shift ends at 7, but you leave at 9? Why?

[RNDreamer]

hi, official nursing student here!:monkeydance:

Quick question:

I read ALOT of these threads and how nurse leave after their shifts. My question is, If you shift ends at 7P, and the night nurse come in at 7P..how is it that you are leaving at 8, 9, or 10 if you are supposed to be reporting to the next nurse...and if you are still with your patients, is the next nurse waiting that hour or 2 for you to finish and get report from you?

I hope you can understand my question, I'm not sure if it is clear enough ...thanks in advance

[Kanani_Ikike]

Well I feel like the odd one out. I am a nurse, 3months off of orientation. My shift ends 730pm, I get out around 830pm, sometimes later. Why? Because my floor is so hectic, and I am still practicing time managment skills, and I am still new to alot of stuff. I am slower. I sometimes feel that I am cursed with so many things going on at once. I also think I put patient care as a top priority, and charting last. We still do paper charting. I also will not depend on the assistance to get things done (not all-just some, and its alot to get into)

Today, I got out at 830. I start again at 7am. We will see how it goes tomorrow.

Don't feel bad about that. It will get better with time. But, you realistically will not get out on time a lot of days/nights. If one works on a busy medical-surgical floor and is truly doing everything they are supposed to be doing, I don't see how someone gets out every single shift on time. It's just not possible. There will be a shift every once in a while that will not let you get finished on time. And I've seen nursing that have 20+ years of experience that have shifts like this every once in a while.

It puzzled me that once, a co-worker of mine, could manage to get off on time every single shift. And I mean she never stayed late. And everytime i came back to the nurses' station, she was always there. She never seemed to be in her patient's rooms and never asked if she could help out, either. Well, finally, i had the opportunity to follow her and I saw why she got out on time. She had left a mess and so many things undone.

So, keep up the good work and just know, no one is that perfect where they will never have a shift where they won't leave on time.

[VegRN]

Well, I usually get out on time and when I don't, it is for one of two reasons. First, things have gone to he** in the last hour or two and pt acuity changed and things were more so out of control.

Second, to be honest, my time management gets out of hand sometimes. I get chit chatty, start doing extras for pts that could be delayed or what not and then I get to charting and then more chit chat. This isn't usual, it just sometimes happens.

[Kyrshamarks, BSN, RN]

I am sorry but it is poor time management skills that keep people late at work 99% of the time. I have been working as a nurse for about 20 years now and i can count on one hand the number tof times that I had to stay late for routine things. I understand there are times such as codes that happen at shift change that will keep you but everything else...INCLUDING admissions can either be done in your 12 hours or the next shift can finish it. nursing is a 24 hour continuity of care. It is a continum that the next shift picks up and works from. Furthermore if you aere staying late charting then there is definelty something wrong. You are relying on a possible faulty memory of something that may have happened 12 hours earlier and now are just writing it down alson with everything else that was done or said. You need to make time during the day to chart as you go along. The lawyers would hang you out to dry if it ever came to al awsuit and they asked when you charted something and you said 12 or more hourd after it happened. They would question your memory of the event and that would throw you in a bad light in a the eyes of a jury.

[Cmariehart]

CHARTING!!!!!!!

My shift ends @ 11pm and I just got home!! Right now we are double charting.. paper and computer so that hopefully in the NEAR future I will get out on time....

[Dalzac, LPN, LVN, RN]

I have known some nurses that bleed the clock, sad but true. Charting was alway my biggest hangup but sometimes the code at shift change would keep me over 3-4 hours.

[walk6miles]

:uhoh21: I agree with the majority: charting. I do have another angle to bring up; for some of our new grads, it becomes a habit to put off charting until the last hour - that is unforgiveable for this reason: suppose you suddenly become ill in the middle of your shift (has happened in our unit) - how can I take over your patients if you have not charted ONE thing since your shift started. This has happened and it really causes problems.

The occasional code/admit/sudden decompensation happens and can cause a longer than usual amount of time to catch up; this is not a daily occurrence.

