all that when you add in the buzzer facter all shifts have the potential to be the busiet. but thats just my opinion!

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I work on a Med-Surg unit. I work 11-7. I have worked days and evenings as well. The majority of the time the day and evening shifts are the busiest on this floor, sometimes it is the other way around. This is not to imply that night shift has it made. This is not to imply that any shift has it made. This is just one floor in one hospital, in one city, in one county, in one state.

I believe that's what most people were intending to answer to :confused: how their floor is.

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