Mandatory meetings and night shift

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:o I will be starting night shift very soon. This job has mandatory meetings 1-3 times a week. All of these meetings are scheduled for 2pm. What has been your experiences with night shift and mandatory meetings? I think it is ridiculous. How am I suppose to get any sleep? Thanks
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Hmmmm well, not going solved it for US! You see, the manager realized it was time to accomodate the nightshift (fully 1/2 the staff) seeing they were not coming! It just depends, sometimes you have to act when words do not get you anywhere.

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I disagree. Night shift has less staff and just as much work to do. As nurses, we're more autonomous, more creative, and more flexible, because we simply don't have the resources available to us that the other shifts have. Most of us are working night shift because we like the extras that the shift differential buys. Or we don't care to get caught up in politics. Or we like being able to set our own pace, pretty much. Or we love our patients but hate dealing with their families.

As workers, studies prove that we die younger and are more sick, more often due to the stress of not sleeping during normal hours. Night shift workers are at an increased risk for diabetes, breast cancer, and accidents, says Women's Health Matters: Health Network.

http://www.womenshealthmatters.ca/facts/quick_show_d.cfm?number=296

As a previous poster stated, anytime you think we have it easy on our shift, we dare you to switch.

Yeah, and all your patients are asleep in bed. That means no ADL's, hardly any meds (hopefully all your Restorils have been passed), not as much call lights, no meal trays, no absurd amount of phone calls, and so on. You also don't have visitors bugging you or JCAHO/State harrasing you on NOC. You don't need staffing at night. I've worked nights for years, so I know what I'm talking about.

Here's a typical night scenario:

Arrive at 11 pm and get report/count.

Pass meds at 12-1 am

Go sleep/chart at the nurses station. Others surf the net or flirt with the cute healthcare worker

Struggle to wake up at 5 am and pass your 6 am meds.

Give report at 7 am

Go home.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
Yeah, and all your patients are asleep in bed.

:rotfl: :rotfl:

Thanks for the laugh, Whiskey. After last night's 3-ring circus, I needed it.

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:rotfl: :rotfl:

Thanks for the laugh, Whiskey. After last night's 3-ring circus, I needed it.

You must work ER then :)

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
You must work ER then

Nope, Progressive Care. Even more fun.

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Specializes in private duty/home health, med/surg.
You don't need staffing at night. I've worked nights for years, so I know what I'm talking about.

You mean you know what you're talking about when you describe a typical night at your job. And if you really do sleep on the job until 5 am, how do you really know what's going on in your unit?

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Wow, anyone who isn't attending to the needs just as much on the night shift as any other shift, is certainly someone I would be cautious to allow people to care for my family..When I worked on a LTC, I was busy during the night making sure people were continent, turned etc...No, we didn't always have to deal with visitors and the like, but people don't necessarily just sleep at night..As for OB, where I am now, it doesn't matter what shift you work, things are usually hopping and people who are delivered are still awake taking care of their babies, crying, recovering from surgery, arriving, laboring, delivering, etc..

On a quiet night, the last thing I am thinking about is sleeping at the desk, and we are always about three nurses less than either of the other two shifts..Not to mention that just being awake during those hours whether busy or otherwise, is STILL difficult when it comes to mandatory meetings held outside of your time frame...No shift is a piece of cake but nights on the body, mind and spirit, is definitely the most difficult shift in most ways...The pace may be different at times and even often but I don't see people tripping over themselves to work that shift, if it is so "easy"...If that were the case, managers would be fighting over coming to work to cater to the night shift rather than the other way around for goodness sakes!

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This is fun!

I work L&D -

-Babies don't sleep

-Moms don't sleep

(the DADS seem to sleep okay however)

-Laboring women don't sleep

-emergency C-sections sleep for a while afterwards

-Stupid people who call with questions at 2 am about a condition they've had for 2 weeks don't seem to sleep

But hey, other than that, it's pretty quiet.

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Yeah, and all your patients are asleep in bed. That means no ADL's, hardly any meds (hopefully all your Restorils have been passed), not as much call lights, no meal trays, no absurd amount of phone calls, and so on. You also don't have visitors bugging you or JCAHO/State harrasing you on NOC. You don't need staffing at night. I've worked nights for years, so I know what I'm talking about.

Here's a typical night scenario:

Arrive at 11 pm and get report/count.

Pass meds at 12-1 am

Go sleep/chart at the nurses station. Others surf the net or flirt with the cute healthcare worker

Struggle to wake up at 5 am and pass your 6 am meds.

Give report at 7 am

Go home.

