How long do you generally have to stay past the end of your shift?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. How long do you end up staying past the end of your shift?

    • 39
      Get out on time
    • 20
      1 hour
    • 6
      2 hours
    • 7
      2+ hours

64 members have participated

I am an RN at a LTC and 80% of the time we all end up staying 2+ hours past the end of our shifts to get all of the charting, etc done (and usually they still end up finding something I missed)... wondering if this is common or uncommon.

If there is a fall 10 minutes before our shift is done we are still expected to stay and do all of the paperwork and calls before we leave for the day, etc... is this the norm? Do other places have more support staff to help?

I am getting VERY frustrated with my job.. I am a new nurse (passed the board in February and have been working at current job since mid-march). I feel like no matter what I do, there is still something they find that I missed.

An example: The other day I had 2 DQIs (actually had to send a resident out because he ate building material on the Alzheimer's unit) on top of doing med pass for 25+ patients and handling orders, family calls, etc... was scheduled until 2 and walked out of work at 5:15. The next day I got attitude from my Assistant nursing director because I missed that someone had a weight loss and didn't do the hydration/SBAR (in reality, I thought we needed to do a re-weigh)... Sorry for the rant.

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Specializes in Oncology.

Please tell me you're at least getting paid for all of this required OT.

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Yes, we get paid for the time but it is hard because you cannot plan anything for a day that you work since you have no idea what time you will actually be done. Luckily, my kids are old enough to stay home by themselves but I don't know what you would do if you had kids to pick up from daycare, etc...

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Specializes in Oncology.

I agree it stinks and needs to change. I have just read too many horror stories here about people expected to finish off the clock. I'm not sure if you're specifically interested in LTC experiences, but I work in a hospital and generally get out on time.

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When I first started in LTC, I averaged an hour of staying late. Never ever got OT!

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Specializes in ICU-Step Down, Cardiac/CHF, Telemetry, L&D.

You should start writing down your patients and all meds due for that day and whatever else needs to be done for them such as IV change, dressings, ect. Get one sheet of paper and section it off for each patient that way its easier to look at rather than two sheets.If you can group meds together than do that. We were allowed to give meds a hour before and after. So I would end up giving 2,3,and 4 pm meds at 3. That gives you time to chart and call the MD. I would open my flow sheet in the morning before I passed meds. If I had time to open my narrative note I would but, I opened all flow sheets before the narratives on each patient. I could easily add abnormalities and minor details later. I rarely stayed over 30 minutes, most of the time I was out by 1815. I worked LTAC with 6 patients.

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I've worked hospital and ltac, I can only remember one time in 3.5 years ever staying more than 30 minutes late. Although some people in my same unit end up staying 1 hour past every day. But I would say if an incident occurs on your shift even if it's 10 minutes prior to end, it is the norm to stay and do the paperwork unfortunately.

I think it has a lot to do with 12 hr shifts though, when I've worked places and seen people working 7a-3p or 3p-11p the time of day makes it so they often are staying late.

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I work at a hospital and rarely have to stay beyond the end of my shift. If I do, it's most likely because I have 2 or more nurses to give SBAR to and have to wait around for them to finish with other RNs. We are expected to punch out on time and if we don't, we have to write an explanation on the clipboard as to why we didn't.

I'm wondering if it is the norm for LTAC tho...years ago when I was an aide at one, most nurses had to stay late and finish with charting.

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Specializes in ED.

I am an RN in LTC and i am almost always at work late. Usually half hour to an hour late. Cant control when someone dies or falls ten mins before the shift ends. Although i wish we could! Haha. I always like to follow through with all my incidents before passing the buck to the next shift.

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Not all nursing jobs are like the one you are currently working. I work PreOp/PACU. We are not allowed to have OT, and only are run over when there are call in's or an unsually heavy OR day. Keep your spirits high, do your best for your patients, and your eyes on another job that might fit better for you. Peace

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I work ER and am always out on time. The only times when I have stayed even a few min over is when I had a critical pt. Back when I worked med-surg there would rarely be times I had to stay late. One time I had gotten 3 admits in 4 hrs and had 3 other pts, had finally gotten everyone settled when the one pt started having a massive GI bleed. Another time we had a pt go into cardiac arrest right at 7pm

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Specializes in MICU - CCRN, IR, Vascular Surgery.

I rarely stay more than 15 minutes past the end of the shift, and that's only if something crazy happened right at the end of the shift or it's a very complicated report (MICU). Lately I've been getting out about 5 minutes early which is awesome!

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