Bangalore · 12-hour night shift
A night nurse at home so the family can sleep.
An awake, qualified nurse through the night for the patient who needs medicines, turning, suction, oxygen or simply watching between 8pm and 8am. Booked by the 12-hour night shift for three to fourteen nights, with 48 hours’ notice.
Reviewed by Sister Mary George, B.Sc Nursing, Care DirectorLast updated September 2026
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In one paragraph
A night nurse is a GNM or B.Sc nurse who works a 12-hour night shift at the patient’s home, awake throughout, giving medicines due overnight, turning and repositioning, managing oxygen or suction, handling night-time confusion and calling the doctor if something changes. It is booked for three to fourteen nights with 48 hours’ notice and a two-shift minimum, and is the most common way families cover the first nights after surgery, an ICU stay or a decline in a parent’s condition.
What we cover
Care needs & conditions covered.
Conditions covered
- First nights home after surgery
- Post-ICU step-down with oxygen or a tracheostomy
- Dementia with night-time wandering or sundowning
- Bedridden patients who need two-hourly turning
- End-of-life care through the night
- Parkinson’s or stroke with night-time falls
- Chemotherapy nights with nausea and fluids
- Any patient whose family cannot stay awake another night
Care needs we support
- Medicines due overnight given at the prescribed time and recorded
- Two-hourly turning and pressure-area checks for anyone who cannot move themselves
- Oxygen, nebuliser or suction managed through the night with saturations recorded
- Toileting, incontinence care and bedding changes without waking the household
- Night-time confusion or agitation handled calmly, with lights, orientation and reassurance rather than restraint
- A written night report at 8am: sleep, medicines, intake and output, events, and anything the day team should know
Why nights are different
Most home emergencies happen between midnight and 6am.
Falls on the way to the bathroom, a missed 2am dose, a blocked catheter noticed at dawn, a breathless spell nobody heard. A sleeping attendant does not prevent these. A nurse who is awake, checking every hour and knows what the readings mean does.
- Hourly checks on breathing, comfort and position, recorded on the night sheet
- The 2am and 6am medicines given on time, which is the part families most often miss
- Catheter, drain and feeding-tube checks so a blockage is found at 1am, not at handover
- Falls prevented by anticipating the bathroom trip rather than reacting to the thud
- Breathlessness, chest pain or a sudden change in consciousness recognised and escalated
- A calm, oriented presence for a confused patient who wakes not knowing where they are
What a night shift looks like
Handover at 8pm, report at 8am.
The nurse arrives before the family goes to bed, reads the day’s notes, checks the medicines and equipment, and takes over. The night is structured around the patient’s needs, and the morning report is written before the nurse leaves.
- Verbal and written handover from the family or the day carer, including the doctor’s escalation instructions
- Evening medicines, positioning and settling routine
- Hourly rounds with vitals at the intervals the doctor set
- Turning, toileting and skin care through the night
- Early-morning medicines, a wash and breakfast preparation where that is part of the plan
- Written night report and a handover to whoever takes over at 8am
Night nurse or night attendant
Which one your patient needs depends on the tasks, not the hour.
A trained night attendant is right when the night is about toileting, turning and company. A night nurse is right when there is a clinical task: medicines by injection or tube, oxygen or suction, a wound or drain, a fresh post-operative patient or someone at the end of life. We place both; tell us the tasks and we will say which.
- Nurse: medicines by injection, feeding tube or infusion overnight
- Nurse: oxygen, tracheostomy suction, ventilator or BiPAP through the night
- Nurse: first nights after surgery, an ICU stay or a cardiac event
- Nurse: end-of-life comfort medicines and symptom control
- Attendant: turning, toileting, company and a call to the family if something changes
- Either: dementia night wandering, depending on medicines and other conditions
How it is booked
By the night, for as many nights as the recovery needs.
Two-shift minimum, then night by night. Extending is a message to the coordinator before 2pm that day.
A few nights
The first three to five nights after discharge, or a family caregiver who needs to sleep after weeks of broken nights.
A GNM or B.Sc nurse with ward night-shift experience, the same nurse each night where the roster allows.
Quote on enquiry
One to two weeks
Post-ICU step-down, a fresh tracheostomy, or the early weeks of a decline where nights are the hardest part.
Two nurses alternating so each has rest nights, both reading the same night sheet.
Quote on enquiry
Nights plus days
When the day also needs a nurse. Booked as 24-hour cover with two nurses handing over at 8am and 8pm.
See the short-term nurse page for how 24-hour cover is structured.
Quote on enquiry
Night shifts are quoted on enquiry, per shift, before the booking is confirmed. Night cover is quoted separately from day cover.
A single nurse is never booked for more than 12 hours. A nurse who has been awake all night is not safe to continue into the day.
Know the red flags
What the nurse will wake you for and what she will handle herself.
Families ask to be woken only for the things that matter. These are the things that matter.
- Breathing that becomes fast, noisy or laboured, or saturations below the doctor’s limit
- Chest pain, a new irregular pulse or blood pressure outside the stated range
- A fall, or a near-fall that suggests the plan for the bathroom is not working
- New or worsening confusion, or a patient who cannot be roused normally
- Bleeding from a wound, drain or catheter, or no urine for the period the doctor set
- A seizure, or in an end-of-life patient a change the family asked to be woken for
The nurse calls the doctor or an ambulance first where the escalation plan says so, then wakes the family. Everything else goes in the 8am report.
Honest expectations
What the night nurse does, and doesn’t.
Clear scope from day one keeps the placement happy on both sides. Here’s exactly what to expect.
Included in care
- Stay awake and check hourly throughout the shift
- Give overnight medicines by the prescribed route and record them
- Turn, toilet and reposition; manage oxygen, suction and tubes
- Recognise and escalate a deterioration by the doctor’s plan
- Write the night report and hand over in person
Not included (we arrange specialists instead)
- Sleep on shift, or work more than 12 hours
- Change doses or give a medicine that is not prescribed
- Restrain a confused patient
- Leave before the handover is done
Simple to start
How to book care at home.
- Step 1
Tell us what you need
Call +91-7619629005 or send the form, share the condition, daily routine and your locality.
- Step 2
Get matched within hours
We shortlist verified caregivers suited to the condition, language and shift you need.
- Step 3
Care starts at home
The caregiver is briefed and begins, with quick replacement support if the fit isn’t right.
Frequently asked
Night nursing, answered.
Someone awake at 3am.
A nurse, this time.
Tell us the patient’s condition and the nights you need. We confirm a nurse within 48 hours and extend night by night for as long as the recovery needs.