How would a pole shift affect us

i think it might confuse orientation for birds, fish and insects...and they might die (as if we all went blind at the same time and couldn't find our way home) ...or maybe it won't confuse them at all...but it could be catastrophic.

what else?

pole shift can also affect time and earth's orientation from day to night

Both the rotational axis and magnetic poles are continuously shifting. The geographic poles shift due to precession, discovered by Hipparchus around 160 BC, and to Chandler wobble, discovered by (gasp!) Chandler about a century ago. Neither is going to cause any disruptions, upset, or loss of life to any bird, fish, insect or human, as these have been happening for eons and life has long since learned to live with them.
As for the magnetic poles, the Chinese discovered these wander not long after they discovered magnetism. Their movement, in fact, is faster than precession or wobble, but birds, fish, etc seem to make allowances.

A shift in the magnetic polarity of Earth's global magnetic field is not going to effect humans very much except for the effect on compasses. Birds, fish and insects will not die. They will adapt, Magnetism is NOT the only or even the major reason that animals migrate. The position and angle of the the Sun and sunlight falling on the surface is the major signal that photo-sensitive animals that effects hormone cycles and migration timing. Earth has gone through MANY magnetic polarity shifts, which are very gradual, and the animals have always adapted. There is no correlation AT ALL with extinction events and magnetic polarity reversals

"...Are the change in the magnetic frequencies causing at times a confusion in migratory animals? Causing cells to mutate, changing the DNA pattern within the cell? Causing certain strains of bacteria such as staph infections to become resistant to our antibiotics and causing new viruses to appear that we have never seen before, being able to survive in a new magnetic frequency?