Night shift help

[bargraphix]

I just started a 11p-7a shift in a LTC facility and I am having a hard time adjusting. I am always tired and can't seem to get into a routine. I have only been working for about a week but I don't know how I can go on. I said when I started I will do this for a year and then look for a new job in a hospital, but I don't know if I will last a year. I can use any suggestions you may have for surviving the night shift.

[anon456, BSN, RN]

Oh yeah flip flopping has shown even more ill health effects than straight night shift.

However, I don't like your implication that it's selfish or unsafe to flip a schedule between the two. I get about 8-9 hours total of sleep on the days before I work and I sleep a full night before caring for my kids or driving them around. I don't work full time though. One of the advantages of working weekend nights, opposite my husband's schedule is saving on daycare and spending time with my kids during the week.

I think if a person can make it work with their own system, that's great. I see too many nurses try to do it all, and they come into work so tired they are not functional and telling stories of how they always fall asleep at stop lights on the way home. Everyone has different ways to make it work.

[pinkiepieRN]

I could have sworn I already commented on this! I work 11-7, M-F. T-F, I sleep from 8/9am-3:30pm. Saturdays I sleep from 8/9am to as late as 5pm, but then I'm back in bed by 12mn. Sunday it's up at 8am and down at 12mn. Monday it's up at 8am, nap some time for a couple hours during the day, in to work at 11pm and then I start the night sleep cycle on Tuesday mornings. It can be hard, but flip flopping is the only way I have a social life/see my husband/run errands on Sundays and Mondays. YMMV and this doesn't work for everyone. I use a sleep mask, an oscillating fan, and benadryl and melatonin in small doses (doctor approved because I have insomnia). Sometimes I shift sleep back a bit, depending on anything I have scheduled directly after work, but 10am is my latest bedtime and sometimes I wake up earlier and need a nap before work, like if I get up at 2pm.