Do the day nurses clash with the night nurses?

[Sassybottom]

I notice that day nurses are often very annoyed with night nurses - they say their handoffs are very poor, nothing is done for the patient, nothing is verified, forms/ consents for proceedures are often missed, AM labs are left unaddressed, etc. I work nights and pick up a few day shifts here and there and overheard this one care coordinator say "day shift nurses are the strongest, then evenings, and our night nurses are by far the worse"

What is it like at your facility?

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

This must be a universal thing. We had that problem in my former place of employment. A lot of day nurses think because it's night time, the night nurses do nothing. Well, we all know that's B.S.

Some day nurses need to be nicer!

And some night nurses need to be nicer.

The only place in which there was no friction between the shifts, was the unit that I worked that required EVERYONE to rotate shifts. Each group had to work different shifts and experience the advantages and disadvantages.

While fair, it is hard on the body and on nurses' lives to require rotating shifts.

I always tell people that night shift gets a differential because of the massive inconvenience to nurses' lives, that night shift poses.

[Lorie P.]

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Got somebody who always comes in grouchy or late? Try greeting them pleasantly and sincerely say how glad you are to see them. Maybe even a compliment. There can only be friction is both sides are rough!

Tried that more than once, but this certian nurse has an attitude from grouch-land. Nothing never pleases her, she never smiles and always finds something to complain about no matter how small it is.

As far as managment, we have a director that tells us in every quarterly in service " I know how hard it is to work night shift, sitting there with a cup of coffee trying so hard to stay awake while verifing the CML's with MAR's"

Please give me a break, the last time this

person worked nights was back in 1989 and then he worked in the unit. He has never been a floor nurse.

It does no good to go to the NM either, she has never been a floor nurse, she came from L&D day shift to manage a very busy med/surge floor.

So how can shifts get along when management acts and talks like this?

[purplemania, BSN, RN]

When I worked nights I felt that was the strongest shift since we had more limited resources. I believe the conflict results when something (ANYTHING) is left over for the next shift. Somehow the next shift, day or night, feels the previous shift left work just as aggravation. We forget that nursing is a 24 hour job. Some people are under the misconception that patients actually sleep at night. Anyway, in my experience improved communication goes a long way. Also, the people who do the biggest gripping ought to work the other shift to "walk in their shoes".

[danissa, LPN, LVN]

I work two weeks days/two weeks nights per month in our NICU. Have found the biggest "peeve" comes from the domestic, (who does a fantastic job btw..we must be the cleanest ward in the hospital!) BUT..,she moans about how "dirty " the night shift are, forgetting that she finishes her job at two in the afternoon, and visitors trail in all evening after she is gone! wont hear it though, puts it alldown to the night shift not caring about mess, even though at half past six we have a major clean up prior to dayshift coming in. (funnily enough, dayshift dont do this for nightshift coming in!):monkeydance:

[NursingAgainstdaOdds]

Hoo boy, I've seen this everywhere. The reality is we're all conditioned to blame one another for problems that are really the fault of the system.

I work nights, and frequently catch flack when I have to hand something off. All I can do is be gracious when something is handed-off to me and hope the environment will eventually change.

[CheyRN]

Having been a nurse for the last 16 years I have had the opportunity to work ALL shifts for at least a year each. I CHOOSE to work nights because I like it that all the "powers that be" are at home minding their own business and leaving me alone. I also agree that the differential is nice, but once you have worked nights it's about fewer interruptions from EVERYONE (docs, dietary, lab, families, etc.). All shifts have their own "crosses to carry" and once we all get onboard with that, the better our jobs and patient care will be. And to have a member of the management team say that the night nurses are the least capable is totally inexcusable and should be reported to HR as harrasment.

[annaRNC]

I love night shift. Where I am it's more experienced nurses and even though there is less staff I've learned much more. I did orientate on days and was offered a spot on days in May. Where I am days is much more drama d/t a few nurses. I'm sure that sort is everywhere but it drove me crazy. I get to focus on the pt and it has forced me to think critically. I feel more confident that my friends who work days at least in my own mind!

