Weaker nurses at night?

RN1982 · May 24, 2009

Really the whole day shift vs. night shift crap is rather childish. I think both shifts are busy in their own way. I can say that I've had slow shifts days and nights and I've had busy shifts days and nights. It varies depending on the patients and their acuity and how full the unit is with patients. I remember one night shift was so hopping because I couldn't leave the room the patient was getting back to back blood transfusions (PRBCs, platelets, FFP, etc) and bleeding out of his abdomen, developed a GI bleed, ya know, crumpin' and this went on for at least 4-5 hours before he went back to OR. I didn't pee or eat or drink in that time so his two hour trip to OR was a break for me until he came back and did it all over again.

Anyhow, the last time I checked nursing was a 24 hour a day job. My duties on night shift are no different from days.

District46 · May 24, 2009

Where I work, they don't let the bank staff work nights until they have a good amount of experience! That is because of the smaller amount of staff available when people get ill. You actually have to have a stronger background because you are generally on your own when things go wrong.

chenoaspirit, ASN, RN · May 24, 2009

Where I worked, experience had nothing to do with when you worked, it was seniority that decided what shift you worked. It didnt matter if you needed "monitoring" or not, there was always a charge nurse whether day or not who could monitor them. The most seniority got the dayshift positions (if they wanted it).

Daytonite, BSN, RN · May 24, 2009

I was talking to one of our verbose doctors, and he started talking about nurses. He told me that the weaker nurses work the night shift. Opinions?

What a jerk. We couldn't get on the night shift until we had done a fair amount of time on day shift since on the night shift you have to make a lot of decisions on your own because there is less staff around to colloborate with.

flyakite80 · May 24, 2009

I work nights 7p-7a and sometimes I don't sit down to chart until 4 AM. It all depends on what's going on with your patients. I have many more hard nights than I do easy ones. And it's just like any other job that is 24 hours - of course there are going to be certain things that you only do on nights vs. days, it doesn't mean you're better or worse than another shift. That's silly.

2BSure · May 24, 2009

I was talking to one of our verbose doctors, and he started talking about nurses. He told me that the weaker nurses work the night shift. Opinions?

Although I don't work nights this offends me. I would call the doctor a name but it would get me in trouble (at least if I used the one I want to use). He probably thinks he has a brain the size of a planet by making that "observation".

philanurse74 · May 24, 2009

:yeah::yeah::yeah:
we night-shift nurses
also receive
a big, fat differential in pay
for all of our autonomy and trouble-shouting.
doesn't sound weak to me.

how fat is fat? i often hear much higher than we get...just curious....night shift nurse rock!

Vito Andolini · May 24, 2009

I worked night Most of my career for a lot of reasons, some of them had to do with nursing and some didn't. I first started working night as a tech and for some reassons only known to her, the charge nurse, hated me and overloaded me with patients to the point of me walking out on the job. I worked in ICU. One night I had EKG's and normally got a lite load. The unit was full the other 2 techs got 3 patients. I got 6 and 3 of them were on Aramine (this was before Dopamine and no bp machines. and I had to take 15 minute VS. Told u I was old!) She would not let me give up EKG's told me tough. And she wouldn't let the other techs take a couple of the pts. She then told me if I didn't like it I could quit so I did, right then. The diretector knew what happened before I even got home The old bag told her but one of the techs went off floor and called her too. I was forgiven and got a wonderful reference from the big boos lady and she even found me another job doing something I loved even more.
I worked days when my kids were little and in grade school but when they were in high school I had to go to nights becuse of the little reprobates. So I just stayed on nights and I really did like it.
Once I even asked to go to days and my manager told me no and told me I was a really strong asset to nights and she needed me on nights because the other 2 nurses on nights were just stupid. (little Hospital.) I worked there for 15 yrs and when they closed I just stayed on nights.
Now since I am retired, I can't sleep at night I still get my best sleep from 10 am to 6 pm.

wow, you quit on the spot? good for you. Who took your patients? Glad it all worked out.

Bellarubia18 · May 24, 2009

Can't answer the question cause I just became registered and am not working yet...however, I have to say I love the attitude of every nurse who answered....hope to work with nonjudgmental, kind-hearted nurses like you in the future!

RN1982 · May 24, 2009

How fat is fat? I often hear much higher than we get...just curious....Night shift nurse rock!

Some places are different. I get a shift differential for every hour of my shift. Every three months, I get a 300 dollar bonus for working nights. It's not much. Some places pay better, others don't.

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · May 24, 2009

I welcome the Doc mentioned in the OP to work one week on night shift with me and my colleagues...

Personally,

Almost every Doc I've talked to on the phone about some patient condition or the other has often used the phrase "what do you think?" during our conversation.

Be it at 2000 hrs or 0400 hrs.

To me that signifies "confidence" and "openness". As in "you're the boots on the ground. Tell me what you think about the situation and ask me what you need and we'll go from there".

A refreshing and positive attitude. And once I switched to the ER/ED, it is an attitude I find more prevalent amongst our ER/ED attendings.

"Trust is a two way street" - IMHO, of course.

cheers,

NIGHTWOLF87 · May 24, 2009

like it was said in some of the earlier posts, there are "strong" or "weak" nurses on every shift and every floor. i have worked nights for going on 4 years now, and in our unit (nicu), there seems to be more conflicts between nurses, both professional and personal, on day shift. there is a more "closeness" between the night shift nurses than on the day shift, and plenty of day shift nurses have told me that. in my opinion, night shift nurses have to be somewhat "stronger" because most don't have the luxury of having the docs and ancillary support on hand if needed right away. night nurses have to rely more each other when things start to turn chaotic. luckily on our unit, we have nnps that usually cover the nights, and if needed, our neos don't mind being called at all hours. they have even told us that. i personally like working nights, because it gives me the entire day to do things (after a few hours of sleep, of course) and i can spend more time with my 3 yr old son; when he is asleep, i am working, so i'm not missing out on him too much. but everyone is different, and as long as you have "rn" behind your name, you are expected to be competent and do your job to the best of your ability. and if there is something that you don't understand, by all means, ask! no one knows everything, regardless of their years of experience.