A Passionate Note in Support of All Night Shift Health Care Staff

[Hockeydoll88]

Hey everyone,

Recently, at my current nursing job as a RN on a hospital medical/surgical ward, I began working the night shift as it worked better with the hustle bustle of my daily living and I enjoyed the extra difference in my paycheck. While my body may not necessarily love staying up all night long, I have enjoyed the switch, and respect my fellow night shift co-workers. Of course, as with any floor, there are a few that do the absolute minimum amount of cares for their patients, but overall, we are a hard-working group of angels

Unfortunately, though, at lunch today, one of my co-workers (who has been a nurse on the unit for 9 years), made some statements that made me want to scream. Since I have only been a nurse for 2 years, I didn't want to step on the toes of one of the "Senior" nurses, so I had to bite my tongue. However, what she said has been eating at me all night, so much so that I knew I couldn't sleep until I recorded my mind. Essentially, she insinuated that night shift nurses are lazy. She felt it was unfair how we do not conduct skin assessments (as it normally assigned to day or eve shift on my unit), how we don't have the patients bathed before the day shift, and how we goof off on the internet during our down time.

Now granted, I have no idea if this person has ever worked a night shift in her career, and if she has, I would be shocked concerning how poorly she talked about night shift staff. Yet my soul cannot let this stand without educating not only this person, but anyone else also who shares this skewed idea of the work night care workers do.

Thus, as provided below, I am defending night shift health care workers (in particular, nurses) by giving detailed accounts on how we work just as hard, if not harder, than day or evening staff:

(As a disclaimer, I have nothing against people who day or eve shifts, as I still continue to work these shifts as well)

• Some may feel that we are lazy because our patients are not bathed or showered by the time day shift comes on. This is ABSOLUTELY ABSURD. The sole purpose of a night shift care worker is to, after assuring our client's safety and making sure their health/vital signs are stable, is to provide an environment for restful sleep. Anybody with a brain knows that sleep is probably the most important factor in improving someone's health and well-being. The majority of the population does not normally bathe themselves at 4 or 5 in the morning, unless you have an early morning job and/or long commute. So, to wake a sick client up (who often has been bombarded the last 16 or so hours by doctors, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, procedures, you name it, with barely a break in between) at 4 or 5AM to ask them if they would like to be bathed is ridiculous. The client NEEDS TO SLEEP. And as any night shift worker knows, from about 6AM to the end of your shift, with passing meds, giving insulin, transporting clients to procedures, and feeding/dressing clients, there is NO TIME to offer hygiene cares. In addition, many clients are in so much pain or have such difficulty breathing/getting short of breath that they will refuse offers of hygiene cares during their stay in the hospital, as this is too much effort for them (even with assistance from the caretaker). Is hygiene important? Of course. More important than controlling a client's pain and/or managing their breathing? HELL NO---any smart health care worker would tell you that. Now, granted, if a patient is awake the majority of the night because their hygiene is poor and affecting/prohibiting them from restful sleep, than yes, most definitely, let's get them cleaned up so they can rest easy. But to say that night shift workers "should have clients bathed by the time day shift comes on" is just illogical and not conducive to the patient's well-being.
  

• "Night shift nurses should do skin assessments". This is just a tie-on to my previous point. No, night shift nurses should not be doing skin assessments, as it will disrupt the patient's sleep. Yes, if we have a total cares patient who cannot turn themselves, and thus we need to turn them every 2 hours, then if possible, we can sneak a peek at their skin. Otherwise, the patient NEEDS TO SLEEP. I know day/eve shifts are commonly much more hectic than a night shift, but those shifts' nurses have far more opportunities to view patient skin without waking them from restful therapy.
  

• Night shift nurses ALWAYS work with less staff. We have more patients assigned to us, and often have much less assistance from pharmacists, physicians, nurse aides, etc. Guess what happens? When one of our patients starts to go south, and we have 4 or 5 other patients that are assigned to us as well, all Hell breaks loose. Not only do we have to use our critical thinking skills without much guidance or assistance from physicians to save this patient, we got to be looking out for our other ones, too. We will bust our ass for the rest of our shift trying to catch up on all the other patients' cares. It is total oblivion, I tell you. Now guess what happens when that same scenario happens to a day shift nurse? Your doctors, pharmacists, interns, residents, nurse aides, etc. are THERE TO HELP YOU OUT. Night shift does not have that luxury so, quite frankly, we often times probably work harder than a day shift nurse.
  

