Do Day Nurses Really Feel that Night Nurses Do Nothing All Night?

I work both shifts, occasionally we get a quiet night and I get to sit down and look at the paper and have a drink. That never happens on day shifts. But generally we are steadily busy through the night. We are very busy at the start, getting observations on all patients, IV's, BM, night meds and then same again at the end of the shift in the morning. Usually midnight until 5am is a slower pace and generally just the monitoring that we need to do and answering bells.
I prefer the work of night, it is less stressfull in general but messes up my body clock and sleep so wouldn't be able to do it full time.

I work 12 hr night shifts in the ED! This feeling is definitely true in my facility with most of my co-workers!! Days has 4 medics, 4-5 nurses, 1-2 techs, 2 secretaries, and a greeter. Not to mention all of the anicillary staff. On nights, we have 2 medics, 2 nurses, 1 secretary, and 2 medics on call for runs. There are MANY nights when my ED is chuck full, bursting at the seams with critical patients----we run our butts off!!!! When you think of the night shift, you think of cardiacs(awoke from sleep), you think of your traumas(alcohol definitely plays a factor), you think of your overdoses, etc, etc, etc!! Our facility keeps taking away things that the medics can do, making for more responsibilities on the 2 nurses, but not giving us any more nursing staff. I will say that there are nights when we may see only a handful of patients, but that is rare. It's usually the opposite end of the spectrum! And on the other hand, there are days where they have a handful of patients. It goes both ways. Does anyone else see this?

I have worked both days and nights. I am always the 1st to defend the noc shift when people say they do nothing. Nights are busy in a different way, and I agree--a large percentage of patients don't sleep at night. In fact, that is when they get crazy from sundowning and the effects of sleeping pills. Both shifts are busy. Both shifts have the same sort of nurse's . Some are lazy and give ****** care and do as little as possible. I have seen nurse's sleeping at night and I have seen day nurses who sit on the internet all day or sit around talking not attending to the needs of their patients. It has nothing to do with what shift you work, it has everything to do with your work ethic.

Peace Love Out

I agree with some of the post, I always worked day shift, 12 and 8hours and just recently started as ANM in night shift. I can say there both busy its just a different kind of busy and the support is much more less in the night as well as the telephone are not great time to make those nightcalls to ask for help unless is a dire emergency. In day shift there are a lot more support but is a zoo, every single person is in the floor, MD's, PT, OT, MSW, CM, everybody, meetings, versus night where you have a higher load, but you get new admission, but very infrequent MD or other specialty visits, but nonetheless busy. But the same is true about the floor and the ER, they think the people in the ER are so sloppy, they did not do tjhis or that, but they do not sit to ask what happened. I worked the ER for 3 years, and if med surg and ICU is busy, ER is three times that, because your dealing with admiited patients, with orders, rescue calls, walking emergency, codes, stroke protocol, chest pian, MI, you name it, but still in every single hospital the day shift complains about the night shift and the floors complaint about ER its a never ending story. Until we all as professional and caring nurses understand that we are working together not against each other to get the other we are in trouble, like one of you said, pitch in and help and get the patient better and out the doo, it will help everybody. And yes night shift nurses work all night and have to fight their body to stay awake.

That just seems to the standard saying ... 'night nurses do nothing.'
But it can be tranferred to what the 'other' shifts say about their counterparts trailing behind one shift.