Debunking the night shift myths

Nurses General Nursing

Published

AHH!! I am so fed up with people thinking that the night shift is not busy and that all our patients are asleep!!! THIS IS NOT TRUE. In my entire career in Nursing I have noticed that patients are RARELY admitted during AM shift change (0600-0700) but that a majority come up from the ED or PACU during the hours of 1800-1900. Night shift is busy in its own way and that you need to rely on the limited number of people working in the hospital at night. It seems to me that AM shift takes it for granted that they have X-RAY, Lab, Dietary, Pastor on site during the day whereas we on nights we have to make do with the VERY VERY limited staff available. But then again, "All our patients are asleep so we don't need extra support staff" - (sarcasm). And is not just nurses who think we are sitting down drinking coffee and eating dunkin donuts - People in general think that night shifts in any profession (Police, Supermarkets, Firefighters, EMT's) are slow and that the staff are slackers.

I just am so tired of people thinking I chose NOC shift tyo sit on my butt and drink coffee. Recently I didnt get to START charting my 2000 assessments until 0130 - it was that insanely busy!

Specializes in OB.

An addendum since apparently I type too slow when trying to edit (when did this start anyway?):

If you see me with the "buffet" set up at the desk it's generally because the only chance I will have to grab some food and slurp down some coffee is when I'm flying past the desk, stopping to scribble down a note on a chart or waiting for the doc I just paged for the second or third time to call me back. (And we really don't want the diabetic nurse to bottom out with low blood sugar in the middle of all this since I took my meds before coming to work)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in orthopaedics.

i so agree with the op. as a night shifter i hear it all the time. "what do you do during all that time while your pts. are asleep"

ummm plenty. and they are not sleeping. they are ringing the call light crying complaning etc. all through my 12 hour shift.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Psych.

Quick reply...

Were I work the workload is much less on nights - consistently. Yes, they do have occasional crazyness. But that is not common (i've worked both shifts). I've also seen this at many of the other hospitals that I have worked at as a float pool tech or phlebotomist.

That's not to say that the night shifters aren't busy, but their version of busy is nothing compared to the day version of busy. I'm not buying it...

CrazyPremed

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry/PCU, SNF.
Quick reply...

Were I work the workload is much less on nights - consistently. Yes, they do have occasional crazyness. But that is not common (i've worked both shifts). I've also seen this at many of the other hospitals that I have worked at as a float pool tech or phlebotomist.

That's not to say that the night shifters aren't busy, but their version of busy is nothing compared to the day version of busy. I'm not buying it...

CrazyPremed

Yes, maybe not that crazy...for a tech or phlebotomist, try it as a nurse, it's whole new ballgame.

What I wanted to say is this: trying to compare day shift and night shift, in terms of busy-ness, is like comparing apples and oranges. Your "sweet, pleasantly confused patient" on days becomes a raving lunatic, climbing out of bed, accusing us of killing their children as soon as the sun goes down. Or the dying patient who has ben trying all day to "buck up" for their family that is so completely worn out by nighttime that they fail quickly. Or your angio patient who you were able to walk in on every hour for the 2 hours you had them in the day, where I have to go check their angio site each hour through the night. It is different, very different. Yes, we're not shuttling folks to and fro, admitting and discharging, dealing with docs, family and procedures. MARS don't magically appear for the day shift, charts magically don't get reviewed to make sure all the orders are entered (and entered correctly...), in most places nights does all that.

But I'm rambling and may start to use uncouth language, so I'll stop. The reality is: yes, some nights could be spent with my feet up drinking coffee, I think I get about 2 of those every 6 months. The number of truly crazy nights outweighs that by a huge margin.

Besides, us night-shifters have to clean up day-shifts' messes...:chair: (only kidding!)

Tom

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

I did 13 years of night shift and worked my butt off the entire time. I left because of physical reasons (fatigue, high blood pressure) and feel much better now. Working day shift fortunately I don't hear a lot of people disrespect nightshift because I think we know what they go through.

Something happens when the sun goes down and the crazies get possessed. Plus pain control issues pop up more at night in our trauma patients.

Every blue moon I have to set someone straight. The other day in fact a day nurse was grumbling the night nurse didn't draw blood saying "that's the only thing they have to do and they can't even do that." Naturally, I butted in and gave a few two cents.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych & Med-Surg.
Having recently done both, here's my observation:

Days and nights each have different types of stressors.

At night, it's the lack of support: secretary, aides, transport, easily accessible docs, etc. When pts go bad, you're on your own. Same with new admits. Also, there are some tasks that are expected to be done by nights no matter how busy. The same is not really true on days - if they are too busy, it's OK to pass it on to nights.

Days, those same accessible docs are there constantly writing new orders, needing to chart early d/t pt may be leaving any minute for a procedure, more annoying family around, more annoying managers around.

I think you need to work both to really get it.

I agree with you whole heartedly!!! :yeah:

I work swing shift and when I'm on the medical floor I hear how night shift is lacking in one way or another. On the other hand, night shift feels that with all the support staff day shift has they should have it easy. :no:

Once days and nights have to do the others job, a lot of misconceptions are cleared up.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych & Med-Surg.
I'd like to know what hospital you work in, because you are one of the few this happens to. On my shift, we never have time to sit and eat "buffet style." I'm running around getting vitals for 30 patients, doing computer assessments and ADL's on each, then begging the lab to give me a few more mintues to enter in the patients diets and labs that are ordered, because I have call-lights going off all over the place. And our nurses are up with me doing the same thing. We work as a team to accomplish anything, and it's not easy. I am in total agreement that each shift has it's own set of issues it deals with, but don't go knocking the night-shift. :nono:

At the hospital I work at, we all bring things for us to share and eat when I work night shift because there is no where to buy lunch other than the vending machines! We set it up so that when we get a moment to run in to the breakroom, we can shove something in our mouths and keep on going. We don't get to lounge around and eat a meal; its just shove and run.:)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

I know the feeling. Out new unit director just decided that night shift can do all the stat cart checks and glucometer checks since we don't have much else to do!!! Patients just love hearing the defib check just as they are going to sleep. It's like they think the patients just evaporate at 1859 and recondense at 0701. To make matters worse she worked nights of many years- but in the one area of the hospital that nights is quieter than days-PACU.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have to be honest here.:chuckle In my 16 year career I've worked mostly day shift and 3-11 shift on a busy , chronically understaffed step-down unit. In the last 2 months I have been placed on night shift, and I am shocked at the difference in the pace. After the crazy hellishness of the previous shifts I find that the biggest problem I have on nights is staying awake after 4 am. :D Even the nights that my co-workers describe as "bad" are a walk in the park for me. :bugeyes: I'm beginning to purge myself of the stresses and resentments that have built up over the last few years, and I'm :gasp: starting to have moments where I actually enjoy my job again.:yeah:

Melanie

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment