IS this norma for Med/Surg night shift...or is it just my hospital?

[raindrop]

I get to work at 7pm and I get my assignment - between 7-9 patients (Med/Surg). I work from 7pm-7 am

I get report; there are so many interruptions during report, report last from 40 minutes to an hour.

I start my assessments.

I start discharging whoever needs to get discharged.

I then find out of an admission that I am getting.

I take care of issues - ABC's

And then at around midnight - I have to file stuff from dayshift. It is mandatory.

And then I have to start getting papers ready for the next day - assessment sheets, I /O sheets). I have to stamp those with the appropriate date, put patient labels on them, and put them in the charts for the next day.

I then have chart checks to do. I have to make sure that all orders received on days (7a-7p) have been correctly entered into the computer. I have to ensure that all labs/test have been ordered right, that test have been done, etc, etc.

I have to make sure the Kardex is up to date

And then I have to check the new MAR's and ensure that there isn't anything on them that shouldn't be, like a newly dc/d drug....and that new orders are on it.

I then find out of another admission.

CNA is going to dinner, now I have to answer call lights.

Hey look, it is almost time for me to go......but first I have to add up everyone's I/O's for the past 24 hours. (hopefully the CNA has emptied everyones foley by now)......and then chart those in graphics.....and then file the I/O sheet from yesterday. Adding this stuff up, recharting it, is very time consuming.....as is filing. The CNA's aren't allowed to do this anmore because apparently there were too many mistakes in their calculations.....?

We don't have a clerk on my shift. Admission/discarge paperwork are 100% on the nurse. Once in a while the house supervisor will help enter orders, but that is rare.

A friend of mine who lives in a different state says that her job is nothing like this - no chart check, no filing, and they have a clerk. She works at a Magent hosptal and claims that is the reason why her job is easier than mine. What do you guys think?

[Mulan]

Who does the 24 hour chart checks at her hospital? Or how are the chart checks done? It seems like someone would have to do them.

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

IMO it sounds like your facility is cost cutting corners and dumping clerical duties on the nurses. Been there done that, major burnout for me.

[raindrop]

Who does the 24 hour chart checks at her hospital? Or how are the chart checks done? It seems like someone would have to do them.

Nobody does chart check at her hospital. She said the nurse that receives the order is responsible and must ensure that it gets done/entered...whatever. The nurse that receives it has to sign it off after she checked the orders in the computer.

[raindrop]

IMO it sounds like your facility is cost cutting corners and dumping clerical duties on the nurses. Been there done that, major burnout for me.

Yup. No clerk from 7pm-7am, and no clerk at all (even on days) on Sunday.

[EmmaG, RN]

Sounds similar to the job I had prior to traveling. (Heme/Onc with med/surg overflow)

[Mulan]

Every hospital where I have worked , the night shift did 24 hour chart checks.

[suzy253, RN]

At my hospital, the charge nurse does the chart checks and signs them off towards the end of each shift.

[not now, RN]

My floor has 12 hour chart checks and 12 hour I&O's. We still have charge sheets but with computer charting there are no flow sheets for I&O's and such. Really, the only thing I throw in in the chart is the MAR. We check the next day's MAR ourselves or the assistant NM will do it on the weekdays (she's on from 1600 until about midnight). I try to get to the rand but that doesn't always happen. Oh, I never take more than six patients.

About the unit clerk: she stays until 2200. We have three CNA's on the floor and one goes home at 0230. This is all to save money since our floor is WAY over budget from extra shifts and overtime.

[EmmaG, RN]

Every hospital where I have worked , the night shift did 24 hour chart checks.

I've worked some that didn't; these facilities did not have written orders, but rather the docs entered their orders directly into the system.

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

We have 7-8 pts on nights. We do chart/MAR checks. CNA's do bloodraws (except from PICC's), chart I&O's and filing. We have a clerk the entire shift (both shifts). When she's on dinner, we cover but that is it.

I can't imagine having to do more-work is plentiful. It's very exhausting and so much to do that I just would probably be running out the neareast door.

Our hospital is not magnet. It is the only hospital in a 200+ mile radius and it is VERY busy. I can honestly say we have a very supportive group @ night and truly value the work "team work".

[bethin]

Do we work at the same place??

Only difference is that I'm allowed to do I&O's and add them up. Everythig else sounds the same. We have no clerk after 11p and it's always been the night nurse's responsiblity to go through the MAR, check orders, etc.