egien

Hi I am not usually scheduled to do the night shift. This last schedule and into the next I have my fair share of nights and I am finding it brutal. Maybe I need to get used to not sleeping; but I am finding it inhumane. I would like to know how others cope (tips on when you sleep? ) what you do to stay sane. We are two nurses on nights and the other night we finished a case (from 11:00-03:00) then followed with a "category 2" wash out of infected incision (03:30-04:40) We got our "break" from about 05:00 until 06:20 And this was a "good" night according to my colleagues. Most of the times the case are a lot more hectic and it runs non-stop. Most claim they don't get a break during the whole shift. What works in your OR? do you have an on-call for breaks? Our management does not want to staff 3 nurses just for breaks. Looking forward to hearing from you -dreading Nights

Your set up sounds very interesting. Please elaborate. Is there a nurse in charge in these teams? a lot of the stress begins in the evening, when the some elective cases run over time and the evening staff has to contend with elective cases AND the emergency cases that start coming in. With only 4 nurses we can technically run two rooms in the evening. Often we keep our 10-18 on calls to stay to finish cases. Does having these on call teams where you work, help with the work load? If they do get called in, do they have to work the next day?

I lol at your first line! Thats what it feels like at time on the weekends (some evenings and nights) Morale has definitely been affected. People have started leaving (some for other dept and some for other hospitals). So we do hire NEW people but it takes so long to train in the OR I feel that most of my colleagues are so close to being burnt out that they truly do feel like the higher ups do not really care. Or they (the higher ups) just don't get it! How is it staffed where you work? we usually have 8 hour shifts (7-15:00; 7:30-15:30; 10:00-18:00; 15:30-23:30; 23:30-07:00) now I hear whisperings that they are talking of taking away our night premiums. Another thing that makes our job sometimes impossible is being the Nurse in Charge and trying to be a circulator in a room. Is this just where I work or is it like this across the board?

I work in the OR and we have recently moved our hospital to be part of a "mega-hospital". This new hospital houses an adult and pediatric hospital, a research centre etc etc… There have been A LOT of changes and we (all the nurses and staff) find that we are even busier than before. We do a great deal of transplants, cardiac cases as well as vascular, gen surg , gyne and plastics. During the day we are staffed appropriately, sometimes there are even extra nurses ( which is always nice to have). Evenings were once staffed with 5 nurses; now we are down to 4. Nights are only 2. I just wanted to know how other places are staffed and how other ORs ensure that their nurses get their breaks. Evenings and Nights have been particularly busy (read its been insanely busy) with regular emergencies as well as a great deal of transplants and cardiac cases. So its been hectic for the evening and night nurses. There have been a lot of overtime and call-backs. Sometimes the night staff just goes all night without breaks. Hope people will share! My colleagues have been trying to get admin to make changes. Change come slow. So hoping to be inspired by other hospitals and hear what makes your work place truly work. =) N