Late arriving Nurses

Nurses Professionalism

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What are some the thought's on Nurse's who always tend to come Late 10 to 15 minutes.How do feel about when you had already worked 12 hour shift...now another 15 min? :banghead:

Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

I just put good to be contrary since obviously nobody is gonna vote that this is actually good.

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I remember many years ago I would frequently fill in on nights. Not only did day shift straggle in late (we're talking 15-20 minutes late), they expected me to have a pot of coffee on for them and would have major attitude if I didn't make it.

Each shift where I worked always had a fresh pot of coffee for the oncoming shift. Sometimes it was the nursing supervisor and sometimes the CNA and other times the nurse. Small town rural hospital.

I worked a 0245 to 1515 shift for 9 years. I was always at work 15 minutes early. To put away my stuff, to get that cup of coffee, to write down the names of the patients and room numbers. I was bright-eyed and bushy tailed for report. :nurse:

But to arrive at 0245 because that is when my shift technically starts . . . . .? That's not polite. Unless you are ready for report; no excuses.

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Specializes in L&D, Women's Health.

Could've sworn this was the topic of one very heated debate a year or so ago. BTW, I'm a 60-yr old snot who doesn't give a damn what time you come in as long as my ass is out the door by 7:15, unless there's an emergency on my unit.

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From the other point of view:

Although I personally would feel embarrassed to show up 20 minutes late to report at 0705 and would be apologizing profusely if I did, I consistently clock in to work a little on the late side- somewhere between 6:44 and 6:51. And I don't feel bad about this. Nor do I feel like the world revolves around me and that no one else's time matters, as was previously suggested. Per our unit policy, 6:51 is technically still "on time." As nurses, we have extremely tough and abnormal schedules and it's not easy on everyone. Waking up at 5 AM is pure hell on my body and I feel like grandma death until about 0800 each day. Night shift didn't work for me either- I had crazy bad insomnia and shift work sleep disorder which led to a major depression episode. 12-hour shifts are extremely taxing on the mind and body and some of us just have a very hard time dragging ourselves out of bed so early in the morning- or in night nurses' cases, after a day of poor-quality sleep that goes against their biological rhythms. Oh how I wish I could do normal/sane/healthy 9-5 hours and still be a bedside hospital nurse (in something less mundane than lactation)!

I hate, hate, HATE it when the night nurse is standing at the door and stalking me to the break room as I put my lunch in the fridge at 6:44 AM yelling, "I have room xx for you!" I also by habit round on all of my patients between 1800 and report time, and cannot stand it when the early birds of night shift come in at 1830 and take up all the computers when it's still technically my shift and I need to use said computers to chart whatever I just did for my patients during that time- which, by the way, your welcome because that patient will now NOT be calling you between 1845-2000 for that issue. Now can I please have somewhere to chart about it since it's still day shift? :)

I personally think I make up for my mild tardiness by working really hard once I'm there and helping others out- including the night nurses. I am the type that gets straight to business once I clock in and am quick/easy to give report to (I don't use my cell phone during report like so many do, I don't care to hear a long drawn out story about what breastfeeding education topics you've discussed- because that is an expectation and not a relevant update, I don't need you to tell me what times you gave Motrin or when my next bili draw is due because I can look that up myself- usually faster and with more accuracy, I don't grill you over irrelevant issues, etc.)

I don't ever mind staying 15 mins late after my shift to draw a stat lab on the patient I got to know all day, give norco to a patient who called for prn pain meds at 1900 after declining them when I rounded and offered them at 1830, call a doc about a new or unresolved issue, do a late discharge on a patient who got discharge orders at 1845, etc., rather than dumping those time-sucker events onto the oncoming nurse who needs to get their assessments done, so I would not appreciate coworkers being pushy about me being a few minutes late in the AM or expecting me to come in "10 minutes early" because it means they are not willing to ever go the extra mile to help me out if I needed it. A lot of the early bird nurses would tell you "too bad, it's 1845, it's your problem now" if any of those things popped up, because they are every bit as in a hurry to leave as they were to arrive.

Also, I work more overtime than anyone else on my unit of over 150 nurses. As in- I routinely work 5 12's per week. I'm giving up my entire dayS off that I could be sleeping in, shopping, at the gym, at the beach, etc. to help out the very busy unit which definitely needs the help, so if me running 5 minutes late in the morning upsets you because I have apparently wasted 5 incredibly important minutes of your life, sorry but I don't really feel any sympathy. Me helping out on so many extra shifts collectively saves a LOT of people a LOT of time and stress in the long run :) May I suggest you spend those 5 minutes you wait for me doing some relaxation breathing exercises to ease your anxiety/OCD/type A issues and call it a day.

