Daylight thinks we do nothing on night shift

Specialties Operating Room

Published

So basically I'm looking for other nurses that work steady nights in the OR that can offer some encouragment. I have been on steady nights in the operating room for close to three years now and recently I have heard from my coworkers and even from managment that the nurses on daylight are complaining that the night shift doesn't do anything. It just really hurts that the daylight feels that the night shift doesn't contribute anything worth while to the unit. They say things like "they just sit around and socialize" or "they're so lazy." I mean, who do they think sets up all the rooms for the next day and irons out any issues with the next days elective schedule? Did I forget to mention we are a level 1 trauma center and the night shift nurses have to be ready for anything?! I just want to know that other nurses feel the same way and deal with similar attitudes from the daylight OR crew. Thanks!

Specializes in APRN, ACNP-BC, CNOR, RNFA.

It's so funny to read this, because the day shift nurses here at my job think the same thing about us. What's even funnier is that I thought it too...until I started working nights. We also set up the rooms, get all the equipment needed for the cases, and do any cases that come through the door. I just remind them that I've worked places where we didn't operate 24/7, and that dayshift nurses had to get their stuff themselves. They politely "shut up".

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN

1 Article; 2,543 Posts

Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

Yep, I understand your frustration. Like Kguill, I also thought that the night shift didn't do anything but tidy up, put equipment in the room for first cases, and then sit around and watch TV...until I went to nights. There were only two of us on nights, and we were tasked with emptying the autoclave, putting away the items we pulled out of the autoclave and running another load if warranted, gassing the cameras/scopes for the next day's cases, checking crash carts, testing each autoclave, running biological checks, cleaning/testing the Steris machine, checking the Malignant Hyperthermia cart, checking every case cart, setting up every room, wiping down every cord on each anesthesia monitor, putting away extra supplies off of the return cart (this was a HUGE task, as the day shift would put their supplies on a return cart because they didn't have time between cases to put supplies away), pulling gloves and suture for every case, checking every pt chart for consents, labs, EKGs, current H&Ps and flagging the charts that lacked any of the required paperwork. We also had to re-stock every OR (we had 25), check the par levels, take out excess and tidy up every room. If we had a case going, we would have to do all of this after the case. I was exhausted after my long night!

caliotter3

38,333 Posts

No matter the area of nursing, day shift always complains that night shift does nothing, but you don't see many of them volunteering to work nights.

Specializes in Operating Room.

I've worked evenings for about 8 years now and have found that day shift always thinks the off shifts don't do anything.It doesn't bother me anymore because I know that we off shift people work hard and are far more adaptable than the day shift. Most off shift crews tend to be closer too..I think the day shift is jealous of that.

caliotter3

38,333 Posts

I've worked evenings for about 8 years now and have found that day shift always thinks the off shifts don't do anything.It doesn't bother me anymore because I know that we off shift people work hard and are far more adaptable than the day shift. Most off shift crews tend to be closer too..I think the day shift is jealous of that.

Our potlucks were exceptional!

ErinRad

3 Posts

thank you all so much! i knew our or wasn't the only one with animosity between the shifts. it's just nice to hear that other nurses are dealing with the same negative attitudes. and gadgetrn71 you're right, the ladies on the night shift crew are much closer to each other than anyone on daylight. we have to be. it's just three of us at night so we have to have each other's backs.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN

1 Article; 20,908 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I mean really :cool:.... Of course us night shift workers do nothing all night long but socialize and eat. :smokin:

I mean, really, it's a common known fact amongst day nurses that all the patients get magically better At 1900, nothing bad happens at 3 am, and all the patients sleep all night long. :banghead:

Jeeze.....when is everybody going to get on the same page and realize the only busy shift is during the day. :bugeyes:

This pheonomon is as old as time....you are not alone.:hug:

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN

4 Articles; 7,907 Posts

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Night shift also complains about what the day shift does/didn't do/should have done as well. Even if there's three shifts to choose from (day, evening and NOC, and I've been at all of them), I can guarantee you that every shift complains about what the other two shifts do and don't do. It's definitely not a one-way street.

It's a shame because we really are all on the same team--the patients'--and every single shift has its own challenges that need to be dealt with so we can care for the patients. Instead, it frequently seems to devolve into a ******* contest.

I mean really :cool:.... Of course us night shift workers do nothing all night long but socialize and eat. :smokin:

I mean, really, it's a common known fact amongst day nurses that all the patients get magically better At 1900, nothing bad happens at 3 am, and all the patients sleep all night long. :banghead:

Jeeze.....when is everybody going to get on the same page and realize the only busy shift is during the day. :bugeyes:

This pheonomon is as old as time....you are not alone.:hug:

It's not unique to nursing, either - ran into it a LOT when I worked as a computer operator. In one place (had a stoolie on day shift - I was dating one of the accounting clerks) I found out that (a) day shift WAS sitting around on their butts all day, (b) 2nd shift (me) was doing the lion's share of the repair work in addition to running production, and © there were some serious complaints by the rest of the staff about (a) & (b). Nothing was done because my boss was good at schmoozing with the rest of management. Got interesting when I resigned, though - from what I heard they ended up replacing most of the support staff.

Personally I tend to suspect that because day shift is under continual scrutiny by management, the other shifts become the corporate "whipping boys" simply because management isn't likely to pop in at 0230 to see what's going on in the wee hours. Pretty sure they'd be surprised, too, if they ever did - haven't seen a single instance of slacking on the night shift (I've done it as a CNA as well) in better than 25 years in the workforce.

To reiterate - nothing new, OP - nothing new.

----- Dave

lockheart678

118 Posts

Specializes in OR.

That sounds about right. I've gotten yelled at by a day shifter before for not having everything ready for a case, when I was in cases my entire shift and didn't have time to do it. One other problem that I've seen with the day vs night shift is that the night shift supervisor seems to favor night shift crew, so usually the swing shift gets stuck doing most of the work. People do tend to help each other out more at night though, which has always been weird to me because day shift has more people to help out. No matter what you do, it's never going to be good enough for anyone else.

Shift wars are as old as I am. And that's pretty old.

Just ignore it if you can and keep on doing your best. If you can't ignore it, invite them to come spend a week or so with you on Nights and see how it really is.

God bless you for being there for whoever might need life or limb saved during the night, and for doing all the cleaning, setting up, and other unappreciated work that you do.

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