night shift not offering enough experience

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I am a new grad RN and I am currently on the night shift. I love the night shift; however, I do not feel I am getting nearly as much skill practice/knowledge as I would be on the day shift. All drsg changes are done on days, unless oozing or something... which I haven't come across yet. Foley's are not often put in at night, or taken out.

I've been working for two months now and I just don't feel I have aquired many new skills or have had the opportunity to. Will I get a lot of experience if I stay on nights for a year or so? I don't want to have a whole year of experience and then transfer to another unit or dayshift and not know how to do anything.

I think I would like to try ICU, in time, but I would like to learn a lot of basics before trying to jump into that. What do you all think? Am I being impatient or are nights just not optimal for new experiences?

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

You will experience things in time. I was on day shift for 8 weeks before I got a admit when I was orienting in the ICU. I got plenty of transfers but no admits. First thing on nights I got a admit every night. Ask if someone needs help with anything. If another nurse's pt needs a foley ask if you can put it in. Same with NGT. Sometimes dressings are BID and will be changed on nights as well. It took me some time as well to see routine things like drain insertion( neuro ICU) and now I am a pro at going to the ER or another floor to set up the drain and assist with insertion. I am saying this took months. So really give it some time.

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Specializes in Staff nurse.

Yes, 2 months is such a short time in a nursing career. There will be some nights where you will insert many IVs and then go weeks with just one or three a week. Ask and remind the other RNs you'd like to do or assist or at least watch anything you haven't done, or done many of. I've been a nurse 6 years and have yet to put an NG in. I attempted one, and the pt. refused...so much for that, lol!

You may have nights where you have dressings on all your patients, and some nights when you have a couple or none. Again, give it time...they will come!

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Specializes in ICU.

I used to think the same thing. I actually started out on night then went to days for about 9 months. Now i"m back on nights. It really just depends on your patients and what you get for your assignment that night. I will tell you this, you are far more independent on night shift than you are on days. You don't have as many resources to go to on night shift as you do on day shift. I agree with the above just give it time, seriously, you will get the experience in time. It was almost a year before I ever accessed a SubQ port and that was done on night shift.

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Kinda surprised you aren't getting enough experience; I sure wish you could help us out from time to time!

Why not ask what CAN be done on your shift that currently isn't? For instance, if someone is scheduled to have a foley removed on Wednesday, couldn't it be 6 am Wednesday instead of 9? We do routine removals at the end of our night shifts.

IVs get started no matter what time it is.

Dressing changes that are TID are typically 0600, 1400, 2200. Don't you have these? If not, you CAN make a judgment call to change a dressing that looks questionable; unless a doc has prohibited it, we do lots of changes on nights. Why leave a daily change for 9 am if you have time at 5 or 6 and the patient is awake?

Just ideas of getting a bit more "stuff" in on your shift, if you feel you need it. But honestly, it'll come in time anyway. Less staff on nights means more tasks per nurse, and more autonomy to do them in.

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Specializes in Medical/Surgical, L&D, Postpartum.

This is a really good question! Thank you so much for asking, I don't have an answer for you, but I will be in a similar situation soon. I will be starting my career in Med-Surg on night shift and was wondering the same thing as you. I look forward to hearing some more responses!!

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele.

I Work Nts And I Get Alot Of Experiences With Foleys And Such. Also Alot Drsng Changes That Are Tid We May Time For 6am, So That Is An Option Also

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Specializes in PCU, post surgical and Hospice.

I have worked night shift for a few years and find I have had a chance to practice a lot of my skills. Why not ask the day charge nurses to have day shift RNś leave a few of these things for you to do when you come in. If they are not real time sensitive I am sure they would love to have you do it. Also volunteer to come in on your own time during the busy time of day a few hours here and there-That would help you and them out. Good luck

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Typically new nurses are placed on night shift because it tends to be slower(sometimes, ha ha) and the nurse can focus on their skills. However, also in my experiences with precepting new nurses, we generally place them on day shift first so that they will have the interaction with physicans and ancillary staff and learn time management skills and get experience taking admissions.

I would suggest that you speak with your head nurse and/or nurse manager and voice these concerns to them. They may also be planning to flip you to day shift once they feel that you can handle nights(not too nice to the body if done on short notice).

Advocate for you and remember, even on day shift, you won't get some experiences. Some experiences don't come until you are off orientation. Always pick the brains of the most senior and experienced nurses and nursing assistants. I have worked with awesome nursing assistants who have just about if not more knowledge than some of the nurses.

Hope that this helps.

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Kinda surprised you aren't getting enough experience; I sure wish you could help us out from time to time!

Why not ask what CAN be done on your shift that currently isn't? For instance, if someone is scheduled to have a foley removed on Wednesday, couldn't it be 6 am Wednesday instead of 9? We do routine removals at the end of our night shifts.

IVs get started no matter what time it is.

Dressing changes that are TID are typically 0600, 1400, 2200. Don't you have these? If not, you CAN make a judgment call to change a dressing that looks questionable; unless a doc has prohibited it, we do lots of changes on nights. Why leave a daily change for 9 am if you have time at 5 or 6 and the patient is awake?

Just ideas of getting a bit more "stuff" in on your shift, if you feel you need it. But honestly, it'll come in time anyway. Less staff on nights means more tasks per nurse, and more autonomy to do them in.

This is great advice. Not only will you be learning and doing, but you will be a hero to the incoming shift.

If dressing changes are prn, I would just be anal retentive about it. A wet dressing is pretty much a subjective assessment, if you catch my meaning. Nobody will ever object to someone being very thorough on a patient. That is what we should be doing anyway, right?

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