Leaving things for Day Shift

CHATSDALE · Nov 12, 2006

custom has it has nursing is a 24/7 job...do your bes to do the work but sometimes at the end of a shift, esp nights, your have to priorize . nobobdy like to start their day already behind but occasionally it happens

btw a pt needs to have basic [v/s, eval] unless you are in an active code on someone else

PANurseRN1 · Nov 12, 2006

Silly goose! Don't you know that nights just sits around eating bon-bons and reading Soap Opera Digest?

I probably would not have left the first IV go for day shift; what if her status had changed and she'd needed immediate IV access? I'd have gotten someone else from your shift to restart it, even if it was just for a HW. But the second site...at 7:15am it was totally appropriate to pass that along for days.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Nov 12, 2006

Perhaps she got huffy because she's not that great at starting IVs?

25(2)+2 · Nov 12, 2006

maybe this is the wrong thing to say but sometimes dayshift feels they are the most important shift and the rest of us are there filling in our time. my theory is that every shift is busy and we are all needed. contrary to what dayshift may think there are times when every other shift is just as busy as they are it is just a different kind of busy. i think everyone should work each shift for 1 month and then we would appreciate each other a little more.

RNKay31 · Nov 12, 2006

maybe this is the wrong thing to say but sometimes dayshift feels they are the most important shift and the rest of us are there filling in our time. my theory is that every shift is busy and we are all needed. contrary to what dayshift may think there are times when every other shift is just as busy as they are it is just a different kind of busy. i think everyone should work each shift for 1 month and then we would appreciate each other a little more.

Very well said

ccrn2b · Nov 12, 2006

I thought it was only me! Only few days back i was giving report and told the day shift nurse that there was no blood availabe in the blood bank yet for my patient whose H&H went low. She just went angry and statrted saying all manner of thins. Living jobs for them ..bla bla ...But you know what, I came back later in the evening and there was still no blood! I didn't get mad and she was all happy. Blood was later available in my shift and i administered that to the patient. Botton line...Never mind them, just do your best and pass on anything you couldn't do at the change of shift. Whether you do everything or not, there must always be something to complain about. The truth is that i'm not starting any blown IVs at 7:15. At that time i should have been rounding up my report and getting ready to leave.Goddluck..

HappyNurse2005, RN · Nov 12, 2006

Now normally I wouldn't worry about that except that I had a hard stick a few hours before and decided since she wasn't getting any meds until after lunch and she was HL to begin with I would let the day shift have a crack at her. It wasn't that I didn't try to get, but I refuse to try more then two times

now personally, if i had someone i couldn't stick "a few hours ago" and i couldn't get it after 2 tries, i'd be asking some of the better sticks on night shift. i wouldn't leave something that is a few hours old. that does look bad. (i work night shift)

plus, what if there had been an emergency and this person had needed iv access?

and it doesn't matter if she previously left you an admission-its not a "you did it to me so i'll do it to you" type of world. though, she shouldn't have done that, and if you have policies about that, you could have said something to her.

anyhoo, i would have not done the 715 iv, but would have found someone to do the one from a few hours before

Brooke13-RN · Nov 12, 2006

Hi,

I did look for someone else to help me get the IV in. I asked all the other nurses on the floor and my charge nurse was the one who agreed that we could let it go until morning. Firstly the lady was getting upset because of my failed attempts and secondly because her arm was still swollen from the other IV and we thought maybe if that went down we could find a vein. It was the only arm that I could use. I didn't leave the other site in. I never do that. If it's bad I remove it right away.

"and it doesn't matter if she previously left you an admission-its not a "you did it to me so i'll do it to you" type of world" This never even crossed my mind until I was driving home and thinking about her attitude. I felt horrible leaving the things behind. I never mind carrying on where day shift leaves off. My point was that they always seem upset to carry on where we leave off. But I would never have the "you did it to me so I'll do it to you attitude."

RNLisa · Nov 13, 2006

I am working dayshift. I am a very "task oriented" person, and have been told I worry too much. But, when I have jobs to do, I do them to the best of my ability. If I have meds to pass during my 12 hour stint, I pass them (according to orders, status, etc). If something happens during my 12 hour shift, I try my best to complete it. I feel horrible to leave stuff for night shift because I never want them to think that I didn't do my job. I do worry about getting "everything" done. If I get an admission at shift change, I still try to get as much done as possible. I feel horrible leaving stuff for them to do. I do know nursing is a 24/7 job and there isn't just "your shift, my shift" jobs, but I try my best to leave things as caught up as possible for the next shift.

PANurseRN1 · Nov 13, 2006

Hi,
I did look for someone else to help me get the IV in. I asked all the other nurses on the floor and my charge nurse was the one who agreed that we could let it go until morning. Firstly the lady was getting upset because of my failed attempts and secondly because her arm was still swollen from the other IV and we thought maybe if that went down we could find a vein. It was the only arm that I could use. I didn't leave the other site in. I never do that. If it's bad I remove it right away.
"and it doesn't matter if she previously left you an admission-its not a "you did it to me so i'll do it to you" type of world" This never even crossed my mind until I was driving home and thinking about her attitude. I felt horrible leaving the things behind. I never mind carrying on where day shift leaves off. My point was that they always seem upset to carry on where we leave off. But I would never have the "you did it to me so I'll do it to you attitude."

Why didn't you include this info in your OP?

Nurse`Chief~Chickie · Nov 13, 2006

continuation of care!!!

i had suspicions when i worked days that noc-shifters just left all the bunk stuff they didn't want to do for us. turns out, it was true! only with two certain ones. it's a personality thing. you know if your intentions are good. sometimes that is all that matters. i now work nocs, and i do my best not to leave stuff, so does one of my co-horts. the other,( i only work reg. with 1) grrrr, meticulously plans on what she can leave for someone else. :angryfire actually plans!!!! she will sit and stare at you while her pumps ding until you can't take it and do her work. she won't do anyone elses stuff no matter what. and she gives aides instructions on what to leave, even the things that are specifically to be done on our shift. tells them the wrong way to do tasks so that they can't be done. weird stuff, strange stuff. we just hate her. she gives our whole shift a bad name. 2 of us can't seem to make up for 1 of her.