Back to nights!

[audreysmagic, RN]

It's funny how I spent so long earlier in my career trying to get off nights, and I'm now excited to be going back on. (It does help that I live 15 minutes from work now as opposed to an hour an a half.) It's busy, yes, but a different kind of busy. It's really for my school schedule, but there's a lot of other factors making it a positive move. Plus, I miss visiting hours - and in peds/adolescent psych, we have to treat parents as much as we do the kiddos. (Honestly, there are some I REALLY feel need to go across the street to our adult building to be assessed as well...)

I don't have an issue staying up all night, as I've learned the perfect caffeine to activity ratio for me, and I'm not against bringing back the 3 am dance party... (To keep ourselves perky, a co-worker and myself used to just randomly dance at 3 am. It was fun, actually...) My one issue is (hopefully) temporary, but I thought I'd get some input from other night-shifters, since I start next Sunday on nights.

I live in the city, so the house next door is REALLY close. And facing my bedroom window. And it's under construction. They're ridiculously loud, not just with the work, but shouting to each other, the usual. I ain't mad; they've got a job to do. But it wakes me up without fail on my days off now...so I can see that sleeping through it is gonna be an issue. I considered putting up blackout curtains in the living room and sleeping on the futon, but then a house across the street also started construction (and, also, can't shut the cats out of the living room like I can the bedroom ). Earplugs seem an obvious solution, if I can find comfortable ones, but I'm paranoid about sleeping through my alarm, especially on those back-to-back 12 hour shifts... So, recommendations? Any earplugs you're into that don't block out your alarm? Or any alarms that earplugs don't stand a chance against? :)

I'm honestly not above investing in an alarm for the deaf if it means I'll sleep properly (barring the other, usual night-shift sleep disruptions)...

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

While I shudder at the thought of returning to nights....

I did at one point have an alarm clock that had a vibrating attachment that you put in the bed with you. I don't remember the name of the clock, but it could be something to google.

[audreysmagic, RN]

I did at one point have an alarm clock that had a vibrating attachment that you put in the bed with you. I don't remember the name of the clock, but it could be something to google.

I'll have to look into that...checking out my options. The new blackout curtains for the bedroom are already on the way...if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right this time. ;-D Especially since I'm SO not into the feel of sleep masks or pulling blankets over my head to block out light.