HELP/ADVICE NEEDED - How does your night nurse system work?

RE: HELP/ADVICE NEEDED - How does your night nurse system work?

Sal the 1st — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 12:45:51 GMT

[quote user="Louise Scott"]

BUT WE WANT TO CHANGE THIS!

[/quote]

who is the we? or is it I?

and what are the main objections? ie do you have you staff members with children who may need to arrange childcare as a result?

are you trying to cover too much with not enough staff?

Another poster has pointed out that since they started doing overnights that the nights have become busier - and this has always been the case without exception from my experience so in the long run it may well work out more cost effective and better from the point of staff retention for you to be employing dedicated night staff

Working a mix of nights and days is not popular. Some people are able to do it but not everybody is able to adapt. I am happy working days, I have worked night shifts only in the past (but long term these are not healthy). I know that I cannot work a mix of both shifts.

Maybe its not so bad if these are sleeping shifts but if you happen to get the shift from hell with multiple emergencies during the night or a case needing close supervision throughout the whole night and you are still expected to function the next day.... it just doesnt work - and how many times have I been expected to stay and work the next day whilst the vet I have worked with has been given the following day off.

There has been a lot of research done in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and ongoing in industry/ healthcare on how these shifts can affect productivity negatively, staff wellbeing,sickness rates etc. If you can come to some amicable agreement on on these can be introduced then great- but if you can't then looking for another solution may be the answer.

You say that the nurses that are currently employed are not very keen to try it ? - have any of them tried this before? if they have it might be worth asking them what they found the most difficult aspect of these shifts and how that might be made easier for them? Do your nursing staff have any solutions to this that may not have already been considered?

If it is your vets who would like to introduce this and you are passing this on to your nurses because you are a head nurse then make sure that your nursing staff know that it isn't just coming from you- don't invite their resentment when you are only trying to do your job.

RE: HELP/ADVICE NEEDED - How does your night nurse system work?

Selena Carnell — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 21:43:18 GMT

previous practice we had one allocated night per week, on that shift we did 11-7 then overnight till 1 pm. the weekends on rota sat am through till 5 pm monday, on a 1-6 rota , its change since i left and v . we got over time if called out after 9 pm. but no extra recompense for weekends. unless taking the phones.

RE: HELP/ADVICE NEEDED - How does your night nurse system work?

Charmaloo88 — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 22:50:44 GMT

Night shifts are part of our normal nurse rota and they're not too bad. We do on average 1 night a week, shift starts at 5pm and we get paid up until midnight, whether we're busy or not. Nurse goes to bed and gets up to check in patients or give meds and deal with any emergencies - vets take the phones so if we get a call in the night it's the vet telling us to prep for something. Any hours worked 12am-7.30am is overtime and we get £15/night bonus which doesn't seem like much but it adds up quite a bit throughout the year! Nurse then works from 7.30-12.30 next morning, so we get an afternoon to recover if it's been particularly gruelling or to enjoy if it's been pleasant!

Main issue we have is clients not registered with us wanting to come down because we're more local than their own vets OOH!

RE: HELP/ADVICE NEEDED - How does your night nurse system work?

Amy J — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 19:57:21 GMT

We use our nurses to do OOH. we have 9 so its a 1:9 rota.

We do mon, tue, weds, thurs night on duty with no day shifts. followed by a separate fri, sat, sun night with no day shifts.

Our nurses are expected to be at work up and working even if there are no inmates until 12am. After that the night is patient led. ie if patients are on fluids they will get checked, if intensive the nurse will stay awake with them, if nothing then they can go home to bed (as long as within 15min drive)

Hours are 6.45pm-8am. any work carried out after 12am they get an additional ooh bonus for.

It depends on the how many nurses you have and your work load. but, we found that once you start offering the service it will get busier, as vets will be more inclined to offer checks and o/n stays more. So, even if at the minute you don't see many patients overnight, expect it to get busier probably quite quickly. That's what happened to us.

Also, keep in mind that you will never ever please everyone. Aim for the majority!

Good luck

RE: HELP/ADVICE NEEDED - How does your night nurse system work?

NikkiD — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 19:22:11 GMT

[quote user="Louise Scott"]

- Do you use your day staff in your night nurse rota?

- What hours do you night nurses do?

- How many nights on / How many nights off do they do?

- Do you offer any bonus's incentives to your nurses?

- How many night nurses do you have, how many nurses do you really ideally need?

- Do your night nurses stay awake on site all night and work it like a normal day?

- How many periods of break do they have?

[/quote]

Hi,

We have dedicated night nurses who work 7 on, 7 off. 7pm to 7am with an hours "lunch" It is a waking shift so they work through as normal. Occasionally a day nurse will work a night shift if someone is ill/holiday etc as overtime. We usually have 2 nurses, 1 vet and 1 kennel assistant.

I have previously worked myself as a day/night nurse - working one night per week with the following day off (shift starting at 4pm) which was a "sleeping" shift, though we had the phones in addition to the inpatients so sleep was rare! One weekend in 6 we worked from 8am Saturday - 8am Monday. We would be on our own, with the vet on call for emergencies.

:) good luck!