tgattis

There is a lot that goes on during the day that you may never see at night. Your facility probably wants you to get the best orientation possible by allowing you to get the most experience possible. In order to get all your competencies done you need this experience. Examples of things that go on during the day: more IV's are started, more meds are given, more dressings are done, more patients are admitted, more procedures are done. This is why a lot of nursing schools recommend that new nurses work on a med/surg type unit. You will get a more overall sense of what is out there and what will be expected of you. Also, working during the day you will learn more about the doctors that work with your facility. A lot of the time at night you have to deal with doctors that are on call for the primary physician, so it is good to know what each physician expects of you. All these things I mentioned are examples of why I have worked at night now for 7 years. Night are sometimes and I emphasize sometimes, less busy. But, I did not go to nights until I had been a nurse for 7 years. Working at night is also harder on your body. It should not be entered into lightly. If you have children, as you mentioned, this is not going to be easy. Either you won't see your kids cause you are sleeping when they are awake and vice versa; or you won't get enough sleep yourself. Also, you have less resources available to you. There are generally less people around, which can be good unless you get into a jam. There is no anesthesia personnel around to start that impossible IV, there are no case managers to answer the families questions about which nursing home mother should go to. Enjoy your day shift orientation while it lasts. Get all the experience you can. And do not let them take you off orientation before you feel you are ready.

Management at the hospital where I work is cracking down on charting. We use charting by exception and it has been noted that a lot of times there is one note made at the beginning of the shift and nothing else. We still use paper charting, by the way. I am looking for ways to advise the younger nurses who work with me (I am in a charge nurse position) on the importance of noting the "exceptions"