In the adult working world, you don't get to pick and choose your coworkers and there will always be those types you don't like. If you hate it, there are always other jobs, which inevitably always have more of those people you don't like. But if one day all the nurses who have trouble with timeliness got kicked out of nursing for it, the nursing shortage would be muuuuch, much worse and you'd have a lot more work on your hands. Life really does go on- even when things happen 5-10 minutes after you planned for it to. You have to pick and chose your battles. I don't go to management and complain because your pushy, type-A personality stresses people out. Hopefully you can learn to appreciate something about the tardy nurses- maybe they don't mind staying late to help you when you need it just like me? :) - and realize you may have your own bad habit that is horribly annoying to others.

Just my two cents!

RTransitionAntepartum, Women's Surgery and Women's Oncology.

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Specializes in 15 years in ICU, 22 years in PACU.
From the other point of view:

Although I personally would feel embarrassed to show up 20 minutes late to report at 0705 and would be apologizing profusely if I did, I consistently clock in to work a little on the late side- somewhere between 6:44 and 6:51. And I don't feel bad about this. Nor do I feel like the world revolves around me and that no one else's time matters, as was previously suggested. Per our unit policy, 6:51 is technically still "on time." As nurses, we have extremely tough and abnormal schedules and it's not easy on everyone. Waking up at 5 AM is pure hell on my body and I feel like grandma death until about 0800 each day. Night shift didn't work for me either- I had crazy bad insomnia and shift work sleep disorder which led to a major depression episode. 12-hour shifts are extremely taxing on the mind and body and some of us just have a very hard time dragging ourselves out of bed so early in the morning- or in night nurses' cases, after a day of poor-quality sleep that goes against their biological rhythms. Oh how I wish I could do normal/sane/healthy 9-5 hours and still be a bedside hospital nurse (in something less mundane than lactation)!

I hate, hate, HATE it when the night nurse is standing at the door and stalking me to the break room as I put my lunch in the fridge at 6:44 AM yelling, "I have room xx for you!" I also by habit round on all of my patients between 1800 and report time, and cannot stand it when the early birds of night shift come in at 1830 and take up all the computers when it's still technically my shift and I need to use said computers to chart whatever I just did for my patients during that time- which, by the way, your welcome because that patient will now NOT be calling you between 1845-2000 for that issue. Now can I please have somewhere to chart about it since it's still day shift? :)

I personally think I make up for my mild tardiness by working really hard once I'm there and helping others out- including the night nurses. I am the type that gets straight to business once I clock in and am quick/easy to give report to (I don't use my cell phone during report like so many do, I don't care to hear a long drawn out story about what breastfeeding education topics you've discussed- because that is an expectation and not a relevant update, I don't need you to tell me what times you gave Motrin or when my next bili draw is due because I can look that up myself- usually faster and with more accuracy, I don't grill you over irrelevant issues, etc.)

I don't ever mind staying 15 mins late after my shift to draw a stat lab on the patient I got to know all day, give norco to a patient who called for prn pain meds at 1900 after declining them when I rounded and offered them at 1830, call a doc about a new or unresolved issue, do a late discharge on a patient who got discharge orders at 1845, etc., rather than dumping those time-sucker events onto the oncoming nurse who needs to get their assessments done, so I would not appreciate coworkers being pushy about me being a few minutes late in the AM or expecting me to come in "10 minutes early" because it means they are not willing to ever go the extra mile to help me out if I needed it. A lot of the early bird nurses would tell you "too bad, it's 1845, it's your problem now" if any of those things popped up, because they are every bit as in a hurry to leave as they were to arrive.

Also, I work more overtime than anyone else on my unit of over 150 nurses. As in- I routinely work 5 12's per week. I'm giving up my entire dayS off that I could be sleeping in, shopping, at the gym, at the beach, etc. to help out the very busy unit which definitely needs the help, so if me running 5 minutes late in the morning upsets you because I have apparently wasted 5 incredibly important minutes of your life, sorry but I don't really feel any sympathy. Me helping out on so many extra shifts collectively saves a LOT of people a LOT of time and stress in the long run :) May I suggest you spend those 5 minutes you wait for me doing some relaxation breathing exercises to ease your anxiety/OCD/type A issues and call it a day.

