Why shift diff nights when days are so busy?

[Johnny Moo Man]

I've worked nights for 7 years and only recently switched to days. How many times at night had it gotten a little busy and the nurses complain about the day people : "they think all we do is sleep." The night diff at my hospital is 5 bucks an hour, plus the extra shift bonus is 50 dollars more--200 rather than my 150.

So I went to days. Now for less money I get families, nutritionists, case managers, social workers, doctors, multiple orders that need to be done now, CT and X-ray calling to tell me to change the order because they can't do the exam for reason #12; every manager in the hospital all over the staff, etc etc. Yesterday I had 3 discharges at the same time, and in walks my direct admit for chemo with a portocath that didn't work. A half hour before shift change, here comes my ER admit and a heavy ICU transfer at the same time. The thing is, this is a normal Monday.

And for working my butt off I get less money. I've worked hard at night, sure, but that was my choice. I will testify that the bulk of the night people at my facility put on the ipod at 11:00 and sit reading, or surf the internet, or sit around visiting. A lot of free time in between calls. Unheard of during the day. So my issue is, why should nights be more money? For staying up? I think it's crazy given the workload that nights are given so much more. Obviously I'm going back to nights after the holidays.

Just a consideration, to give money to those who work hardest.

[EmmaG, RN]

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Goldstein

[psalm, RN]

Our night shift AND day shift sleepers get fired.

[all4schwa]

because we sleep with the sun in our eyes

[Weeping Willow]

Working nights disrupts your life outside of work more than days and less people want to do that without it being worth their while. Your sleep is never the same quality. Your circadian rhythms are all off.

The other thing with nights is that you have fewer resources. You have more patients, the aide/pca has more patients. There's no lift team. Fewer respiratory therapists, no one working in central, no secretary. So who does the stuff that these folks normally do fall on? Yep, the nurses. If someone is spending large amounts of time on the computer, sleeping, listening to music, etc. on a regualr basis corners are being cut somewhere. There's just no administration to catch them.

It is not always true that corners are being cut if staff have time to do the things you list. Maybe the shift is just plain quiet. Also, I have seen Day and Evening nurses bring in their personal mail, big stacks of it, and work on it during their shift instead of doing work-related work. I see them go out of the building, actually leave the premises, which was not allowed for us, and actually take an honest to goodness, real break. Their meds are not signed out, as often as not, so you don't know for sure what was or was not given, they leave their vital sign list right where the next nurse has to come in and work, they don't restock or wipe up their spills of juice from the med cart, they say the patients refused their treatments but I don't believe it - not every single day. They refuse to give suppositories yet won't get an order for po or IM nausea med. They take off orders but do not transcribe them with the date onto the med sheets. I could go on but you get the idea. There are lots of nurses doing lots of good work but there seem to be quite a few lazing about, goofing off, doing the bare minimum.

And what thanks is there? If you are a nurse who tries to do a better than average job, there's no extra pay, no compliment or thanks, nothing but your own knowledge that you are putting your heart and soul into it. There's no loyalty from the employer, either. One serious or even not so serious flub up and you could be out on your rosy dozie.

Nights and swings are generally harder to fill, I guess, due to interfering with family life and sleep. Although lots of people find them convenient and desirable at some point, such as when kids are very young or when you realize you probably could not make it on days due to the kind of really obscene scenario the OP describes. I hope the nurses at that facility begin to get their backs up and start advocating for their patients and themselves to get much improved staffing. Just wondering - how do you handle it when you get hit with 2 or 3 admits 1/2 hour before you're leaving?

[showbizrn]

When you work at night

you gotta always be RIGHT

'cause no one else is there

to show you the light.

Sure there's down time

sometimes

a couple of extra minutes

to make the job fun time.

Why bother to complain?

Day shift is

your declared domain.

Stop drivin' yourself insane!

Keep it movin'

Stay out of others' lane.

You made your bed

Enough said

Lookin' for more bread?

Go back to night-shift

Keep that thought in your head.

Night-shift makes more cash

'cause the work can be done in a dash.

No time to quarrel, showboat or flash.

Just keepin' it real

Nursing care

without the "whip-n-lash."

[bANANA] "Registered Nursing. The BEST profession healthcare dollars can buy." (Morning, noon and night)[/bANANA]

SHOWBIZRN

("I do NIGHTS ONLY at the bedside. Everything ELSE during the day. What's my pay? $250 an hour and the clock is ticking...)

[NYCRN16]

I think at my facility the shift diff winds up being something like $20 a shift. Not worth it in my opinion.

[weesyanne]

Where I work, the shift diffs for nights are substantial. I think for evenings, they're something like $4 and for nights $5, plus the weekend shift diff is about $5-$6 per hour on top of it if you're working then.

The night shift can be extremely busy. At my job, the research department conducted a call light study to determine when the patients were calling the most. The overwhelming majority of patient calls for assistance were between 7P-11P. And that is with a staff that has 1.5-2 times the number of patients each and without the support that days has--the day nurse has 3-4 patients, while I average 6-7. We are extremely busy, especially during the first 5 hours of our shift. I have had to take my patients to CT at all hours of the night. I've also had to draw blood on them in the middle of the night when they spike a temp or develop chest pain. Our vent patients are very, very anxious, especially at night. The are calling constantly for the nurse or PCT, frequently for reasurance that they are doing OK, for suctioning, etc. My nurse phone never stops ringing some nights. I have learned to try not to feel guilty when I have a "quiet" night. And I don't sleep AT ALL.

I have worked nights for most of my 23 years as a nurse. At some point, I may switch to days, but not any time soon. I find that most everything in our hospital (and most places that I have worked), centers around the day shift. Almost all of the parties, luncheons, celebrations, inservices, conferences, etc. occur on days. We sometimes feel left out. But sometimes that can be OK.

[Kymmi]

Our night shift AND day shift sleepers get fired.

What???

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

I've worked both nights and days at my facility- nights is far busier.

On days I got all my breaks, and some staff took extended and extra breaks.

On nights, we regularly do not get full breaks. I do insist on taking one 20 min break.

I have never understood why nights does not have access to cleaning supplies. Days has housekeeping when messes happen, the janiter's closets are not locked during the day.

We don't have housekeeping or any cleaning supplies. When a full urinal is accidentally dropped on the floor, I am using pt towels from the linen cart and dumping alcohol hand gel on the mess.

When a pt clogs their toilet, we don't have access to a plunger. They are sol until housekeeping maintainance arrives in the am.

Shift diff at my facility is 10%.

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

("I do NIGHTS ONLY at the bedside. Everything ELSE during the day. What's my pay? $250 an hour and the clock is ticking...)

$250. an hour?

Is that a typo?

[EmmaG, RN]

$250. an hour?

Is that a typo?

I'm betting not

[Diary/Dairy, RN]

it will always be a fact of nusing that day shift hates nights, evening gets caught between the two and nights hates days.

i really don't think that is the case. i used to hate nights, but i have worked both shifts and they both have their challenges.......

in short, everybody has something to deal with in their life. i think we could all stand to be a bit more polite....