Night Shift Nursing Research Paper

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a novel cleverly written by Harper Lee to depict the prejudicial, discriminative and racist attitudes of white society in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Maycomb at first glance seems to be a warm and gentle place. However, as the novel progresses, the backdrop of slavery, racism and poverty as a result of the Great Depression becomes prevalent.

The shift report is an integral component of patient care due to the fact that it advances patient safety and maintains continuity of care. Shift reporting promotes best practices through communication among nursing staff, therefore, promoting professional socialization. Furthermore, shift report influences staff retention and quality of patient care by improving informational, social and organizational functions. The expertise and knowledge in shift reporting can be used to promote interdependence and teamwork. When compared to traditional reporting, bedside shift reporting has such advantages as enhancing time management, social interaction, peer support and procedural training. Shift reports taken and given at the bedside benefit patients as well. Many patients have expressed improved satisfaction and nursing accountability with bedside shift reports. For instance, an orthopedic unit manager, who dropped the traditional staffroom reporting and handover and replaced it with a patient-led system, reported increased patient satisfaction because her patients felt that they were in control.

Safety and satisfaction are two incredibly important aspects that have become the focus of many nursing related studies. Actions to raise patient satisfaction and measures to increase patient safety have continuously been investigated and tested. Recently, with the help of evidence-based research, hospitals have begun to utilize shift reporting at the bedside and assessing patients’ needs every hour in a means to boost patient safety and satisfaction. It is my belief that with consistent implementation of bedside shift report and structured hourly rounding, nurses are able to maximize the safety of patients and their satisfaction with our care.

With growing concern about patient safety and satisfaction, a change in where shift report is given has been a cause of concern. Traditionally, change-of-shift report is done at the nurses’ station or away from patients. Numerous studies have been conducted on moving the change-of-shift report from the nurses’ station or hallway to the patient’s bedside. An analysis of bedside shift reporting has revealed the benefits of increased patient satisfaction and safety as well as several challenges of implementation of bedside shift reporting.

Many of our new nurse gift ideas are a combination of funny, and useful items. A cup designed to look like a prescription bottle is perfect for drinking coffee, and starting the day with a smile. A tote bag to carry clothing and supplies for overnight shifts at the hospital is something that will get plenty of use. A funny key chain that emphasizes

With regard to sleepiness, several studies indicated that the average of sleep duration in 1910 to 2002 have decreased from 9 to 6 hours on workdays (National sleep foundation, 2002; Groger et al., 2004). Recently, a survey study of Roger et al. (2004) shows that an American Nurses have an average of 84 minutes more sleep on non workdays. Thus, shift work suggested as a cause of sleeping disorder among nurses where they feel of sleep during the shift. Considering the contributing factors of sleepiness, the literature identified that long working hours and rotating shifts are causing sleeping disorder. In the night and rotating shifts, the nurses are rarely obtained adequate amount of sleep. In fact, the nurses experiencing less sleeping hours (1 to 4 hour) than normal sleeping (Zeisler et al.,1980). Nevertheless, insufficient sleep is a significant reason of damaging planning, decision-making, and integration of information (Krueger, 1994; Harrison and Horne, 2000). More recent studies have revealed that long hour shifts and overtime are strongly linked to the difficulties of being a wake through the shift which leads to increase the risk of making an error (Scott et al., 2006; Roger et al., 2004).

In order to successfully implement this change at Pelham Medical Center, several key professions needed be involved. The staff nurses need to actively participate in bedside shift report.

Moreover, most shifts run into each other with day shifts extending into the night and night shifts extending into the day. This means that their circadian rhythms are distorted. Extended shift work for nurses eventually lead to them finding it difficult to adapt to normal life or any activities outside work.

