Night Duty: Apparently we LOVE it!

When I was studying to be a nurse, I knew that I would have to work night shifts at some point in my career.

At some point this became a reality, and up until recently I’ve kind of been grinning and bearing it, all the while saying to myself “well, I knew what I was signing up for…!”

When I really think about it though, I’m not too sure I really did know what effects working night duty for years and years has on your social life, your mental state, your physical well being, your emotional state, and a whole host of other factors like family dynamics, eating habits, relationships and sanity!

When it all comes down to it, what we are really doing is pushing our bodies beyond what they should be having to withstand. Even if you do a run of nights and ‘get in the swing of things’ so to speak, not only do you have to adjust to new sleep/wake cycles at the start and end of the run of nights, but you never really get into that same eat / sleep / exercise lifestyle that NORMAL people do.

There is absolutely nothing natural about working on through the night, pushing your body to the point where you either laugh or cry hysterically, dragging your heels on the ground in zombie-like fashion at 4am while trying to educate parents on croup.

Night Duty is Satisfying (!?)

Interestingly enough, despite evidence suggesting that sleep deprivation from night duty can affect your physical health, emotional well-being, mental abilities, productivity and performance, as well as other psychological and physiological effects, it seems that New South Wales Health has other ideas.

In an article titled “Frantic ED Night Shift Satisfying”, NSW health has decided they don’t want to increase penalty rates for night duty because it would be too expensive, and change is unnecessary because everything is already fine. I don’t think these comments are coming from people who actually work night shifts!

Let me just add that in NSW, the current night penalty rate of 15% has not risen for 34 years!

From the NSW Nurses Association article on the ongoing debate:

“One of the Department’s key witnesses, an Area Health Service Director of Nursing and Midwifery, has made a submission stating that night shifts in Emergency Departments are satisfying because nurses have a heavy workload, while night shifts in medical wards are ‘likely to involve little more than doing basic observations on a regular basis’.
 
The argument is that ED nurses are ‘satisfied’ because their work is hard, and that, because their work is ‘light’, other nurses only complain about working night shifts because of a lack of job satisfaction.
 
The witness believes night shifts are so easy that nurses often choose to work nights because it allows ‘those who are studying to attend lectures during the day and to do some study during quiet periods’.

Ok, let me just stop you right there for a second:
“The witness believes night shifts are so easy that nurses often choose to work nights..” Errrr…. WHAT THE?!?!

“The NSWNA has presented medical evidence showing it can be hard to maintain a healthy diet when working night shifts. However, the Department’s witness said: ‘In my opinion, there is nothing inherent about working night shift that is more likely to lead to nurses eating lollies or other unhealthy food during the shift.’
 
In his submission on behalf of the NSWNA, Dr Ron Grunstein, who is a global expert in sleep medicine, said working nights radically displaces the body’s natural circadian rhythm, thus disrupting natural eating patterns. Because many nurses care for their families during the day, it can be hard to find time to prepare meals before going to work.
 
Eating disruptions was a minor detail of Dr Grunstein’s medical evidence in relation to the disruption to circadian rhythms, which also increases the risk of developing breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, gastro-intestinal disorders and reproductive health problems. However, the Department has not responded to any of this evidence.
 
Instead, the Department and its witnesses have focused on relatively minor issues, such as arguing there is no evidence that increasing night shift penalty rates would help retain older nursing staff, and that working four night shifts in a roster is less detrimental than working seven.”

Argh….. I just don’t even know what to say…