In the adult working world, you don't get to pick and choose your coworkers and there will always be those types you don't like. If you hate it, there are always other jobs, which inevitably always have more of those people you don't like. But if one day all the nurses who have trouble with timeliness got kicked out of nursing for it, the nursing shortage would be muuuuch, much worse and you'd have a lot more work on your hands. Life really does go on- even when things happen 5-10 minutes after you planned for it to. You have to pick and chose your battles. I don't go to management and complain because your pushy, type-A personality stresses people out. Hopefully you can learn to appreciate something about the tardy nurses- maybe they don't mind staying late to help you when you need it just like me? :) - and realize you may have your own bad habit that is horribly annoying to others.

Just my two cents!

RTransitionAntepartum, Women's Surgery and Women's Oncology.

You are exceptionally good at rationalizing. Too bad you're too exceptional to follow a simple policy intended for everyone.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
From the other point of view:

Although I personally would feel embarrassed to show up 20 minutes late to report at 0705 and would be apologizing profusely if I did, I consistently clock in to work a little on the late side- somewhere between 6:44 and 6:51. And I don't feel bad about this. Nor do I feel like the world revolves around me and that no one else's time matters, as was previously suggested. Per our unit policy, 6:51 is technically still "on time." As nurses, we have extremely tough and abnormal schedules and it's not easy on everyone. Waking up at 5 AM is pure hell on my body and I feel like grandma death until about 0800 each day. Night shift didn't work for me either- I had crazy bad insomnia and shift work sleep disorder which led to a major depression episode. 12-hour shifts are extremely taxing on the mind and body and some of us just have a very hard time dragging ourselves out of bed so early in the morning- or in night nurses' cases, after a day of poor-quality sleep that goes against their biological rhythms. Oh how I wish I could do normal/sane/healthy 9-5 hours and still be a bedside hospital nurse (in something less mundane than lactation)!

I hate, hate, HATE it when the night nurse is standing at the door and stalking me to the break room as I put my lunch in the fridge at 6:44 AM yelling, "I have room xx for you!" I also by habit round on all of my patients between 1800 and report time, and cannot stand it when the early birds of night shift come in at 1830 and take up all the computers when it's still technically my shift and I need to use said computers to chart whatever I just did for my patients during that time- which, by the way, your welcome because that patient will now NOT be calling you between 1845-2000 for that issue. Now can I please have somewhere to chart about it since it's still day shift? :)

I personally think I make up for my mild tardiness by working really hard once I'm there and helping others out- including the night nurses. I am the type that gets straight to business once I clock in and am quick/easy to give report to (I don't use my cell phone during report like so many do, I don't care to hear a long drawn out story about what breastfeeding education topics you've discussed- because that is an expectation and not a relevant update, I don't need you to tell me what times you gave Motrin or when my next bili draw is due because I can look that up myself- usually faster and with more accuracy, I don't grill you over irrelevant issues, etc.)

I don't ever mind staying 15 mins late after my shift to draw a stat lab on the patient I got to know all day, give norco to a patient who called for prn pain meds at 1900 after declining them when I rounded and offered them at 1830, call a doc about a new or unresolved issue, do a late discharge on a patient who got discharge orders at 1845, etc., rather than dumping those time-sucker events onto the oncoming nurse who needs to get their assessments done, so I would not appreciate coworkers being pushy about me being a few minutes late in the AM or expecting me to come in "10 minutes early" because it means they are not willing to ever go the extra mile to help me out if I needed it. A lot of the early bird nurses would tell you "too bad, it's 1845, it's your problem now" if any of those things popped up, because they are every bit as in a hurry to leave as they were to arrive.

Also, I work more overtime than anyone else on my unit of over 150 nurses. As in- I routinely work 5 12's per week. I'm giving up my entire dayS off that I could be sleeping in, shopping, at the gym, at the beach, etc. to help out the very busy unit which definitely needs the help, so if me running 5 minutes late in the morning upsets you because I have apparently wasted 5 incredibly important minutes of your life, sorry but I don't really feel any sympathy. Me helping out on so many extra shifts collectively saves a LOT of people a LOT of time and stress in the long run :) May I suggest you spend those 5 minutes you wait for me doing some relaxation breathing exercises to ease your anxiety/OCD/type A issues and call it a day.

