Night shift nurses are lazy and NICU isn't real nursing!

Nurses General Nursing

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Anyone else out there been hearing this crap from other people? I am surprised, I admit, to find out how many people (at least where I work and went to school) look down on neonatal nurses as not being 'real' nurses, and night shifters as lazy do-nothings. I don't know, perhaps I expected some camradarie (sp?) or something from my 'fellow' nurses, but I have been hearing disturbing things lately. I have a 'friend' who keeps desperately trying to impress on me how neonatal nurses aren't real nurses, but in fact are merely overpaid babysitters (her words, don't kill the messenger...) who do nothing but burp and feed all night long. Sadly, this is not the only person who feels this way; her sentiments have been echoed time and time again. I have also been hearing bad things about the night staff from some of the day people, who suggest that we merely sit on our duffs all night long buffing our fingernails and OCCASIONALLY getting up to change a diaper. Am I naive to not have expected this? It's making me very angry!! Our staffing managers seem to agree, frequently pulling from our abundantly staffed roster to all areas of the hospital. I was told that other units actually PURPOSELY understaff, because they know that in a pinch, we always have enough nurses. They'll pull from our unit to staff another, leaving us short and running wildly around all night. I had six babies on Level II the other night, and literally didn't stop moving all night long. In the morning, I could have stayed three more hours catching up on stuff I didn't or couldn't finish!! Talk about horrible nursing care. I actually said a prayer for my babies to forgive me because on average, each one got about ten minutes of my time every hour, if they were lucky!!! Can anyone relate to any of this?

well gee folks where i work et night we alls sits arownd skratchin owr bellies and eatin vittiles and drinkin joe. iffin de ER kawls and sez we are fixin to git an admission we justs tells em to hold dem on down dere until de break of day.

weuns night nurses dont do nuthin moren we have to. thats why i reckon we works at nights

LPNs are not real nurses, rehab nurses are not real nurses, home health nurses are not real nurses, NICU nurses are not real nurses, night shift nurses are lazy. Seems like the only real nurses are daylight medsurg nurses. What have I been doing working nights in ICU all theses years?

I hear the same thing about psyche nurses, that we are not real nurses. It is a very difficult and stressful job. Also it can be scary and dangerous. The same people who say we arent the real thing dont hesitate to call a code for us to come and help when they have a patient out of control!!!!!! We have helped other units out with some very scary situations. As far as night shift goes( i work nights as well ) I have heard for years upon years that the night shift doesnt do much. Of course it isnt true. There arent many nights I even get to glance through a magazine!!! Also if we dont get all the mountains of paperwork and admissions finished, day shift has a fit. They dont want to come in and have anything left over from our shift. We do get admissions on nights. It is alot more challenging trying to do all the admissions with half the staff that day shift has. We dont always have a secretary around( we call them HUC's) so as charge nurse I get stuck doing all the paperwork plus the admission of the pt as well. The night shift can be as busy as the day shift I dont care what anyone says!!!! Dont let anyone convince you any differently

Kristi,

thanks for the explanation!! I am a beginning nursing student and reading your post helped be able to read some of the "nursing lingo"!

Heather

who started this s---t anyway? night shift people are lazy? nicu nures aren t real nurses? somebody has a inferiority complex. or is this all a joke?

Specializes in NICU.

If you read the original post, you'd see that this is neither. ;>)

kristi

don't listen to these ppl...you know what you do.

i get the same thing btw. our adult ICUs at my hospital. we have a neuro, med/surg, cardio surgical and cardiac ICU. well, i work in cardiac, and i have heard the other ICU nurses comment on how cardiac isn't a "real" ICU, and that we are incompetent nurses. yes...i agree that sometimes our pts. are less critical, but i have seen many times that their condition can change in a heartbeat (excuse the pun). there are many times that we have pts. from the other services, called "boarders", b/c we have a big unit with adequate staffing. well..if one of their pts. goes bad, we are the ones blamed, because to them we don't know what we are doing!! i can see this attitude coming from doctors (because they don't want to take the blame for not answering our calls and our pleas to see their pt), but from nurses...come on! everytime i float to one of these other units, i find myself defending my unit half the night!!

and NICU nurses not being real nurses....paallleeeaaase! (didn't they watch the NICU episode of Oprah?...that definitely opened my eyes). and some day shifters need to get off their high horses. b/c if us night shifters didn't want to work those tough nights...they would have to work them! so don't piss us off!!

becky

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Oh, been there, heard that! That is why we get people that transfer in to us and then transfer back out after being off orientation for about 2 weeks. Sure, there are nights when we are laid back and just have feeders and we do get to chat, but those days and nights are far and in between. Our night shift is quieter, but they are all busy. I love it best when I have 3 kids, two ventilated, one being an oscillator and on drips and then my good little feeder goes down the tubes. Yup...and they say I sit on my duff and don't do real nursing :rolleyes:

Sometimes I think we should shadow someone on another floor before we make comments like "they aren't real nurses"

Having worked all nursing shifts, I can sure say that night duty nurses are not lazy and they DO work. Sometimes they have to work even harder than the day staff, as they have fewer staff. Anyone who thinks that night duty is sitting around drinking coffee and relaxing, should do a few shifts in a while.

Cheers from down under.

What is the best thing about being a night-shifter?

Nick

:cool: The BEST thing about being a night shifter is ....after I count the narcs w/ the day light goddess.... I GET TO LEAVE!!!!

And it is amazing that even w/ all the nurses w/ RN & LPN after their names... there are things my ADON or DON wants me to do b/c they know it will 1. get done ... and 2. get done the right way. Everyone on our 11 to 7 shift makes a joke out of it. We are the 1 st ones to say.......yep it's time to make the coffee and put our feet up for 8 hrs. Oh yeah.....and our supervisor doesn't do nuttin either!!! ( More than some do in 2 days of work)

You just gotta let it roll off your back hun. It makes you feel esp good when another shift has to work your shift.... and they leave exhausted in the morning. They never knew we actually did tx's and assessments on the patients! I kinda get an evil little smile when they find out no one ever really sleeps all nite!!! :devil: :devil: Laura LPN :devil: :devil:

:eek: NICU Nurses aren't "REAL" nurses?????? OMG obviously they have never spent time w/ a sick baby let alone a critically ill baby!!! I applaude you and the work you do!! Don't let anyone make you feel diff......I bet all the Moms & Dads of the babies you care of would also have a comment for that person(s). Bless you for taking care of the little ones!!!!!! Huggsssssssssss Laura LPN
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