Time management and organization skills can't really be taught, but these two abilities are invaluable to the nurse.

[BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN]

Most of the people I work with that are always late have terrible time management skills. Occas we get hung up on a really sick kiddo and have to play catch up after we do report, or while we are doing report. You should be charting as you go along, try not to leave it to the end of the shift, sometimes important things are missed in your documentation when you do.

[RNNPICU, BSN, RN]

My shift ends at 0730 or 1930, depending if it is the day shift or night shift. Most days I am out on time or at latest 745, 800 on a bad night. Some of the time it is because I got caught up in other stuff and had to write my note, and I tend to write longer notes, I know I shouldn't, but usually in the ICU there is a lot to discuss. I am learning that nursing is a 24 hour job and once in a while I have to leave tasks such as a blood product that was ordered at 7pm and blood bank calls at 715 to say it is ready for pick up. Things like that the next shift can take care of. Most people do't care about having to do stuff. I have had people tell me that they need these labs collected, or an antibiotic or med is late because of decomensation and lack of IV access. You do what you can. I hate leaving past 745 because once my shift is done I want to go home. I once left at 9pm. Myn patient need immediate intubation at 630,l began to brady, we almost had to do compressions, I needed to wait for the XRay to come and verify placement of the tube. The nurse coming on was helping, but because she was having acute events, I was giving report as we were going through. It was then 830, I started to walk to the elevator and realized I hadn't written my note, so I went back to write it by the 900. UGH.

[nursemary9, BSN, RN]

Do you get paid for having to stay later to finish up? I mean if your shift is say, 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., and you do not get finished and end up having to stay until 8:30 a.m., are you paid for that extra 1 1/2 hours?

In mny state, Illinois, you MUST be paid for your overtime. If you are not, your Hospital could be in trouble if someone were to complain to the Labor Relations Board.

That is why our Nurse manager is so strict with overtime. If you stay night after night, you can be sure you will be TALKED to & eventually written up for poor time management skills. It is also reflected in our yearly reviews.

Nursing is a 24 hr. job as others have said.

In 40 some years, I can tell you that I am seldom out late---except that rare occasion with a code or some emergency at shift end.

[husbandofrn]

Forgive me if this is out of place here, but...Also, think of your family when you are getting off later.

My wife is an RN and we experienced this earlier this week. She was supposed to be off at 7:00, but didn't get home till 8:30. Please think of your poor spouse at home who has also been working hard, getting the kids off to school making there lunches etc.., dealing with car pool going to work, shopping cooking dinner, doing homework with the kids, grocery shopping etc...

We are anxiously awaiting your arrival!

p.s. don't complain about the mess, we are doing our best under the circumstances.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

For me it's usually charting, which I can do uninterrupted in about 30 minutes. I've left at 9 on a couple of occasions, usually its accompanying a critical patient to ICU, that crashed at the last minute, that's not something I'm going to pass on, because I need the new nurse to look after the remaining patients. Then came the charting.

Usually that it. It's been a busy day, and towards the end of the shift there's some event that I can't pass on, or don't feel good about passing on, and finish up. It's not common.

Someone that consistently stays long periods of time after their shift needs some guidance.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Forgive me if this is out of place here, but...Also, think of your family when you are getting off later.

My wife is an RN and we experienced this earlier this week. She was supposed to be off at 7:00, but didn't get home till 8:30. Please think of your poor spouse at home who has also been working hard, getting the kids off to school making there lunches etc.., dealing with car pool going to work, shopping cooking dinner, doing homework with the kids, grocery shopping etc...

We are anxiously awaiting your arrival!

p.s. don't complain about the mess, we are doing our best under the circumstances.

Give us a break, it's not that we WANT to be there late, but it just happens from time to time. The families do suffer, but every now and then it can't be helped.

It's great that your stepping up to the plate helping out. Women have been going through what you've mentioned for hundreds of years. So you're not likely to get any sympathy from this bunch.