My preceptor works nights

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Apr 28, 2015

I did two internships over the summers and they were both at nights and I loved it. You don't have the nursing students during the day, you have less nurses, you have a ton to do and the opportunity to get in and do as much as you can to help out.

I worked with 2 very amazing nurses who were also instrumental to me getting a job with the hospital before I graduated.

Melusine · Apr 28, 2015

I'm presently doing my senior Capstone at a large urban hospital in Med-Surg on 12 hour nights. I was initially worried about making the adjustment, since I'm not really a night owl, but it's been a really great experience.

Although it is still busy (fewer nurses and techs with bigger patient loads) there is usually sufficient downtime from about 2-4 where I can sit with my preceptor and she reviews my charting and goes over our plan/goals. For me it has been very helpful, since I have still gotten a ton of opportunities to administer meds, attempt IV starts and blood draws, and assess my patients-- the big difference is that there is much less hustle and bustle involving patients going to procedures, meeting with physicians, social workers, PTs, and so forth. We see the odd doctor and a respiratory therapist and that's about it.

The flip side of this is that sometimes getting a hold of the right medical service or provider can be challenging. If someone starts to go downhill late at night, their doctor is not just going to be charting or doing rounds down the hall. From a student standpoint, however, this has been a good opportunity to develop and observe concise, effective communication techniques. Also, elderly patients with dementia can have a big change in their level of orientation at night, and this has certainly been a challenge. Someone who may be following commands and conversing coherently at 1900 may not be capable of this when it's time for their 0200 IV antibiotic

My sleep patterns are definitely a bit odd now...What seems to work best for me is sleeping normally the night before the date of my first night shift (usually have 3 in a row), getting up early, then trying to nap for 2-4 hours right before the shift. Then the next morning if I have another shift that night, I try to sleep 9ish to 4ish. Despite blackout material on my windows, this is sometimes a challenge. If I have a day "off" I get home and sleep until 12 or so, stay up the rest of the day, and then sleep that night. At first I thought I would try to preserve a nocturnal schedule, but that didn't work for me- the urge to sleep at night was just too strong when I wasn't at the hospital.

Good luck! I hope you like it as much as I have.

pixiestudent2 · Apr 28, 2015

I'm presently doing my senior Capstone at a large urban hospital in Med-Surg on 12 hour nights. I was initially worried about making the adjustment, since I'm not really a night owl, but it's been a really great experience.
Although it is still busy (fewer nurses and techs with bigger patient loads) there is usually sufficient downtime from about 2-4 where I can sit with my preceptor and she reviews my charting and goes over our plan/goals. For me it has been very helpful, since I have still gotten a ton of opportunities to administer meds, attempt IV starts and blood draws, and assess my patients-- the big difference is that there is much less hustle and bustle involving patients going to procedures, meeting with physicians, social workers, PTs, and so forth. We see the odd doctor and a respiratory therapist and that's about it.
The flip side of this is that sometimes getting a hold of the right medical service or provider can be challenging. If someone starts to go downhill late at night, their doctor is not just going to be charting or doing rounds down the hall. From a student standpoint, however, this has been a good opportunity to develop and observe concise, effective communication techniques. Also, elderly patients with dementia can have a big change in their level of orientation at night, and this has certainly been a challenge. Someone who may be following commands and conversing coherently at 1900 may not be capable of this when it's time for their 0200 IV antibiotic
My sleep patterns are definitely a bit odd now...What seems to work best for me is sleeping normally the night before the date of my first night shift (usually have 3 in a row), getting up early, then trying to nap for 2-4 hours right before the shift. Then the next morning if I have another shift that night, I try to sleep 9ish to 4ish. Despite blackout material on my windows, this is sometimes a challenge. If I have a day "off" I get home and sleep until 12 or so, stay up the rest of the day, and then sleep that night. At first I thought I would try to preserve a nocturnal schedule, but that didn't work for me- the urge to sleep at night was just too strong when I wasn't at the hospital.
Good luck! I hope you like it as much as I have.

I hope I do too!

I think I'll try your sleep schedule, because I still have class 1-2 days per week during daylight hours.

pittnurse24, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2015

For my last semester doing my transitions rotation, my preceptor worked night shifts only and I thought wow this is gonna be rough. I'm not a nap person, once I'm up even if I woke up at 4am, I'm up and don't take naps throughout the day. I thought night shift was going to suck because I just can't fall asleep during the day. Well it wasn't the worst thing I've ever done but it did suck. Like you I had classes twice a week and I also worked as a PCT on day shift so half my week was days and half was nights. It was hard to prepare for nights because sometimes I worked nights after waking up at 8am for classes, so by the time I was done with my shift the next day, I had been up for 24hrs. I always got really sleepy around 3am which wasn't that bad because that was generally the slowest time on the shift but I'd sip on my energy drink to give me some form of energy! On days I didn't have class before clinical, I just tried to sleep in as long as I could, which usually wouldn't be longer than 11:30am. I liked working nights because I felt like there was more time to get stuff done and there wasn't any chaos surrounding you like day shift!