In the adult working world, you don't get to pick and choose your coworkers and there will always be those types you don't like. If you hate it, there are always other jobs, which inevitably always have more of those people you don't like. But if one day all the nurses who have trouble with timeliness got kicked out of nursing for it, the nursing shortage would be muuuuch, much worse and you'd have a lot more work on your hands. Life really does go on- even when things happen 5-10 minutes after you planned for it to. You have to pick and chose your battles. I don't go to management and complain because your pushy, type-A personality stresses people out. Hopefully you can learn to appreciate something about the tardy nurses- maybe they don't mind staying late to help you when you need it just like me? :) - and realize you may have your own bad habit that is horribly annoying to others.

Just my two cents!

RTransitionAntepartum, Women's Surgery and Women's Oncology.

I think I found my soul mate...

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
That is frustrating. Most employers have a tardy policy that should address this problem. If yours does not perhaps you could suggest one is started to cut back on OT. I don't mind if someone is occasionally 5-10 min late, but if it is always 15min+ I would be upset as well.

We don't get OT unless we stay an extra FOUR HOURS! So the policy wouldn't help with that. We do have a policy that says being late is "an occurance" the same as calling in sick. You get three of those a year before the disciplinary process starts . . . .

Most charges won't write you up if you're late for a good reason -- there was a car crash outside the parking garage and you couldn't get IN to the parking garage (and we'll know because we see the traffic jam out our window), you had a flat, your husband didn't get home to grab the kids or you were at drill and weren't released until an hour before your shift started and you were two hours away and you called to let us know. But if it happens often, count on getting written up every time.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
And this is a pet peeve of mine. My shift starts at 6:45 and I am NEVER late. I am however, heavily obligated (school, church, toddlers, hubby) outside of work and don't appreciate some 60 year old widowed snot telling me she would prefer it if I came in at 6:30. If I am late I am late, it's as simple as that.

WOW -- 60 year old widowed snot? Nurses eat their old!

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

If it's an occasional thing I'm pretty forgiving; If I am the one running late, I apologize profusely. I was maybe 5 minutes late a few weeks ago because the parking meter at my spot wasn't registering any payment; it took a good 10-15 minutes to find a new spot, pay, and get upstairs. Excuse? Sure, but there's no way I was going to pay the city a >$40 parking ticket or risk getting towed because I parked without paying. When I worked nights, sometimes day shift RNs would run late if there was heavy snow/ice overnight and they didn't anticipate having to drive 25 mph to get in. I never had an issue with that because their safety was more important than my 5-10 minutes. Stuff happens.

Habitual tardiness, however, tells your colleagues that you don't give two bits about their time. It should also give the late one a clue that their routine is not working, if it never gets them to work on time.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
You are exceptionally good at rationalizing. Too bad you're too exceptional to follow a simple policy intended for everyone.

And in my experience, the chronically tardy nurses are the last ones who want to stay late and lend a hand. They usually disappear before you have time to discover they left something major undone. Disrespect is disrespect.

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If you're not ten minutes early, you're late? No way. Stop giving away your time.

The hours you're actually paid for are sufficient to do your job. I'm ready every day (I suppose 95% would be accurate; not a single person here is perfect) to take report on time. Many of my colleagues have been there 15-30 minutes, looking up their patients' charts. I get snide remarks, usually from management or charge nurses, about always arriving on the dot or being the last to arrive--despite never getting complaints about not knowing my patients or not getting my work done.

Likewise, when I'm charge nurse, don't come 30 minutes early asking for the patient assignments so you can start reading charts. Yes, usually I had it done long ago, but I simply don't have time to deal with day shift questions at 0600.

If people arrive early all the time, it sets an expectation. It tells the management you don't value your own time. It gives the new grads an idea that this is acceptable, even admirable behavior.

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Who isn't busy? That is not an excuse. I've got two toddlers in the house. If your late, you didn't prepare or leave early enough. I manage to get my boys to the right places on time, dogs fed, showered and shaved, lunches packed, etc and still get to my destination on time (10 min early).

If you leave home intending to walk in the door the minute you are supposed to, that leaves no time for flat tires, traffic, ect. Traffic delays are not an acceptable excuse for being late.

What are you talking about ? This shouldn't be directed at me because I started my post by saying I am NEVER late. Even if I pull up early I will sit in my car until shift time because I am still on my time. To be clear I don't make excuses, I make it to work on time.

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