shiftless

I hate going to meetings where night shift bashing is part if the agenda. Common misconceptions are that night shifters don't do anything, they aren't too smart, they aren't highly motivated, they aren't very interested in advancing. As a night shifter, let me dispell those myths!

First of all, there are lazy people on every shift! Night shift hasn't cornered that market! We have to think a little more quickly and depend on our own judgment more often than do our day shift counterparts. We have to do this because our resources are so limited.
> We don't have Clinical Nurse Specialists (or whatever they're called in other facilities), we figure things out based on what we know and what we learn from our coworkers. Then, we use our judgment and apply our knowledge to benefit our patients.
> We don't have access to physicians, we get the on call guy or the resident. Most of our physician contacts would really rather not be bothered with our problems. Your patient's BP is 170/112?? Just watch him and let the attending deal with it in the morning. Watch him do what.....stroke?? OK. Your patient's neb treatments are making her climb the walls? No, you can't have anything to help her relax. Let the attending deal with it in the morning. So the patient climbs the walls all night, her breathing issues get worse, and by the time the attending sees her she's in respiratory distress. Guess who gets blamed for that?!
> We don't have access to supplies. Linens run out at around 3AM. No matter how much is stocked, units always run out in the middle of the night. There is no one in the linen room at night. In the supply department, there are maybe 2 workers. They are out collecting dirty equipment or delivering clean stuff. To obtain a dressing, a kit, or anything else is hard to do!
> There is no one in the dietary department. If a patient arrives from the ED, or worse, from the hinterlands, and they're hungry, we have to scrounge! Most hungry patients are not really interested in crackers and peanut butter when they're ready to gnaw off their hand! Occasionally, there are cans of soup or packs of cereal. Of course, that patient's diet order always has a salt or sugar limitation so none of what was scrounged will be appropriate!

We are very interested in advancing our careers. We want continuing education as much as anyone. The problem is getting it! All meetings, whether they are staff meetings or committee meetings, are held in the daytime. Continuing education classes are offered in the daytime. Mandatory education (CPR, PALS, ACLS, Corporate compliance, etc) is offered in the daytime. Night shifters are put in the position of losing sleep to attend or burning a day off. If we lose sleep, then our judgment is compromised because we are too tired to think. If we burn a day off, then we work our next scheduled shift tired because our day off was spent working! We can't win.

Research indicates that night shifters have more health problems, more depression and live shorter lives than their day shift counterparts. Most of us chose to work at night in spite of the health risks. We enjoy the autonomy that comes with working at night. Patients deserve quality care around the clock. Experienced night shifters make sure they receive it. We also make sure that new staff learn from our experiences so that quality care is ongoing.