Need input from NIGHT SHIFT nurses

hhurley · Jul 5, 2012

I totally agree about the meetings part, once in a blue moon we will have a 6am meeting but anything else (giveaways, parties ect) are scheduled at 2pm for 1st and 2nd shift to get not us. We have "call weekends" on call for 48 straight hours and if we are getting off work at 6am on friday mornings and the having to work 16h on saturday and sunday (6am to 10p) the back to our regular nights it's crazy.

wooh, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2012

Agree on the meetings. What I like is the meetings at 730 that we can call in for. So we can walk to the car, put our cell phone on speaker/blue tooth and listen to the meeting on the way home.

I think the most important thing is management needs to actually LISTEN to nightshift input. Don't filter it through the ears of someone that worked nights 30 years ago and hasn't worked a night or a weekend in 20 years.

And don't insist that day and night holiday schedules have to be the "same." It affects days and nights differently. Let them actually be different instead of doing it the way the people that work days and haven't worked a holiday in 10 years prefer it. (Yes, we actually had people who NEVER work holidays being the most vocal about not changing our holiday rotation. It was RIDICULOUS.)

Clementia · Jul 5, 2012

My unit manager has staff meetings scheduled at 0730 and at 1530, which is really nice for us night staff. She also makes sure that night shift gets its fair share of treats (sometimes even ordering us pizza!) It's a small thing, but really comes across as night-shift friendly.

Actually the least night-friendly part of my job is calling the surgeons. We have a night hospitalist for some things, but the surgeons like to cop an attitude when we have to page them at 3 AM. (I suppose most docs are like that.)

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2012

There is always the assumption that the night shift has "downtime"......while there maybe "less" to do there is also "less" staff to do it with and deal with the patients that are usually just as ill as they were on days.

As a manager I always made sure the staff got their fair share of the goodies and I would hold meetings for them.......and not just at shift change. I would come in at 3-4 am with food and treats so customize their time for them becasue they mean as much if not more then other staff who refuse to work nights.....but I was a night nurse myself. I was always careful to have CPR/ACLS/skills fairs for them. They work nights for a reason and usually don't have readily available childcare.

I agree with the phone calls thing......If you go to bead at 9 pm, are you still asleep at 2 am? Well If I go to bed at 9 am I AM STILL ASLEEP AT 2pm!

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Jul 5, 2012

Keep it coming! So much great stuff - things I can really use! (I am a 30+ year night shifter myself)

Editorial Team / Admin · Jul 5, 2012

Unfriendly: Cafeteria is open for two hours. They have a wilted salad bar and grilled or fried sandwiches and sides. None of the special items that are available for days.

Friendly: When we switched to computerized charting, education was provided on all three shifts so that someone didn't get stuck working their nights and then switching for three days of education. For celebrations, things are divided by shifts. Day shift has a big room with everything set out. Second shift gets a smaller room with everything set out. Third shift, depending on what it is (surgical services week is a BIG EVENT) will either serve themselves in the lounge or the committee providing the meal will have volunteers come in to set up and serve. (Night shift is a whopping 5 people vs 10-12 on evenings vs the 100+ on days.) Unless it's an absolutely necessary question (such as counts that aren't coming up right and we need to verify something added), no phone calls during the time you aren't working unless you're on call and are needed to come in. All meetings are twice a day: 7am for first and third shifts (OR starts an hour later those days) or 2:30pm for second shift and those who start after 7am but are still considered day shift (we have some who come in at 8:30am and then the lunch relief shift that comes in at 11am).

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 5, 2012

1)What characterizes a 'night shift friendly' employer?
2)What characterizes a 'night shift UNfriendly' employer?
3) What would you do to make night shift better if you could?
4) What specific things does your employer do that is either night shift friendly or night shift UNfriendly?

Thankfully I don't work night shift anymore. BUT I know this hasn't changed for my former co-workers.....

1/2: A "night shift friendly" employer recognizes that staff meetings have to be scheduled to allow night shifters to get some sleep, as everyone else has already said. The expectation that "aw, you can come in JUST THIS ONCE" is also frequently there....and not acceptable. It's never "just this once".

2/3: Cafeteria should have offerings (even if they're cold! Some of us aren't so picky!) during our shift. Telling us that it opens for breakfast at 6am (an hour before our shift ends) is useless, as we're running crazy then with 5am/6am meds and charting. Let us eat like normal people at some point partway through the shift.

3: What would I like to see to make night shift better? I get that classes are 8-5. But I'll be darned if I'm going to have to take a vacation day during "class week" so that I can accommodate my need to sleep. In other words, don't schedule me for all of my shifts PLUS that lovely 8-5. Pay me for a shift not worked in the form of "Class Benefit Time" or whatever, but don't dock my vacation or personal time allotment for it. Or, as a compromise, I'll work the first half of the shift, then go home halfway through so I can sleep before class. Get a dayshift person to come in a few hours early!

