Its the quiet time on the ward. Many nurses do many things during this time, so apart from the odd vital observation how do you spend the time?

Do you bring a book and read, spend the whole night charting and finishing the paperwork (includes checking vitals), nip off for a quick sleep (<2h), walk around checking on everyone (just to stay awake), ward work (restocking, cleaning, etc), or do does the mayhem just not stop?

__________________
'Think not of yourself as the architect of your career but as the sculptor. Expect to have to do a lot of hard hammering and chiselingand scraping and polishing. - BC Forbes'

I work in the ED. Nights are like days.

__________________
Mordechai Y. Scher
ER nurse, SVRMC, Santa Fe, NM USA
Flight Paramedic, MedFlight Air Ambulance, ABQ, NM USA

No matter where I have worked I have always been busy on nights, first I check the orders and MAR's to make sure they are reconciled, and nothing was missed. Second patient care is usally pretty busy on surgical units. Surgical prep and diagnostic prep can be a pain in boo boo. In more ways than one. If you get my drift. It's just plain busy.

what I do on night shift at a nursing home is when you first you get a report and check on your patients/residents. When you go and check and make sure that they are ok and clean, I go back up to the nurse station to do paperwork, eats, walk around the unit and joke around with the nurses that are working. You always have to keep eye on your hall for call lights. Also you have to check your patients/residents every two hours, or as much as you want to make sure that they are all ok.

That is pretty much I do while work night shift at a nursing home