Hi everyone,
I have been a full time night nurse for almost the past 2 years and am getting tired of how the rest of the staff treats the night shift. Everything wrong with the unit always seems to get blamed on nights since we are not around during staff meetings to defend ourselves. Also day shift always seems to have this misconception that "nights do nothing and have it easy". Is so frustrating! We work with half the staff they do and without the support of clinicians, quick access to MDs, management etc. So when something happens it can get very hectic in the night. Yes, it can sometimes be quieter in the night but do people not realize how much harder working nights is on the body? Staying up all night and staying alert is no cakewalk. it's not the same as being awake in the day. I just don't understand why people can't see that? So lately it seems like management has been listening to the day staff and giving us all this extra busy work to do on nights. Yes, on some nights we have the time for it but when something happens we don't have the backup they do in the day time ... I'm just so tired of people blaming nights for everything and not recognizing the work we do and sacrifices we make. If nights are so easy why don't I see these people lining up to volunteer for night shifts?
Does anyone else have this problem? And if so can you offer any suggestions of how to get some respect for our shift and stop all the "blaming and dumping" on the night shift?
Thanks