Night Shift always late....

For some reason at my current hospital the majority of the night shift nurses are always clocking in late. They take their time getting their work assignments and report from days shift. Now most of on day shift are always early to work. As soon as we walk through the door, night shift is hounding us to give report, even before we are allowed to clock in. Is this a problem isolated to my hospital or is this a problem more systemic?

In reply to your comments about night nurses always being late, I beg to differ. I truly believe that this is only the responsibility of the management to insure that their employees are present at the times that they are expected to be. Speaking from a night nurse's view, I have never had a problem with anyone from days being late other than the occasional mishap. I, myself, feel that I have an obligation to the patient's that I must be on time. Your observation that it is only night nurses that are late are your own opinion. If this is a problem in your institution, you need to address it with your chain of command. I feel that at our facility, we are always on time and if we are not, then there is a good reason. You should not label night nurses as always being late when there are those that are not really happy with their job, don't care about their job, and are not responsible to maintain the ability to arrive to work on time. Just because the night nurses at your facility are always late, does not mean that all night nurses are late.

Number1ERnurse wrote:In reply to your comments about night nurses always being late, I beg to differ. I truly believe that this is only the responsibility of the management to insure that their employees are present at the times that they are expected to be. Speaking from a night nurse's view, I have never had a problem with anyone from days being late other than the occasional mishap. I, myself, feel that I have an obligation to the patient's that I must be on time. Your observation that it is only night nurses that are late are your own opinion. If this is a problem in your institution, you need to address it with your chain of command. I feel that at our facility, we are always on time and if we are not, then there is a good reason. You should not label night nurses as always being late when there are those that are not really happy with their job, don't care about their job, and are not responsible to maintain the ability to arrive to work on time. Just because the night nurses at your facility are always late, does not mean that all night nurses are late.

I was not making a broad statement regarding ALL night shift nurses... This is what I said "For some reason at my current hospital the majority of the night shift nurses are always clocking in late. " See, I said at "My current hospital".
As RNs we are professionals, and we should realize on of the responsibilities we have is to arrive to work on time, regardless of the shift that we work. All management has seemed to say to these nurses happens when they actually arrive on time... "I am glad to you you are here on time". Go figure :(

I'm a night shift nurse and I arrive 10-15 min. early for my shift. The PM shift nurses at first looked at me like there was something wrong with me that I was so early. They've gotten used to it now, but the other night nurse arrives right on time or a few min. late usually. My problem is the day shift nurses at my facility show up 15-30 min. late consistently. It is rare at 7am to have more than 1 day shift nurse (out of 4) already in the building. I don't always mind though because I usually am passing meds right up til 7am and end up staying an hour or so over to get all my treatments and charting completed.
I think it all depends on the work ethic of the nurse and what the facility lets them get away with. :rolleyes:

I work pm's and am usually running in at the last minute after dropping my kids off at the hospital day care. :o There are 2 night shift nurses that come in after me. One is early every night. The other is late every night. When listening to them talk about their jobs I can certainly understand why they act the way they act. One loves her job and the other hates it. Guess which one is always late? Miss bad attitude, that's who. It's funny, though, because when days comes in it's the one who is always late who is pushing to get report done early so she can leave. I think this is an issue of individual work ethic and attitude, not so much a problem with a particular shift. If you have a problem with it, you should talk to your powers that be to fix it. People won't start coming in earlier unless they are told to shape up. Myself included! :D Every year on my eval I put this as one of the things I'm going to work on for the next year.

I am a night shift nurse and I must admit, early on I was just barely on time or a few minutes late. At my hospital the oncoming shift is expected to clock in by 6:52. But recently I've been given charge nurse duties a few shifts a week. Now I get there by 6:30 to check assignments, take my own report and get a feel for what is going on that night. There always a certain few that are notoriously late but a recent change in management and a few stern warnings has improved that. Also, the late comers have no opportunity to change assignments since everyone else has taken report already.

Aahh, the age old problem of nurses coming to work late.....do you suppose Florence had the same problem?......:39: when you say the "Majority" of night shift nurses come in late.....you may be right but I bet if you did a study and determined exactly who are the late comers you woul find only a couple really coming in late regularly......somone mentioned the chain of command and administration......that's who has to put their foot down......the boss sets the tone for the work place.....if the boss allows people to get away with something it will happen.....at my last hospital we had this problem.....we started "group" reporting and anyone who showed up late for group report missed some of the report or got none at all......report started on time and ended on time.....the nurses going off did not wait around and give another report......the on coming shift supervisor was responsible for someone late and the lateness ended quickly......:luck:

i have had this problem before. just in case you havent tried, it may be effective to approach this person face to face. i have found this to work well.

