Noc Nurse perspective...

[exit96]

Here is what I see, or at least how I feel about what goes on at the hospital where I serve:

Night shift:

gets left over scraps from dayshift celebration, vendor, recognition etc

gets left over items from Nurses week, if there are any left

gets treated as if they are just filler for the real heroes that work during the day

gets to clean up after dayshift gets done leaving unfinished business

Just to name a few. No I don't need a cookie to avoid a "chip on my shoulder,"...it speaks more to irresponsible management. It does NOTHING for moral. Do any other night shifters see this disparity which is disheartening when it happens consistently? And it DOES happen consistently where I serve.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

We make jokes about the 12-hour old food and getting the scraps of picked over freebies. I think it happens everywhere.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

As for "leaving unfinished business," I work all shifts, and nursing is 24/7. Only a couple of times have I been dumbfounded by what was left because it was clearly extremely important to prioritize, like blood for an H&H of 7.0 that came in at 1200, and it still hasn't been hung. Other than that, it doesn't bother me.

[sckimrn]

I feel like we are working in the same hospital, lol!! We get leftover potato salad that has been sitting out since noon...either that or no one bothered to clean up after the "party". We have one charge nurse that seems to think she is in charge of day shift and night shift, I have to kind of laugh at that one. I appreciate her perspective but am perfectly capable of running night shift. Don't have any problems with left over work though. They are very good about trying to tie up loose ends and very seldom leave important stuff undone. It is a 24/7 operation so we just pick up where they left off.

Something that does bother me though, we get the short end of the stick when it comes to education. All that happens on dayshift and they expect us to come in in the middle of the day for it....sorry, but I am SLEEPING!!

[monkeybug]

Here is what I see, or at least how I feel about what goes on at the hospital where I serve:Night shift:gets left over scraps from dayshift celebration, vendor, recognition etcgets left over items from Nurses week, if there are any leftgets treated as if they are just filler for the real heroes that work during the daygets to clean up after dayshift gets done leaving unfinished businessJust to name a few. No I don't need a cookie to avoid a "chip on my shoulder,"...it speaks more to irresponsible management. It does NOTHING for moral. Do any other night shifters see this disparity which is disheartening when it happens consistently? And it DOES happen consistently where I serve.

That is one of the many things I love about our doctors is that when they send Christmas gifts (and it is always food!) each shift gets their own. Same thing for Nurses Day.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

My hospitals are good about leaving goodies fresh for every shift, and at my last place the night charge nurses were pretty active about emailing the manager about how awesomely we did with a hectic crazy shift so we'd get mentions in the newsletter. What they have all sucked at are mandatory educational offerings that aren't in the middle of the day, and most of the magnet meetings are smack in the middle of the day. Very few of those take place during a shift change time when folks from day and nights just stay an hour extra or come in early. So night shift gets this reputation for being nonparticipatory in all the committee stuff.

[sapphire18]

Yup, the same thing happens where I work, with the exception of the unfinished work. My first job was awesome with having separate food for all shifts, and our manager coming in at night for staff meetings for us.

[champagnesupeRNova]

Lol we always get leftover food from day shift. As for gifts, they always make sure both shifts have enough. My unit also tries to have raffles or any other morale-boosting events at a time when both day and night shift can participate.

Day shift does leave unfinished work for night shift, but I recently had the opportunity to work a couple day shifts and they do have to deal with a lot of crap that night shift doesn't - at least on my unit. SO many more interruptions from doctors, parents (I'm in NICU), nutrition, PT/OT. Kids having to go off-unit for procedures, changes to treatment plan. Ugh. I like night shift so much more.

[amoLucia]

Lack of educational opportunities and inopportune meeting times probably rank highest on the list of disparities between the shifts.

And it is probably universal and has been so since time immemorial!!! You'd think somebody would have figured out a better system after all these years!

ATTENTION: To those few and far between folk, I am acknowledging that some of you have been able to bridge the gap and I'm sure the staff do appreciate your efforts.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

That is one of the many things I love about our doctors is that when they send Christmas gifts (and it is always food!) each shift gets their own. Same thing for Nurses Day.

My favorite peeve was when a tray or box would arrive marked "Nights"....and by the time any one from night shift arrived it was already partially--or in ONE case--COMPLETELY gone!

To the OP: yes, this happens everywhere there are overnight shifts. Lousy, but there it is.

Come to think of it, my REALLY "favorite" pet peeve was when the day shift would show up and expect the conference room / break room where we met for report to be sparkling clean....and what was there was stuff LEFT by the day shift the previous day! Their answer to the empty cake plate with scattered crumbs on the table was "oh, we left that for evenings to enjoy" and you'd check with evenings to find that there was one tiny sliver of a piece left and no one was owning up to taking that last piece. So...both shifts expected that Nights would clean it all up for them :-(

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

i dont care at all about any left over food. I dont like eating things other people bring in. day shifters tend to be the managements favorites where i work but that makes sence since they are who management sees. i rather my mamager not have a clue about me, then be a favorite. day shift brings in the food and throws "parties" so when there are left overs they leave them. very very very rarely does anyone on nights bring anything in. even during holidays . 2-3 nurses and aides might but not like on days where they seem to bring in food for every occasion.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

I think it is common for night workers to feel this way. I know both shifts complain about the previous one leaving tasks for them to do. What I resented was being expected to make coffee for the morning crew before report time. Really?