OUTrageous Expectations w/ OUTrageous Pt Loads

[dRkazN]

Have you ever heard this one: "You guys at night do not do anything but babysit the pts until the dayshift gets here, so I expect everything to be perfect when I come in the AM."

...First reaction? Slap the taste out of that mouth! Babysit? Night shifts is as hard, if not harder! No aid from supervisors, 1 CN for the whole floor (thats 3 depts, almost 60 pts), and PCAs that goes on break when you need them, oh yea We babysit them.

And then when we received the pts at the beginning of OUR shift, we get "IMperfect" pts.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

who said it? if it is the day shift, i would have been tempted to dope slap them......

[RNperdiem, RN]

Let's not forget that patients who go beserk at night tend to sleep all day. I would never accuse nights of having it easier.

[StrwbryblndRN]

Right now for us the day shift has it harder. We just lost 6 day nurses.

But I will try and help with getting ready for day shift as best as possible but not under the scope of it being required because we "babysit. Day/Night is not better/worse than the other. (Well I like night shift but that is another thing) They are just different

[Keepstanding, ASN, RN]

you're a fool if you believe that night shift has it easier !

praiser :heartbeat

[RN BSN 2009]

Nursing is a 24 hr job, You do all that you can, and what you can't you pass it on!

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

I really ticked off a day nurse the other day...she commented that I must always get the easy team and nights must be so much easier b/c I'm almost always done when days arrives, and she's always leaving late and can never get anything done, so she must get the hard teams and days is so much worse.

I told her that it wasn't indicative of which team or shift is harder, it's indicative of who has better organizational and time management skills.

I've been there, worked days, couldn't stand it. Both shifts are bad, but for different reasons, which can only be truly understood if you've done 'em both.

Personally, I'm just sick of the fact that we're expected to clean up day shift's mess and get our own stuff done perfectly. That's not a reflection on days in general, just a reflection of how weak a lot of the day nurses on our floor are.

[AnnaMary]

At my hospital all nurses do one week of nights a month. We all know what nights are like. No one is allowed to do permanent nights and no one is allowed to do permanent days unless they have a medical reason.

No shift wars on my ward.

One day I might come onto days and the night nurse may have left things in a mess. But I know why they are a mess because I nursed that very same team of patients on nights 3 days ago. Three weeks later when she is on days and I am back on nights she cuts me slack as well.

It is sad when people cannot see things from another perspective. All shifts suck whether they are days or nights.

[systoly]

I've worked 7-3, 3-11, 11-7, 7a-7p, 7p-7a, 7-11p at least one year on each shift. Unfortunately I have yet to find the EASY shift. Each shift has its unique challenges and comparing one shift to another is like comparing apples and oranges. While on nightshift, I did get some comments like, "oh, you got the easy life now". My response was, "yep, easy livin', just put her on autopilot and kick back - no idea why they pay us extra - you ready to join the easy life for more pay?"

[dRkazN]

I think that RNs in general think that the night shift is the "clean-up" shift where it is ok to leave stuff undone. For example, this guy's hemo was 7.5 and had orders to transfuse 2 units of PRBCs since 11am....... and somehow it wasn't done when I arrived at 7pm........ that is very absurd and not good nursing practice!

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

I think that RNs in general think that the night shift is the "clean-up" shift where it is ok to leave stuff undone. For example, this guy's hemo was 7.5 and had orders to transfuse 2 units of PRBCs since 11am....... and somehow it wasn't done when I arrived at 7pm........ that is very absurd and not good nursing practice!

Wow, that's almost neglectful. Are you sure the blood was ready at the blood bank and everything?

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

Have you ever heard this one: "You guys at night do not do anything but babysit the pts until the dayshift gets here, so I expect everything to be perfect when I come in the AM."

I believe every day nurse who never had experience on nights and has the gaul to say such a thing should be mandatorily assigned night duty for three months. I hate any fellow day nurse that starts to knock our night shift, I "give'm heeyell!"