AM nurses, tell me what I can do to make your shift start easier.

[tiroka03, LPN]

I am always looking for ways to improve my nursing skills. But, today I had to pass on a doctor call to AM shift, as the doctor will not take calls or messages before 8am. The am nurse felt I should have called anyway. I don't want to get into shift wars here, but I know there are times, that there are things I have to pass along. But, in return I would like to do things to make things easier on you when these things come up. I hope you aren't thinking yippiee a new way to pull more work out of a night nurse. I just want to make you shift start smooth and easy. So in all honesty how can I help? What bugs you most about night nurses. I don't want to start a nasty post about us night nurses, we have our own problems we inherit from the shift before us. I just want honest tips, not horror stories. Please don't use this post to vent on us night staff people. Be positive, because I think that when it all comes down to the bottom line, nurses no matter what shift need to support each other. We have enough controvesy with management, patients, families, doctors, shift stress, lawyers ect. All I want to know is how to make your life easier. I don't have a lot of time, so I need quick easy things I can do, and also if I were to have an easy night, maybe a little more complex things that would be handy.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

The all ongoing gripe about calling doctors offices can be solved by faxing them and then putting that in your report. The docs offices usually (in my area) don't have voice machines that take messages. If it did I would defiantly call and leave a message and if they don't then fax em then am can follow up. Other then that everyone needs to grow up and realize nursing is 24/7 period.

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

My biggest tip is that we all need to pitch in to get the work done. Sometimes it can't be finished in one shift. There is no excuse for passing along tasks you could have done, but no foul for tasks that couldn't be done, like the one you described.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

I just created a post about how much I appreciate the work night shift nurses do. In general, I don't mind taking on work from the night shift. Goodness knows I've passed on enough to them!

But the one thing that does bug me: messy rooms. The last thing I want to do when juggling morning care, assessments and meds is clean up the rooms. There are only a few nurses where I work that consistantly leave supplies, linen, trash food wrappers, etc. in the rooms. I really appreciate it when I come in to a patient's room in the morning and I have space on the table to sort out my meds and I don't have to make two trips to the soiled utility room with old blankets.

:) Thanks for all you do! :)

[theamberdawns]

Good Question, I find it helpful when supplies are stocked. Also helpful is when, if the unit is slammed at shift change, the PM nurse is willing to stay a few extra minutes to help with the small stuff that can add up for one nurse! Getting water, starting an IV ect.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

You, Tiroka are hereby named as my hero of the day! What a great post!

Thanks for being proactive in your quest to streamline shift-to-shift efforts.

1. Make sure that all VS are done, and that you have highlighted in your notes which VS were abnormal.

2. Right before you are ready to give report, it would be helpful to have a page in to the doc if you are asking for clarification or notifying them regarding any abnormalities. This way the day shift doesn't have to wait around for the doc to call back when they are slammed.

3. It would also be helpful to ensure that supplies were in the room for a pt that needs dsg changes. I will give you 20 gold stars if you put chux in every pt's room!

4. When you do your final rounds, make sure that the IV bags are at least 1/3 full. When I was working on the floor, there was nothing I despised more than to walk into every room and have the IV pump beeping.

5. This is not necessary, but if you have the time, every nurse that follows you would do a happy dance if you had all of the supplies for a bath ready to go and in the bath basin. I worked with a STELLAR night shift nurse, and she would do this for me when she had the time. It not only made things easier, but oh...the thoughtfulness! It just made the day more pleasant.

6. The day shift nurse will bring you coffee that night if you do the pre-op checklist for pts going to surgery. Seriously. Just tell them how you like your coffee.

A thousand kudos for you for being proactive!

[JenniferSews]

You don't mention what the Dr call was for, and that makes a big difference. If it's critical, every dr we work with has a way to reach them if it's really serious. If they take no calls at all, what do you do in an emergency?

That said I never mind when a nurse doesn't want to call at 4 am for something that can really wait until 9am. I know they are going to be ****** at you when you call for something that could wait. I don't expect you to throw yourself under the bus. But if I have to call in a critical and the Dr is mad and asking me why no one called this in right away, it's going to put a kink in my day that isn't even my fault.

As for making a smoother transition all I ever ask is that you do what you are supposed to do in your shift. Finish your meds and be ready to hand off report on time. That's all.

[SoundofMusic]

I would agree with all of the above posts, and add:

1. Take care of pain -- many times we walk into the room and pts will state they've been in pain all night ...I always wonder how this could happen -- be sure your'e rounding hourly, even though you might think they're sleeping ...

2. Agree w/ the IV bag comment ...

3. Just try to clean up the room and messes -- the supply stocking is awesome.

4. Do whatever you can to make sure they get some sleep .. .they are awfully crabby the next day if they don't .. .

5. Do what you can..it's 24/7 nursing and w/ shorter and shorter staffs, I don't see how nurses can constantly be so down on each other -- we're all doing so much more with less !!

[kool-aide, RN]

I always try to make sure that everyone has a fresh pitcher of ice water for morning medpass, and that all my pts have been toileted so they are not calling right at shift change. Try to clean up messes in pts room, organize supples, take out the trash and dirty linens. For incontinent pts I always leave a full change of linens and pericare supplies.

[tiroka03, LPN]

I should have clarified the phone call statement. Most of our doctors have a signed paper saying not to call them for anything less than life threatening b/r 8am. That includes their answering service, because the answering service will not hold a call, just put it straight through. Then you also have the problem of doctors refusing to answer the call when it is an emergent issue, we are just left on our own, and so most people in that situation get sent in to the hospital, not like we have a lot of choices in that case. In those cases, I will inform mangement of the problem, and then the doctors are a little more receptive of answering for a few weeks at least. It costs to send out a pt, it costs not to have them in the facility, the doctor is mighty, but the in the end money speaks.

[slave_diverRN]

If you can, run the controls on the accucheck machines!

[KaksRN]

This works both ways...AM shift handing off as well as PM shift handing off...