Curious about NOC shift

[Marcus119]

Hello all,

I'm sure this thread has been made before but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. I'm finish up my third semester of nursing school and have only one more to go (yay!). I've done both days and PM clinicals, but I'm curious about NOC shift. I guess I'm just not sure what NOC shift nurses do most of the time. Obviously you're doing assessments and probably doling out pain meds periodically. I assume hanging abx for some patients and checking blood sugars for those that needed a 2100 insulin. Is that kind of the gist of it or is there way more to it? Also, do you have wake patients up a lot and do they get mad at you for it?

[AmyRN303, BSN, RN]

That's great, if that's your facility's protocol. Mine requires q4h vitals and assessments charted unless otherwise ordered. It's a very rare patient that has something else ordered, usually comfort care or a terminal wean.

I work stepdown too, and the only instance in which we chart assessments other than q4h is when the patient is stepped down to be transferred to a M/S floor. They don't always get transferred right away depending on bed availability, of course. But our standard ICA patients are vitals q2h and full assessment q4.

[NurseB2014]

It really depends on where you are working. Acute care hospital versus a long term care facility. Night shift has different priorities and tasks. It also depends on the patients diagnosis, acuity of illness, etc.

Often, unfortunately, you can't prioritize the patient getting a good night sleep. If they are sick enough to be admitted to a hospital, they are sick enough to need to be checked 24/7. Lights turned on, (sometimes a flashlight will work,), vitals taken, IV sites checked, dressings checked, etc.

If they are healthy enough to get mad when you wake them at night they may be healthy enough to be discharged. Or they can ask their doctor if they can get an order for do not disturb, do not awaken for vitals signs, when sleeping,

Agree with above! This might have already been posted, but in my unit (ICU), we have plenty to do at night. I often feel bad for going in the room so much during the night, but what can you do? I live for those "slow" nights where I can actually feel like I've gotten all my charting done, and didn't leave anything "hanging" for day shift. Most of the day shift nurses seem to think that we have it easier on nights, so they will leave things like central line dressings for us to do. The only thing I hate about night shift is missing my evening time with my family. My husband works days, so that was our time to spend as a family and now we don't have as much of that. Also, don't love waking up doctors - some are nice about it, some not.

[VANurse2010]

That's great, if that's your facility's protocol. Mine requires q4h vitals and assessments charted unless otherwise ordered. It's a very rare patient that has something else ordered, usually comfort care or a terminal wean.

You need to follow protocol. I'm telling you that your facilities protocol is ridiculous and overworking.