The NOC shift doesn't wake up ANYONE in the morning...is this normal?

2ndyearstudent, CNA · Oct 7, 2010

I work the day shift right now, and it seems that every time I arrive in the morning, NO ONE is up. I actually plan to move to the NOC shift, so I'm just curious if any of you have seen this? Thanks!

The NOC shift at my facilty leaves at 6am. They better not be waking anybody up.

yousoldtheworld · Oct 7, 2010

The NOC shift at my facilty leaves at 6am. They better not be waking anybody up.

I've worked places where I left at 6 a.m. and had to have 4 people up by then. It's horrible, and if I were those residents, I'd be pitching a fit.

Chanelle · Oct 9, 2010

I work 3rd and the shift is over at 6 am we have to wake 5 people up bath them and dress them to put them back to bed till 1st comes in to wake them up for the day. I also have to wake up the walkers and have them walk from bed to the bathroom back to bed. I personally don't think its right having to do this to the residents but it is in there care plan so we HAVE to even if they don't want us to (at lest the bath part). I have worked 1st and it is a lot easier to get everyone up and ready on 1st then waking them up on 3rd!

JDZ344 · Oct 9, 2010

I work in a hopsital, so its kind of different than a LTC. We don't have a set number or anything. I shower the people who need it, or are awake early, day shift do the rest. At night, there is just me to 30 patients, on days there is 3 or sometimes even 4 so they do most of them.

yousoldtheworld · Oct 9, 2010

Go figure. After griping about how I hate hearing each shift complain about the others on here, starting next week, I'll be working 3 night shifts and 2 evening shifts per week.

Lucky me, I'm going to get to hear it from both sides! :icon_roll

blue cna · Oct 29, 2010

I work 3rd shift, after a crazy exhausting night we have to get up as many as we can by 7:30, starting at 6. they are all total care and it takes time. day shift always says we dont get up enough people and are always asking us who we are getting up next, even when its time for us to go home. usually we have time to get up 3-4 people together. our residents dont have a choice, unless they are really really really sick, they have to go to the dining room. they are treated like cattle and its sad. if someone doesnt want to get up, they say too bad they have to get up, and they act like we are just trying to be lazy about it.

volcomcna · Oct 30, 2010

I also work 3rd shift, and each CNA has to get up 2 res. (some nights we have only 1 CNA and 1 LVN). :devil:

Kelly9405 · Oct 30, 2010

I work 3rd shift at an ALF, and at my facility each aide is responsible for getting 3 residents washed and dressed. We usually have 3 aides on, but sometimes we only have 2 aides if we're short.

enchantmentdis, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2010

Let's see. After suffering through a twelve hour shift with dementia patients screaming all night, getting people up to the commode, and passing out pain meds every hour, what in the world makes you think that as a nurse that i would want to get your patients up for you? To make your job easier? I think not.

KB24 · Nov 1, 2010

The 3rd shift CNA's have to get up 5 residents each before the first shift CNA's arrive at 6:50 am to get assignment. You better have all 5 residents up because the morning nurses and aids will get mad if you don't have your people up.

vampcna · Jul 15, 2011

I have worked noc shift since I became a cna 2 years ago, and 7-3 has always complained that we do nothing but sleep. On average I have 16 to 20 patients to change, do vitals and reposition. Some nights are calmer than others, but I always try to find extra things to do. I clean out closets, do oral care, clean dentures, and whatever else I can think to do. At 4:30 I start my final changes. Almost all of them are incontinent so that's at least 14 changes. Then, morning shift comes in complaining that the halls smell. Well DUH! I just changed 10 poopy diapers. What do you expect it to smell like. They complain about everything. If a patient is the tiniest bit wet, they want me to change them again. ( and yes I know not all morning cnas act like this. A few of them are nice and understand.)

Every shift has it's hardships. 7- 3 has 2 meals and 3 showers. 3-11 has all the new admits, 2 male showers, dinner, and putting patients to bed. Night shift has less to do, but two or three times as many patients as morning shift does.

I will admit that some cnas on my shift are lazy, and they give the rest of us a bad name, but most of us work really hard to care for our patients. Besides 24 hour nursing is just that. If we would just work together instead of finding things to complain about nursing would be :)much more rewarding. As for the noc cnas that are truly lazy, talk to the DSD about them.

AJ_427 · Jul 15, 2011

I work the night shift sometimes and I usually have 15-17 residents to take care of. Since most of the residents go to school in the morning (even in summer) the night people have few get-ups. I usually get up 7-9 residents in the morning. This leaves the morning people with 1-6 get-ups (average is 4). It all depends on the breakdown, whether it's weekday or weekend, who eats and who's a G-Tube, which unit is it, etc. I would not be surprised that in geriatric/ltc facilities the night people don't get people up before 6am.