COLUMBUS – To honor the often-unrecognized contributions of nurses who face extra pressures from work on the night shift, WGU Ohio is delivering Night Shift Nurse Appreciation Kits this week to many Ohio hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout the state.

Each Night Shift Nurse Appreciation Kit contains a handwritten note of thanks from WGU Ohio faculty and staff along items such as snacks, sleep masks, flash lights, and pens.

“These healthcare professionals deserve our praise every day of the year, but Sunday, November 1 is special.  When Daylight Savings Time ends that morning and clocks are set back at 2 a.m., nurses on the night shift will have an extra hour added to their already stressful workload,” said K. L. Allen, state director of WGU Ohio. “Working at two o’clock in the morning to deliver critical care is hard enough.  Working that hour twice in one night is even harder.” 

Allen said WGU Ohio feels a special connection to these nurses and understands the extra pressures of night shift work. “Quite a number of the students in our nursing degree programs are also night shift nurses. They appreciate WGU’s flexible, online approach to higher education, which allows them to advance in their careers and study on their own schedules while also providing quality care to their patients,” he said.

WGU Ohio offers a wide range of accredited, online health programs to help nurses and other health professionals earn additional credentials so they can improve patient care while they advance their careers. 

WGU was established in 1997 by a partnership of state governors to offer students, particularly adult learners, the chance to go to college while working and caring for their families. In 2018, Ohio became the eighth state to partner with WGU, part of efforts by policymakers to close Ohio’s skills gap with a new pathway for adults to seek careers in such in-demand careers as healthcare and nursing, business, teaching, and information technology.