What Is It Like Working the Night Shift as a Unit Secretary?

New unit secretaries want to know what it is like working the night shift. It's different from working the day shift. Night shift has its own flow and style, and I'll tell you what you might experience if you choose to work this shift.

• The staff has a different vibe. They are wide-eyed, smelling good, and ready to work.
• The unit secretary may be required to run down to the cafeteria and get food from the grill for the patients who arrive on the unit from the emergency room (at the change of shift) when dietary is closed.
• The unit is usually much quieter once visiting hours are over. You will deal with patients, friends, families, and doctors, but not on the level of what the day shift deals with.
• When the computers go down, you will not panic because you will know how to keep the unit running. Most computer systems are updated in the middle of the night, so you will be much more familiar with sending lab requests and ordering tests from radiology using the downtime form better than the secretaries who work the day shift.
• Some night shift secretaries do not call in consults, which I will never understand. They will wait until the days shift secretary comes in and have them do it. Or they will call in all of the consults closer to the change of shift.

Do you work the night shift as a unit secretary? What have I left out? Put the answer in the comment section.

How to Be "Damn Near Perfect" as a Health Unit Coordinator (Video)

Do you want to be damn near perfect....like me? 

I recently had my evaluation done and was told that I was 'damn near perfect as a Health Unit Coordinator.'

I answered, “I know.”

I take my job seriously because we are all supposed to be there to care for our patients – who are also our neighbors.

That's my goal, and it should be yours also.

I Was Interviewed for Moneyish.com

I just did an interview for an article titled You've Peaked at Your Job. Now What?

In my last blog post, I wrote that I felt like I didn’t want to be a Health Unit Coordinator anymore, but I didn’t know why. And I had asked myself a bunch of questions, and even then, my answers still didn't give me a conclusive answer.

But now I know what the issue is.

I've peaked at my job. I'm so good and know so much that I need a new challenge.

Read the article and share your thoughts with me.

Should You Attend Health Unit Coordinator Meetings?

Over the last four weeks, you’ve been reading a quick summary of some of my tips from my new booklet Steps To Becoming a Health Unit Coordinator.

This is not just another book that lists suggestions. I actually put all of these tips into action – and I share that information with you!

Topics include:

1. Committees – should you get involved on committees to make the hospital a better place?
2. CPR – you work the desk – why do you need to know CPR? It's important.
3. Health Unit Coordinator Meetings – should you attend them?
4. Leaving the Company – when is it a good time to move?
5. Orienting New Secretaries - do you feel comfortable training new Health Unit Coordinators?

Order your copy today!