CNAs: What do you do 11pm-7am?

[casi, ASN, RN]

It depends on the level of care at the Assisted Living. In most Assisted Livings there is only one Aide on at night. Your job is to answer any call-lights, do a few comfort checks, and toiletings. Some places have the night Aides do laundry and some light cleaning.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

Well, if your facility as alot of elderly demented pts, some of them might "sundown" at night. Meaning these pts might seem functional in the daytime but at night they become even more disoriented, psychotic, might be pulling at lines, etc. If your facility doesn't have alot of those kinds of pts, then you'll probably just be helping pts to the bathroom throughout the night, vital signs, some places as NA's stock at night, and tidy up, depending what other departments you have and their responsibilities are. I currentally work as a PCT on straight nights, love it. The only downside is that when I worked adult med-surg I would end up with 37 pt by myself as alot of facilites won't or can't adequately staff night shift.

[Button2006]

yeah, i work 11-7 and we do two or three rounds at night depending on the situation. if someone is leaving at 5am we do two rounds, if we have a dialysis patient that has to get up at 5am we do two rounds, otherwise it is three rounds. i work at a nursing home though, so it is slightly different from a alf. things are usually pretty quiet until 5am. then there are some demanding early birds who cant wait to get up that we take care of after last rounds. most nights are quiet, but some can be disastrous, especially if 3-11 does not do their last rounds. and god forbid someone gets a uti and goes stir crazy.

on sunday and thursday nights we do the inventory on the supplies. wednesday nights we usually pass gloves to each room. every day we are supposed to clean the fridge and wipe down two wheelchairs.

hth! :)

[nightmare, RN]

Our carers work from 9pm to 8am .They do a first round ,putting residents to bed,changing pads and any wet beds.After that they do the laundry and set the breakfast trays in the kitchen.They clean something different every night,wheelchairs,walkers,hoists,etc.They do another two rounds during the night plus answer any bells of which there are a lot!They also do at least one bed bath either last thing at night or first thing in the morning and get up several residents who are early risers.Definitely no time to sleep!! They also have a lot of paperwork to do before they can go off-shift.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

My night staff are kept busy with the 'yo-yo' residents, doing laundry and light housekeeping, and putting packets together for doctor appointments. They are also responsible for a couple of small med passes, 2-hr safety/continence checks and even a couple of blood-sugar checks (we have a VERY brittle diabetic who is tested every four hours and PRN). It's actually a cool shift..........I've worked it a few times myself, and I had no trouble at all finding enough to do.

[TiggerBelly]

When I worked in ALF, I did a couple of 11-7s. It was me and the supervisor. She would do any med passes (mostly pain pills) and put the doctors packets together for the next day. I would do some light laundry, vaccuum the main living rooms, roll the silverware for breakfast and set the tables for breakfast.

As far as patient care goes, it was q2 hour checks and changes, answering call lights and as someone mentioned before you may have do deal with some sundowning. If I had a little extra time I would try to start and get some early risers up and moving for the 7am crew.

[danissa, LPN, LVN]

And That, Nightmare, sounds like a well run place to live for your residents!

[nightmare, RN]

Well we try our best,the carers fairly earn their wages,most nights they are run off their feet answering call mats as some of our residents are up and down like yo-yo's.