Evening Shift - support needed.

[Anniekins]

Hi Everybody,

I am a new nurse....started orientation on a busy surgical floor on July 12th. My perm. shift is evenings, but I have been orienting during day shift up until two days ago.

I became very comfortable during day shift. Now I have started evenings. I realize that obviously it is a change and I will need to adjust, however.................................I came home almost in tears yesterday.

I feel it is very unorganized on the floor during evenings. I'm not sure if I just need to get used to this......or it really is chaotic like this all the time!

They started a "total care nursing" theory on evenings, where we have no nursing assistants, and each RN will have 4 patients. Sounded great to me when I chose this job. HOWEVER...............................we do not have enough nurses for this to work. We end up having 5 or 6 patients, with no help, other than from other nurses who are very busy themselves. Day shift waits to discharge patients at 230, and we get slammed w/ admissions to the point where we have to rush out of report........and not even get a good report, or great foundation to the start of the shift, and its scattered all over from that point! And it doesn't help when day shift does not properly do their job..........and when I get there everybody is like "oh my gosh today totally sucks.......your gonna have a rought night". I almost don't even have a chance to talk to my patients or their families very much at all.

Everybody is very nice and bubbly, and apleasure to work with...........but it just seems like a very high stress environment, and I am letting that "tension" rub off on me.....and give me a headache!

Whats up with this????? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks, Anniekins

[purplemania, BSN, RN]

Do you have a preceptor? You need one, or at least a resource nurse till you get settled in. I worked nights many years, without aides or clerks, and know how busy it can be. The secret is managing your time and prioritizing your work. Get ideas from other nurses you work with. Talk to your manager about the chaos. Make sure the treatments and meds are done and let the rest wait. Learn to say no when people ask for stuff (however, I always made a point of assessing the room when I assessed the patient so I could bring what was needed before they asked and not have to be interrupted). You can do it! If the staff is "a pleasure to work with" that indicates they have adapted and you will too.