If my state board of nursing knew you were sleeping at the nurses station, you'ld be out of a job....and out of a license. I don't know what alternate universe you work in, but I work 11-7 shift, and I have never had a night where there's no work to do/everyone is in bed/everyone had their restoril/etc. Apparently where I work, we have a little higher regard for our residents: they are allowed to get up in the middle of the night, not forced to lie in bed tho they can't sleep. They aren't drugged just so they will stay in bed for the shift...we try to keep our residents FROM medicinal restraints. There are plenty of meds to be passed...I myself have 22 tube feeders in my area, for example. I have about that same number of residents that get meds at midnight, and that's not mentioning the peg treatments, decub dressings, skin assessments, various bolus feedings, etc. that go on throughout the night shift. Pardon my english, but my butt is lucky if I can find a straight hour in which I am able to sit down and chart. I have approx. 24 medicare charts to do, right now there are 15 on the hotrack, and about 14 on abx which also have to be charted on. Then add in all the alzheimers residents who are constantly up and down all freaking night....lost in their own worlds. And let's don't forget the 3 CNA's who are on duty. Add in all the call lights going off, especially when the cna's are doing their rounds every 2 hours and need me to help answer lights, as well as what I'm trying to do at the time. We have an open door policy, too....we have family members that actually stay with the resident on our medicare hall, so yes, we DO have to deal with family members at all hours of the night. Then shall we talk about the 15 accu checks, plus insulins each am, plus all the various meds and creams and treatments that are to be done first thing in the morning??? Right know in my facility, I work with approx. 50+ residents on my unit as the ONLY nurse with 3 aids. No med nurse, no tx nurse. Sound like fun? I noted you said you "worked" the night shift for so many years are you still on the night shift?

Night nurses shouldn't have to "bite" anything. Obviously some people already have their mouths full enough. :p I think it's a shame that you feel this way. If all I had to think about at work was flirting or surfing the net...or not doing my job.....I would have chosen a different career. Some people actually care about the people they take care of, you know.

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hmmmm...am and pm shifts are the hardest shift to work in, so all you night owls will have to bite.

Get a clue.

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Specializes in Home care, assisted living.

To 91WhiskyM6:

At my workplace, sleeping on the job means--"you're fired". Management does not tolerate it, and as a shift supervisor, I've had to report several ladies for sleeping on the job. They've all been fired except for one who's on probation (she sleeps again, she's fired). During the night, I have to check on residents, do laundry, dust and polish furniture (night shift gets the lion's share of cleaning the building) and get residents up in the morning. On top of this, I have to check on my co-worker on the other side of the building to make sure she's not sleeping and that she's keeping HER residents dry. As for flirting and playing on the computer, I do that on MY time, not my employer's. You had it easy, m'dear.

And, yes, I do attend the bi-weekly staff meetings at 2 PM--been doing this for four years. :cool:

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I love this night shift quiz and posted it once next to the mandatory meeting flyer on the bullentin board! Thought all the night shifters might enjoy it! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Night Shift Sleep Cycle Quiz

by Vicki Cadwell RN, BS, CEN, MICN

Capistrano Beach, California

As published in the Journal of Emergency Nursing 1998;24:377

1) If Helene, who works the night shift, goes to sleep at 9 am and receives a phone call at

1 pm, what is the equivalent time on the sleep cycle of Joan, who works during the

day?

A. The middle of the afternoon.

B. The middle of the night

C. It is 1 pm no matter what shift you work.

D. It does not matter because people who work the night shift do not need to sleep anyway.

2) Helene, who works the night shift, has had how much sleep when she is awakened at 12

noon?

A. Enough -- anyone can sleep until noon.

B. Who can sleep during the day?

C. Only about 3 hours.

D. Plenty -- people who work the night shift sleep faster than people who work the day

shift.

3) If Joan, who works the day shift, received a phone call at 2 am asking what was charted

on Mrs. Smith 2 days ago, how happy would she be?

A. Ecstatic -- Mrs. Smith must have sent candy.

B. Unperturbed -- people have immediate recall in the middle of sleep.

C. Very happy -- phone calls are welcome any time of day.

D. After only 4 hours of sleep, how happy would you be?

4) How convenient would it be for Joan, who works the day shift, to attend a meeting

scheduled for 10 pm?

A. It would be very convenient for Joan to wait for 2 1/2 hours after her shift ends.

B. It is no big deal for Joan to work 12 hours and then stay until 11pm or so.

C. It would be like scheduling a 10 am meeting for a person who works the night shift.

D. Convenience is not a factor -- meetings are important and should be attended no matter

when they are scheduled.

5) The best time to call Helene, who works the night shift, and ask her to work an extra

shift is:

A. 9 am -- that is the best time of day for the charge nurse to make phone calls.

B. Noon -- The night shift person is probably eating lunch.

C. 2:55 pm -- right before "oprah." All people who work the night shift watch daytime talk

shows.

D. After she has had at least 5 hours sleep, because that is when you are less likely to get

a rude response.

:rotfl: :rotfl

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