Do Day Nurses Really Feel that Night Nurses Do Nothing All Night?

[Brita01]

Having worked the 12 hour night shift in many hospitals I find the same things. Day shift nurses leave us so much work to do that we're playing catch up all night. We start off 2 hours behind because we're finishing things left over from the day shift. I've had times when I'm still giving 9pm meds at almost midnite because things were so screwed up starting out. Then we have to do our night shift paperwork and deal with the patients who do NOT "sleep all night". Part of the night shift paperwork involves getting things proper and ready for the day shift to use. And I swear if something gets missed by us we WILL hear about it. It really burns my butt when they come in in the morning complaining about what the night shift didn't do because we ask their secretary to make a call or two for a consult. BUT it's ok for the day shift to pass things to us because it's a "24 hour care hospital". I'm just curious. How many day nurses out there believe that the night nurses should be able to do it all because we have nothing to do anyway?

[MassED, BSN, RN]

:zzzzz Yep! Night nurses do work but so does each shift. I have worked all shifts and each one is equally busy. But what gets me:angryfire is when this one nurse ( who used to work nights ) comes in in the morning and says something about how quiet the floor is or wow you guys had extra time on your hands, the rooms are so clean. Yeah, they are clean because someone on second shift left a mess for us. Or how we have soooo much time to do the careplans. Sorry, but I know something has to be done, I don't leave it for the next shift! ( except, if there was a code or another emergency ) However, at the hospital I work, most 95% of the nurses are team players and would never say anything negative about the next shift or shift they followed. A few even clock in early sometimes to help out. The same goes for the CNAs. Could not ask for better co workers but you know the saying, " One bad apple spoils the bunch ". ( or something like that ):oornt:

:urck: and you have a great attitude. We need more of this type of thinking in this profession, yeah!

[Melinurse]

Owensmommy, sounds like a nice place. What do they start nurses at pay wise ( with experience )? Is it a private hospital? Husband has option of job transfer to Ohio or Texas. Overall, I think most nurses regardless of shift, regardless of location, etc work very very hard. I know at my hospital every once in a while we have to take 9-10 pts. But, they usually give us an extra CNA or LPN if that is the case. ( at least they try ):yeah:Sorry, about getting :offtopic:. Regarding who works harder, well, there are more important things to worry about.

[Keepstanding, ASN, RN]

night nurse's , like the day nurse's work thier butt's off too. i have done both shifts and they can both have "hair-raising" times.

night nurse's rock ! :lghmky:

[softstorms]

Nah, no fight here. You have already choosen your battles duckie. It is not longer about 11-7 and the other shifts. In this new re-hab therapy world, we are as one. Dr's come in late at night and orders flow. Admits come in late in the second shift and flow to the third. 11-7 is now drawing 13-18 labs each am here. We have 4 IV's now.(down from 5). Not couting G-tubes. I bless our 11-7 shift every day..they work as hard as we do. Gone are the times that 11-7 just watched over the pts.

[aloevera]

no way... not in my psychiatric unit....night nurses work just as hard as us day nurses, sometimes maybe even harder....I always said that they deserve the diff......I have never worked nights and know that I couldnt'...My hat is off to them !!!!!!!!

[ncnurse99]

I work both days and nights. We are required to alternate our 12 hour shifts monthly. This is to keep the "well the othe shift does not do this/that" to a minimum. We experience first hand that each shift has its pros/cons. So to answer the question....night nurses work just as hard as day nurses...and if in doubt, join us and see for yourself!

p.s. LTC is a different story...I used to do that...nights are a bit more laid back

[maluangel118]

Touchy touchy...man. Ok so I work dayshift in the NICU. There are usually more orders during the day in our unit (even nightshift staff members have said so). However, nightshift staff have to hang the TPN and lipids, change tubings usually, give patient baths, weigh, and more importantly draw AM labs. They don't usually have to deal with family members visiting at night, however, so that tips the scale in my opinion haha j/k. Every shift has its responsibilities. Can't we all just get along?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i wish there had been a selection for "some of them do nothing all night". i rotate, and i've watched some of the night nurses spend the entire shift in the breakroom, only popping out when meds are due. with electronic charting, they can click down several hours worth of vital signs at one time -- and if you look carefully at their charting you'll see that they did just that. three assessments and 12 hours worth of vital signs all charted at 6 am. since about half of the night shift on any one night are permanent nights and the rest are rotaters, it's usual that the rotaters get the difficult assignments, and the permanent night shifters get the easier assignments so they can hang out in the break room for 10 hours between the time management goes home and the surgeons appear in the morning.

that said, i understand that there are lazy nurses on day shift, too. but they don't get away with as much -- more management around!

[franciscangypsy]

It depends on the shift. I've worked both night shift and day shift as a CNA. I've had some night shifts where everyone seemed to fall and I was running around chasing my tail. Other nights, I would be trying not to fall asleep and wanting something to do... but not wanting to jinx the goodness we were experiencing. :chuckle

Where I worked the night shift people complained about the day shift people and vice a verse. Everything was blamed on the shift before. It used to irritate the heck out of me and really affected my ability to concentrate on the job.

For cryin' out loud... what's done is done. If the patient isn't harmed and it isn't something serious, buck up and do the job. Complaining doesn't solve anything, it affects the patient's attitude if the nurse is obviously grumpy, and it affects the coworker's attitude. :argue:

Heh. Sorry. Rant. It used to really, REALLY bug me.

[ngbaseball]

Night nurses do lots of work

[aloevera]

i don't know if nights does as much work or not, never worked nights, but My Goodness....the hours !!!! changes your entire sleep pattern, eating schedule, etc. and trying to sleep in the day !!! Nights sure deserves the shift diff and more !!!! thank god for them, but for the grace of God go I......

[psalm, RN]

My standard answer when someone asks about why something wasn't done, or was done late: It can't be helped. I was handed a mess at 11p (I work 11p-7a), and guess why? Because it can't be helped, she was handed a mess at 3pm, or she had 3 admits, or there was a code or whatever.

So we do the best we can, we prioritize to get the most vital assignments and tasks done. And this is with teamwork.