2: Something "unfriendly": the idea that night shift has the time (and therefore should) clean the breakroom, wash down the table, clean the coffee pot, etc etc prior to dayshift's arrival. I used to FUME over this, as MY staff never got NEAR the breakroom! No, the piles of used paper plates, crumby napkins, smears of icing on the table they would find in the morning was from either day or evening shift.....why should nights have to clean it up?? Had a very poor unit manager then, who honestly felt that there was "plenty of time" on nights, so "why can't they do it" rather than recognizing that there actually was NOT plenty of time (we were the most short-staffed shift of them all) and even if we DID have downtime....why did she think it was reasonable that we spend it making the breakroom a pretty place for the dayshift to arrive to?

I don't work in the nightshift setting anymore; I'm in ambulatory (M-F days only). But I still feel like a 'nightshifter' at heart :)

CVmursenary · Jul 5, 2012

Manager not being there is nightshift friendly

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 5, 2012

Manager not being there is nightshift friendly

Y'know, when it comes to people looking over your shoulder, I totally agree. But I found that a good number of problems stemmed from the manager NOT being there--ever. She typically showed up a half hour to an hour into the day shift's time, which meant that she heard all the complaints from those nurses about what "night shift didn't do/never does". She was never there to hear the flip side, such as what got "left over" for the night shift to do--although it had been ordered/requested at 2pm.

She was leaving as the evening shift arrived, so sometimes got those complaints, but she didn't stick around long enough to validate anything. Easier, I suppose, to believe that the only shift working their butts off was days....

Somehow she got the idea that evening techs had tons of free time, so she had them doing things she'd never ask the day techs to do. And heck, we on nights don't even NEED techs most of the time....sheesh.

A little face-time on their units might help some managers get a reality check on what's REALLY going on.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2012

Sounds depressingly familiar. Having worked all shifts, both staff and management, I know night staff usually get shafted when it comes to being able to defend themselves from the vicious barbs slung by day and evening staff.

I guess if you take your lunch and are happy to be mostly free of managers and disciplines like Social work, OT, PT, etc., Night shift is ok. you usually get a shift differential and if you don't mind missing out on lots of social events and if it's ok for you to not be able to meet with visiting insurance folk, for instance, Night shift is pretty mellow.

To survive it, you have simply got to cut the phone off, arrange for babysitters so you get sufficient sleep, and simply refuse to go to meetings scheduled at the most ridiculous times.

nursenotamaid · Jul 5, 2012

Friendly: Our nurse educators come to the unit and stay until 11pm to get night shifters signed off on inservices.

Unfriendly: I've worked there for 2 years, never ONCE met the unit director - not even for hiring. she let the assistant manager meet with me to interview.

Friendly: They staff an assistant manager for 7p-7a a few nights a week so we can get our evaluations done, questions answered, etc...

Unfriendly: Absolutely no cafeteria or food available for night shifters.

Friendly: We have a separate scheduler for the night shift people who gets to know everyone, their skill set and individual needs.

Friendly: All "mandatory" meetings are at 730am & 730pm (they do 2 meetings) so everyone gets a chance to go to it coming off shift.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2012

Thankfully I don't work night shift anymore. BUT I know this hasn't changed for my former co-workers.....
2: Something "unfriendly": the idea that night shift has the time (and therefore should) clean the breakroom, wash down the table, clean the coffee pot, etc etc prior to dayshift's arrival. I used to FUME over this, as MY staff never got NEAR the breakroom! No, the piles of used paper plates, crumby napkins, smears of icing on the table they would find in the morning was from either day or evening shift.....why should nights have to clean it up?? Had a very poor unit manager then, who honestly felt that there was "plenty of time" on nights, so "why can't they do it" rather than recognizing that there actually was NOT plenty of time (we were the most short-staffed shift of them all) and even if we DID have downtime....why did she think it was reasonable that we spend it making the breakroom a pretty place for the dayshift to arrive to?
I don't work in the nightshift setting anymore; I'm in ambulatory (M-F days only). But I still feel like a 'nightshifter' at heart :)

This this this this. When I worked in the hospital, if we weren't at full census our manager expected us to be maids. We could have only had 4 nurses on overnight, been at full census and had 2 codes and if there was ANYTHING on the back table when she came in, you could guarantee things would be thrown (literally) and a fit would be had. The bulk of the mess was not created by the night shift but since management left at 3pm, they had no idea what happened on eves.

This thread is actually quite enlightening. I cannot think of any "night shift friendly" attributes of my former employer. No one on nights ever wanted to go to days though... nurses who'd been on the floor for 25+ years were permanent night staff and there was a waiting list to go to nights. The best place to hide from management.