sleeping staff

MandyInMS · Apr 6, 2003

If anyone sleeps @ our facility they get fired...it just seems so simple to me:if you can't stay awake at night/work days...the end..lol

fergus51 · Apr 6, 2003

Trauma, unprofessional is not insisting on taking what you are entitled to. We are entitled to take breaks and if my coworkers want to use theirs to nap I could care less. We all rotate days and nights and I have never heard anyone complain about what a nurse wants to do with her breaktime. Patients are not put in jeaopardy because we take breaks when the time is appropriate. I worry about the patients whose nurses never take breaks and are too exhausted to think straight and would not work in a facility where this was the routine.

frannybee · Apr 6, 2003

It's easy to say don't work nights if you can't go a full shift without sleep, but some of us work rotating shifts and don't have the luxury of being able to refuse nights. The staff that do our rotas think nothing of putting you on for PM/AM/PM then 4 nights, with no regard for the health and safety of us or our patients. We are never given enough time to prepare properly for the night shift routine, nor to come back to days. Yes, we have challenged this practice; no, it didn't make a lick of difference.

We get unpaid breaks on a ten-hour night shift, and generally we get those breaks. We take them as one longer break, and the choice to sleep on your break, in your own time, is yours. The ward is always covered by at least two other staff (one RN, one AN) when breaks start, and the proviso for going on break is being aware that you may be called back if needed. This is different from day shift where we can leave the ward and be uncontactable for our whole break.

Sleeping when not on breaks is unacceptable. I think of how many times I've not heard a buzzer go off when I'm wide awake on a day shift, and it scares me how easy it would be to miss one even if you are a light sleeper with exceptionally sensitive hearing. I don't condone it and I wouldn't expect to be let off lightly if it was me.

ChainedChaosRN · Apr 6, 2003

If you are on your break, punched out, off the unit...sleep away. I could care less. If you are on company time be awake or be fired. If you are not on the clock...what could anyone possibly say unless you over sleep.

I love the post about "teamwork" covering for each other during sleeping....ummm..sounds more like "teamsleep" to me. Just a regular old slumber party.

Good_Queen_Bess · Apr 6, 2003

If we do a "long day" at work 7am - 8.30pm, we have a concessionary 15 min break in the am and 15 min in the pm. We also have an hours UNPAID lunch. In this time we can go OFF the ward and go wherever (as we can with 15min concessionary). As we are not being paid for this hours work at lunch time, we can do what we want. What is the difference between this and sleeping for your break during the night? I am UNPAID for that break too. In fact, because we sleep on the ward (in the office), we are in fact closer to ward, and the rest of the staff can come and get us as they know where we are. Not so if you go off the ward for your lunch during the day. As long as patient safety isn't compromised and the ward is still adequatley staffed, WHAT'S THE BEEF??????? I am entitled to my break by EU law! Research shows that people who take a sleep break and are more refreshed for it, work better. If you don't want to sleep, don't. Just don't get on your high moral horse at others who like to sleep. Some people have to work nights as they rotate. I can't sleep during the day very well and value that extra hour in the night. Yer, I admit it, I AM HUMAN!

Stargazer · Apr 6, 2003

~sigh~

Apparently this needs to be stated yet again. I don't care what you do on an official break, whether that is a 15-minute break, a lunch break, or all your breaks for the shift combined into one, as long as this is accepted practice in your unit and institution. Breaks are breaks because (1) your patients are covered by other staff nurses during that time (2) unpaid, and (3) usually mandated by contract. I don't care if you eat, smoke, go the bathroom, go jogging, run to the bank, wash your hair, or crochet a doily during your break, as long as you return to the unit promptly when the break is over.

I believe what people have an issue with here is people who sleep on the job, i.e., NOT during a break, but during their scheduled shifts.

Good_Queen_Bess · Apr 6, 2003

I agree that people falling asleep when NOT on their break is wrong, but a lot of people on here seem to think they can tell others what they can and can't do when ON their break.

night owl · Apr 6, 2003

Isn't anyone reading my posts? First of all, it's not happening just on a break, they sleep for 2-3 hours straight...all of them wrapped up in blankets and NO ONE is alert! Second of all, I've tried to do something about it. I have written them up to the NM, nothing was done. I've brought it to the attention of the supervisor. She saw it herself and nothing was done. Now I'm getting ready to go over some heads to the DON to see what he can do. If nothing, then the Director of Administration. I'm hoping that the DON will look into it at least. After that, what else can I do? I didn't want it to go this far, but since no one seems to care, I will take it as far as I have to to get some action. I'm actually thinking they just don't want to deal with it. When the entire staff sleeps, no one is alert to the fact that the residents are being neglected. We have plenty of people who would love to work nights to fill their shoes even if they're just suspended. I wish JACHO would make a suprise visit one night...maybe that's what it'll take or at least tell the DON either do something about it or he'll leave me with no alternative but to report it to JACHO and then management, administration and the sleeping staff will have to face the consequences...Maybe their tune will change then. I'm fighting for what is right ... the resident's safety...it's what I believe in.

ShelleyERgirl, LPN · Apr 7, 2003

Originally posted by eltrip
Not sleeping on the job is usually in the employee handbook. Wherever I've worked, it's one of the grounds for immediate dismissal, for any position.

:eek:

I'd say it's pretty d@#n bad it had to even be in the handbook. Give me a break! :rolleyes:

Trauma Columnist · Apr 7, 2003

Night owl - thanks for clarifying this. And, for Good Queen Bess - well in England if that's the way its run, okay. But, in the US - in busy ERs - when do you find time to sleep??? I work 12 hour nights - I do make sure everyone gets an upaid 30 minute lunch (which is our hospital policy), and I sincerely try to ensure that people get their 15 minute break. However, I can't predict when 5 truama pts will come rolling through the door (we're a level one) or a pediatric full arrest. I don't want to have to wake someone up to give us a hand.

I agree with Navy Nurse - be a professional. If you work somewhere where you are required to rotate shifts, talk to management - offer to do the schedule to make it more humane, get computerized scheduling (thats way cool) or come up with some alternative and pitch it to management. Thats how professionals deal with issues.

rdhdnrs · Apr 7, 2003

There is always something to do, even in downtime. I work a busy L&D and when we're not busy, we stock, clean, work on evaluations, etc. I don't think there's ever any excuse for sleeping on the clock.

ANnot4me · Apr 7, 2003

I'm not understanding the use of the word professional here. I believe it is being used improperly.