Night shift nurses. Strength in a silo?

Night duty. Personally, I hate, hate, hate, hate it. But I have the greatest respect for those nurses who either do a lot of it. Or chose to make it their life. A study to be published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing looks at the experiences of nurses working the night shift at three regional hospitals in Australia. Data was collected via questionnaires, interviews and diary entries over a six month period in 2010 and was augmented by a series of semi structured interviews. Of the 14 study participants, 10 were on permanent night duty and all were female. The results of the study found a very strong cohesive team amongst the night shift. But it also fond evidence of the night shift crew operating somewhat as a silo (or separated unit) from the rest of the shifts. And there were several themes around this: Staff felt that they had to deal with a poorer working environment that their daytime colleagues, particularly around distribution of workload and staffing. They also felt that they were required to work with much less resources and “sub-optimal” leader ship support from department managers. They expressed feelings that the night shift nurses appeared to be considered of lesser value or ‘lower status’ than other shifts. There was also a sense of disconnectedness from the organization that might stem from the organization not trying to involve night nurses in hospital activities and processes or from the night-shift nurses actively choosing not to become involved. ...
Source: impactEDnurse - Category: Nurses Authors: Tags: reflective practice. Source Type: blogs