• Now, on the flip side of this, if we have a lucky night when all the patients assigned to us are stable throughout the shift, then we may have more down time then a regular day or eve shift nurse. After we have completed all the tasks the night shift requires, and in the brief spurts of time our patients are stable and sleeping, we may find a quiet hobby to move the shift along. Surfing the internet, knitting, crossword puzzles, and reading are common activities we will utilize. Should this be constituted as "goofing off"? Quite frankly, in my opinion, NO. If our patients' needs are being met i.e. they are pain free, sleeping peacefully, vital signs normal, ward tasks completed, etc., then we are simply finding an appropriate activity to do until our patients need our assistance once again. Let's be honest: if day shift staff had more frequent moments of free time inbetween patient cares, they would be doing the EXACT SAME THING.
  

To conclude, if any night shift health care workers/nurses out there are sick and tired of being viewed as generally lazy, and you got something you want to say about it, then please respond to this thread with your thoughts and the other misconceptions you have heard about the work that we do! Let us educate those who dare to pass judgement without fully knowing what it is like to work a night shift and never receiving any respect for it! Let our voices be heard that we ARE NOT LAZY, and that we deserve tremendous RESPECT and APPRECIATION for the work that we do!!

Thanks to all for reading and God Bless! :redbeathe

[UpinawayRN]

I have worked nights many years ago, and never did have down time, always something that needed to be done. Usually had put in a full day at home with the kids, phone calls, door bell, appts, barking dogs etc.before starting shift. I, and most nurses I know and respect the fact that you dont get a full nights sleep like the rest of the world, and wouldn't choose it. Don't let her comments bother you. She sounds like she's stressed like the rest of us but inconsiderate. You will have that everywhere. Just for kicks, ask her if she'd like to swap shifts. I agree, it is ridiculous to keep the poor old folks up all night. I'd probably be one of those "swinging" if you tried to look at my butt at 3 am. And a shower at 4? forgettaboutit.

[backatit2]

:)

only in a perfect world will nurses respect each other for what they do. i'm not a nurse (yet) but i WANT to work night shift. not because it's "easier" but because i have children and i would rather leave for work in the evening, come back home and sleep while they are in school, and be there to see them for a short while on the days i do work which is from 7pm -7am around here. also, i'm just generally a night person, a night owl.

quite frankly, the nurses who don't work night shift don't do it because they don't WANT to. they HATE it. their bodies can't handle it. so to act like the night shift employees are "lazy" or "lucky" is just ridiculous. they could always be reminded that they are more than welcome to work night shift if they think they could get more accomplished, and why wouldn't they if it's such an easy job?

gee, can't wait.

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

Having worked night shift for 3 years, I can tell you what bothered me the most. Having the day shift pounce on you during report on miniscule issues, such as not covering the 0700 insulin.

I can tell you before I worked night shift, the day shift would say to me how lazy night shift was, or how some would sleep. Well, I can say few slept and many were busy all night long!

Finally, I can say that I am always grateful for night shift nurses and tell them so, we are so lucky to have those who work nights. The differential isn't worth the sleep deprivation and mood swings IMHO. Every new nurse should be required to do a stint of night nursing!

[pgotm]

Op that was very well put. I do try to do bathing before they sleep if I have enough time. My total care patients that usually sleep all the time I try to get them up at 5am and perform care before I leave for the day so that day shift has a little more time and that the patient should feel comfortable just in case say shift is too busy to clean the patient, before I come back the next night. I do make sure and do foley care for my patients, but the smaller stuff I try not to stress about. I always ask my patients, so that it is addressed, and that I can chart if they refuse. It seems to me that more people code on night shift. Also at night we don't have the luxury of having doctors that are awake. So we are at time having to wake doctors up for whatever should be brewing on the floor. There is a reason that night shift makes more, we are sleep deprived, have shorter life spans, and in fight against our body when all it wants to do is hop in a empty bed and snooze. If day shift should complain, they are free to come on night shift, there are always positions open.