Anna

[Cindy1008RN]

I know each shift has its own stress; however, I will never forget the Friday 13th..., with a full moon I might add. Two RN's ...no CNA that shift. NOPE, nada ....You know what broke loose, we started off the evening with 9 patients out of 19 beds. The bam, bam bam, fresh post-op c-setions one just about right after the other until At "so called" change of shift, we had 17 patients. I did not leave work until noon the next day. There was NO sitting down that shift. I may have worked 5 hours past my shift, but my patients were comfortable and well cared for, all orders were noted, faxed and all meds were passed.The day shift did not complain because they knew from report that we were literally slammed.

At the hospital, night shift begins the new days nurses notes, so, day shift had to wait to do any charting. I was also more than willing to come in early if day shift was slammed. We worked together for continuity of care. There were frustrations at time, but overall, while I worked there it was ok.

I am not a superstitious person, but when the 13th falls on a Friday and the moon is full ...........WATCH OUT....:chuckle......LOL

[sofaraway04]

I work all shifts as we have internal roatation. i find the biggest conflict is between the people who always work night or days as they have no appreciation of the other shifts.

I do personally find nights easier in some ways, once the first 2-3 hours is done 9pm-midnight, when we've checked on all the patients and got them all into bed and done the 10pm drug round, there is a chance to have a sit down and we start breaks then.

the last hours from 5:30am- 7:30am is crazy busy too, toileting all the pateints and giving the 6am meds.

between those times there is plenty of time to sit and catch up with paperwork, write care plans, update assesments. we also have the night staff jobs, such as doing all the ordering, tidying the treatment room, cleaning and tidying the kitchen. empying the bins, all the fun stuff!

i enjoy night because you actually get chance to sit and talk to patients for more than 5 minutes.

we recently had our permenent night staff do an early and a late day shift to see what it's like. the problem was they were supernumary, so weren't counted in the numbers so we had essentially extra pairs of hands so the shift wasn't as busy as it normally would be. what they needed really was to work with the full responsibilities of the day staff.

[nightmare, RN]

We have a certain few day carers that are always complaining that we don't "do" enough on nights,this is even when they know that we are short staffed! These are usually carers who don't actually like to do too much work anyway.The trouble is that the manager is very day orientated and listens to them instead of just telling them to get on with the work,it is a 24 hour service after all.The manager then complains to us causing a lot of ill feeling because we know we are working our socks off and can't physically do more ,they forget that the morning round is from 6 till 8,How many residents can three staff do in that time? We have a lot of doubles who we try to get ready but there is always something that can stop you when we are busy.As another poster said,If nights are so easy why aren't they queuing up to do them!? Simple,it's because they know that they will really have to work hard albeit in short bursts.We have jobs all through the night so there is no catching up on sleep except on their breaks.

I love nights,have worked them for 17 years and will continue to do them for as long as possible.I feel sorry for the nurses that have to do internal rotation as this must muck up their biological clocks. I know a few who have been quite ill trying to cope with these shifts.Some people are just not suited to work nights.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I think Tweety put it well. Our problem is with individual nurses, not an entire shift. I know that some day nurses will bust it all day and take great care of their patients. I like them, and I like getting their patients. There are also day nurses that consistently leave messes for me to clean up all night. I don't getting patients from them.

And there are night nurses who are exactly the same. There are nightshifters who use every available opportunity to do something for their patients to make sure they are well-cared for and everything is documented appropriately. And there are some who will check on everybody minimally and fart around on the computer the rest of the night.

It is so easy to blame on one shift or the other what is really common to human nature in general. I've been guilty of it myself. There are challenges inherent in each shift. I've worked them all.

[Lainee]

There is usually SOME downtime on night shift. My biggest complaint is that since we got rid of chart checks (when we went to a computer systerm), is that the charts are rarely read at all on night shift. If I have time to read the last day of notes on days, they can do the same.

Too many times, I've had patients set up for a 9am ambulance/test etc that i knew nothing about but was right there in the notes...

Also, IV 72 hour changes are purely dayshift's responsibility (unofficially). I get report that oh, so and so must not have changed it, it was old yesterday. WELL you should have noticed and changed it!

There is more but that's enough for now...