I have the opposite problem at my workplace. We work 12 hr shifts and the night shift is always early or at least on time, we get our assignments and go right to report. The day shift is consistently late, sometimes as much as 1/2 hr, they stand around the assignment sheet, discussing who has what, and sometimes complaining, then the get their coffee, after complaints they finally trudge their way to report.
I have worked day shift before there and at another place and I find consistently they day shift is always so busy and always behind when we come in for the night, but at both places they take multiple breaks, they go and have breakfast before starting patient care, which is absurd to me (don't they have a kitchen in their home?).
I agree it all has to do with management. We have people who are consistently calling in and coming in late and NOTHING is ever done.
After a lot of frustration waiting to give report to the stragglers I found the thing that works for me. While the nurses are doing whatever (getting coffee,complaining) I find my relief nurse and tell her I am leaving at 7:30 on the dot, so if she wants a full report then get moving, otherwise I'll write it out and hand it off. No chance to ask questions. This may seem mean, but it cuts down on people coming to report late.
So I guess it depends on the place you work and I do agree that there is always going to be a rift between shifts, because one shift always thinks they work harder.

I work 7P-7A and we have equally as many late day people as night people. I think it just depends on the person. If they haven't learned integrity and consideration by this stage of the game, I don't think we can teach it to them. Kisses!!

at my hospital we tape report fot the next shift. that tape starts exactly at 0700 or 1500 or 2300 and we answers questions after the tape has played. and the nurses are able to leave on time unless they need to chart more. if you are late too bad. you just hear the tape andt hen start your shift. i am amazed that adults,professionals, would allow their co-workers to treat them with such disrespect.

I agree with Burnout. My last travel assignment, there were always at least one day shifter that was late, and always a few that had to stand around complaining about their assignment. The funny thing was, when I came in at 6:45pm, they were not anxious to give report and get home!! Never couold figure that one out. I would be standing at the nurses station, begging for report. Sometimes did not get full report until 8:00! Very frustrating.

I've experienced a bit of both sides to this issue when i had to do night shift. I used to work on a very busy surgical ward and found that some night staff were quite often late which could be very annoying....but i can also remember that when i worked nights some day staff would sit around gossiping while i was trying to hand over and delay me from going home on time. It can be very frustrating and i think that if it's an ongoing issue then it should really be brought to their attention....

Scrub Nurse wrote:I've experienced a bit of both sides to this issue when i had to do night shift. I used to work on a very busy surgical ward and found that some night staff were quite often late which could be very annoying....but i can also remember that when i worked nights some day staff would sit around gossiping while i was trying to hand over and delay me from going home on time. It can be very frustrating and i think that if it's an ongoing issue then it should really be brought to their attention....

Hi there,

It sound as though a little refresher in mutual respect would be beneficial. You essentially acknowledged that each shift could be better prepared to give report in a timely fashion so improving practice here would be a good start. While there are always those who like to hang around and "shoot the bull" after report, others might have something else to do or just want to go home.

Just my two cents,

R

This sounds like a management issue to me. If the"majority" of night shift nurses are clocking in late, then they have learned they have a manager that allows this behavior. The big issue you have is not with the night shift nurses it is with your manager...being in management myself I could almost bet you will respond to us that you have a very weak leader of your department when it comes to employee discipline and confrontation.???

BurntoutRN wrote:I have the opposite problem at my workplace. We work 12 hr shifts and the night shift is always early or at least on time, we get our assignments and go right to report. The day shift is consistently late, sometimes as much as 1/2 hr, they stand around the assignment sheet, discussing who has what, and sometimes complaining, then the get their coffee, after complaints they finally trudge their way to report.
I have worked day shift before there and at another place and I find consistently they day shift is always so busy and always behind when we come in for the night, but at both places they take multiple breaks, they go and have breakfast before starting patient care, which is absurd to me (don't they have a kitchen in their home?).
I agree it all has to do with management. We have people who are consistently calling in and coming in late and NOTHING is ever done.
After a lot of frustration waiting to give report to the stragglers I found the thing that works for me. While the nurses are doing whatever (getting coffee,complaining) I find my relief nurse and tell her I am leaving at 7:30 on the dot, so if she wants a full report then get moving, otherwise I'll write it out and hand it off. No chance to ask questions. This may seem mean, but it cuts down on people coming to report late.
So I guess it depends on the place you work and I do agree that there is always going to be a rift between shifts, because one shift always thinks they work harder.

YES! I agree totally! First of all, at my hospital, there are very strict policies regarding latenesses and absences. Nurses have been fired, and will continue to be for being late consistently or absent. Also at my facility, I notice that nurses (on both shifts) tend to be about 20 minutes early, typically. However, day shift comes in and spends the first 45 min or so getting breakfast, drinking coffee, talking ect... I think night shift is different because we know that if we get behind the staffing is not available to dig us out. Just my opinion...

While I'm currently on day shift, I worked many years on night shift. I think it undermines morale to play the finger point game and suggest that workers on the other shift doesn't do their fair share. The work loads and challenges really are different and unless you have experience working for a period of time on both shifts, that isn't readily clear.

J. Smith, You may follow a particularly social and/or disorganized group but my guess is that it isn't just because they are days. Maybe you or your particular night shift crew are very organized. I've found that if the nurse gets behind on ANY shift, it's hard to dig out. I wish I had a dime for every time I bat clean up for nights and I bet they wish the same thing. Nursing is a 24 hour job that doesn't care what shift you work.

R

Yes very true... it definately is a 24 hour job and chances are we are all a little anxious and tired at the end of a shift, no matter which one.