[britgirl37]

Having worked night shift for 8 yrs, the most irritating, annoying, frustrating thing I hear is "well you guys don't do anything because your patients are sleeping"................Yeah, right!

:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

[nursbee04]

I have worked night shift for over five years and our dayshift staff would never EVER dare to make such remarks. They know when we leave at 0730, sweaty and tired from a busy shift that we work just as hard as they did, with less resources and in most cases less staff.

I probably wouldn't have been able to keep my mouth shut, so kudos to you for taking the high road.

[artsmom, BSN, LPN]

This is a forever problem and I think you did the best thing possible, ignore it. I am a night worker and my DON has told me that she KNOWS we sleep, dont change patients, and ignore the lights. I'd love to know how she KNOWS this incorrect information. I did tell her otherwise but have long since given up fighting with the day staff. They will always think the night shift is lazy. I always invite the people complaining to join us. Not for one night, one week, or even a month, but a year or more. Anyone can pick up a night shift here and there and survive. I challenge them to do it for years and feel the toll it takes on their bodies and lives. I always forget until I am on a long vacation that it is not normal to be tired 24/7. Just make sure you are ethically okay and continue to provide top care to your patients, and disregard those that are unknowing.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

I agree that every shift has plenty of work.

I don't think it's necessarily true that Days has lots of back-up help when something bad happens. The doc is not always there and there aren't necessarily house staff, either. often, in smaller hospitals, there's only the ER doc, maybe an attending who happens to be rounding and can jump in to help, but don't count on that.

I guess just learn to ignore your incorrect coworker. Or tell her nicely what you wrote here. Probably futile but you can try.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

This is a forever problem and I think you did the best thing possible, ignore it. I am a night worker and my DON has told me that she KNOWS we sleep, dont change patients, and ignore the lights. I'd love to know how she KNOWS this incorrect information. I did tell her otherwise but have long since given up fighting with the day staff. They will always think the night shift is lazy. I always invite the people complaining to join us. Not for one night, one week, or even a month, but a year or more. Anyone can pick up a night shift here and there and survive. I challenge them to do it for years and feel the toll it takes on their bodies and lives. I always forget until I am on a long vacation that it is not normal to be tired 24/7. Just make sure you are ethically okay and continue to provide top care to your patients, and disregard those that are unknowing.

The DON is probably telling you that's how SHE behaved when SHE worked graveyard. Oh, yeah!!!!! You can see right through her.

Wow, what a terrible DON she must be! A DON believing stuff like that, without proof, really galls me. Doesn't she think there'd be more decub's and pt's complaining if that stuff were true? Where is her brain? Never mind, I know where it is.

[systoly]

This is a forever problem and I think you did the best thing possible, ignore it. I am a night worker and my DON has told me that she KNOWS we sleep, dont change patients, and ignore the lights. I'd love to know how she KNOWS this incorrect information. I did tell her otherwise but have long since given up fighting with the day staff. They will always think the night shift is lazy. I always invite the people complaining to join us. Not for one night, one week, or even a month, but a year or more. Anyone can pick up a night shift here and there and survive. I challenge them to do it for years and feel the toll it takes on their bodies and lives. I always forget until I am on a long vacation that it is not normal to be tired 24/7. Just make sure you are ethically okay and continue to provide top care to your patients, and disregard those that are unknowing.

Ooh I could have fun with this DON! She's aware of neglect and does nothing???

One of my DONs did approach me one time, while I was charging nights, and stated she had a report that there's sleeping going on. I looked at her (I'm sure) with big eyes and said, "Ya, it is the night shift". The DON thought I was being smart (not) and when I realized she was referring to staff I told her that since obviously the report had to come from someone who was present during the shift they should have all the details necessary to proceed with the investigation and while I didn't need to know the name of the reporting person I did expect a full report on the outcome of the investigation. The DON said, "Just make sure they (staff) don't sleep. What a morale booster.

[CFitzRN, ADN]

Honestly, if she expects the night shift nurses to do all that before she even gets there, SHE is the one who's really lazy! Usually, when someone acts like a jerk and complains about someone else, that person needs to take a look in the mirror because he or she is probably guilty of the very thing they're complaining about.