(1) require each participating hospital to adopt and implement a staffing system that ensures a number of registered nurses on each shift and in each unit of the hospital to ensure appropriate staffing levels for patient care; (2) provide for the reporting and release to the public of certain staffing information, including a daily posting for each shift in the hospital

New nurses often get the night shifts and it can be a very different change for them. If nurses were informed about these statistics, it could potentially reduce the risk of errors made because they know they need to get adequate hours of

(Senteniel) Additional studies show risk of errors and close calls were related to longer shift length and were associated with decreased attentiveness. Nurses also suffer higher rates of occupational injury when working shifts more than 12 hours. (Joint Commision, 20111) The ANA acknowledges the relationship between working long hours and increased risk for sleep disturbances, injuries, musculoskeletal disorders, gastrointestinal problems, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and adverse reproductive outcomes. (NANN, 2012) In addition to clinical outcomes, there is an association between nurses who worked 13 or more hours in the hospital and lack of communication with patients regarding pain control. Burnout is common among nurses working long shifts and they are more than likely to leave their job within the first year. Shifts scheduled for 12 hours often exceed that timeframe, as many as 40% of the work shifts logged for their study exceeded 12 hours. (Martin, 2012) There are many reasons for fatigue, but shift length is the one that is most obvious and easy to fix. It is no wonder for nurse fatigue when 12 hour shifts are the norm. Twelve hour shifts are standard practice even though the Institute of Medicine recommends limiting them. At a recent nursing management congress Cole Edmonson stated that 12 hour shifts may cause more problems than they solve. While research is aiding us comprehend the dangers nurse fatigue brings to patients and nurses themselves, he called 12 hour shifts “a dead idea whose time has passed”. Eliminating 12 hour shifts is obvious if the fact is acknowledged that nurse fatigue is a serious problem. (Hendren,

Nurses can work a variety of shifts that can accommodate almost any schedule of lifestyle. For instance, a nurse can obtain a job working eight hour shifts, twelve-hour shift, sixteen hour shifts, or a combination of shift lengths. Nurses can also work either day shift or night shift, this will accommodate almost any person including those who prefer to work at night. I personally, would rather work during the day when many things are happening because I do not like to not have things to do. I must be walking around or doing something always.

I was a volunteer at the oncology department of hospital for almost a year, and one of my jobs was assisting the nurse manager with the organization of the “nurse of the month” board. The nurses used to vote for the “nurse of the month”, but if during the same year that nurse had already been “nurse of the month”, the nurse manager would pick another person be on the board. The winner would also receive a gift from the nurse manager. During my time setting up the board I heard many times nurses were not able to vote because they worked during the night shift, and voting was done during the day shift, and felt that they were not considered enough for that prize. While this wasn’t a deal breaker situation for the nurses, it could have certainly

In The Iliad moira, or fate, is a limiting condition for human beings. Moira is primarily facilitated by the gods -- who use divine intervention to drive Troy to its fall. The gods use people and the Trojan War to destroy Troy according to its moira, but implement plans that specifically involve women for its destruction. In Genesis, God guides people’s plans. God’s will is to create a great nation of Abraham. God uses women to accomplish its goal of populating the earth with the descendents of Abraham, to work, and to trick so that the younger son favored by God will triumph and the people of Abraham will be numerous everywhere. Two women within these works who implement change in their communities are Andromache and Rebekah. Through the characterization of Andromache and Rebekah, they reveal the contrasting ways in which the divine manifests itself and affects the characters and their surroundings.

Nurses are known as the heart of health care. Being a nurse is a demanding job that requires commitment, but does not lack rewards. A fact stated by the American Association of Colleges of Nurses claims that “Nurses comprise the largest single component of hospital staff, are the primary providers of hospital patient care, and deliver most of the nation 's long-term care” (“Nursing Fact Sheet”). With many roles throughout the healthcare system as a whole, nurses are a large, very important role that interacts with every other part of the health care system. They have great qualities that not everyone has. They are highly compassionate, caring, professional, diligent and understanding individuals. A nurse experiences people at their worst and still care for patients in a way that no one else would. All these honest points prove that nurses are the most important members of the health care system because, nurses spend the most time with patients, nurses are the managers of patient care; they are teachers and are great with conflict resolution.