Calling in for no sleep

Nurses General Nursing

Updated:   Published

On Friday I was scheduled a 12 hour shift that went to 3:30am. The Monday after I am scheduled to work at 0700. I had one night to try and totally change my sleep schedule. That being said it's 3am and I haven't slept a wink. I need at least 5 hours of sleep to function and that obviously isn't going to happen. Is it acceptable to call in because you haven't slept?

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

OP: You do not have to give a reason for calling off. It's your sick time, and your business how you use it.

That said: there is a real inculturation in healthcare that we are somehow altruistic in showing up for work fatigued. We are not- we are actually putting our patients, ourselves and those who share the roads with us in danger.

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Specializes in Float Pool - A Little Bit of Everything.

Facilities could fix issues like this if they staffed adequately and did not have nurses working rotating shifts which leads to burnout, exhaustion, insomnia, etc. Until then, we will continue to beat one another up for being human. I haven't called out a single time or been late for work a single time in 2.5 years, because I know my companies won't have someone cover and someone else will have to work late or come in on a day off. After a while, working like this takes a toll on all of our mental and physical well being. Hopefully, one day the profession will be in a position to demand different work environments and privileges for us. Until then, we will all continue to kill ourselves for the betterment of others. Don't get me wrong, helping people is the reason I am a nurse. But I should not have to sacrifice my well being to do that. Advocacy is the key. Everyone needs a day off every now and then.

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Specializes in Ortho.

Yes. You don't need a reason to call off.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Nurse131382 said:
I didn't think I should get into my personal reasons for not being able to sleep. Plus I did say I was up sick due to something I ate. But thanks for the input.

I think the main issue/confusion stems from your claim that you only had 1 night to recoup sleep. When it seems that you really had an entire weekend. It doesn't seem to make sense.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
meanmaryjean said:
OP: You do not have to give a reason for calling off. It's your sick time, and your business how you use it.

That said: there is a real inculturation in healthcare that we are somehow altruistic in showing up for work fatigued. We are not- we are actually putting our patients, ourselves and those who share the roads with us in danger.

This is not an "inculturation" issue. It's a believability issue. From Saturday AM to Monday AM, many opportunities for sleep present themselves. Why were they not used? Why expect co-workers to take up the slack when you failed in Time Management 101?

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roser13 said:
I think the main issue/confusion stems from your claim that you only had 1 night to recoup sleep. When it seems that you really had an entire weekend. It doesn't seem to make sense.

I agree.

If you were sick with a GI illness on Sunday night going into Monday morning and you lost sleep then you were sick with a GI issue no biggie.

Can you clarify?

Insomnia is a real illness and some people suffer from it and it isn't because they are burning the candle at both ends or out partying until 3a or working extra jobs. I went to a presentation at a nursing conference that talked about fatigue in nursing due to odd schedules. They talked about driving home tired after a shift and that you can be as impaired as intoxicated driving.

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Nurse131382 said:
I didn't think I should get into my personal reasons for not being able to sleep. Plus I did say I was up sick due to something I ate. But thanks for the input.

At first, you did not say you were sick. Not saying you were sick threw us a curve.

No, you should not call in for lack of sleep if you can possibly help it. If you are sick, that's the reason for the call-in.

Rotating shifts is a terrible thing. You'd think it would have been resolved long ago.

Can you work out your schedule so you don't have to work differing shifts? Can you get straight shifts? even if it's every weekend for a while

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mrsboots87 said:
Another nurse did this at work and I was the "lucky" sole who got to stay over 4 hours.

Considering your screen name, that's a funny typo. :D

I would have been really peeved, too.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
roser13 said:
This is not an "inculturation" issue. It's a believability issue. From Saturday AM to Monday AM, many opportunities for sleep present themselves. Why were they not used? Why expect co-workers to take up the slack when you failed in Time Management 101?

My comments about the culture of fatigue in healthcare were an aside from the discussion at hand. I have researched, published and presented to national audiences on the very real dangers of a fatigued workforce. Time Management 101 is not helpful when employers do not respect a night shift worker's need for uninterrupted sleep.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
meanmaryjean said:
My comments about the culture of fatigue in healthcare were an aside from the discussion at hand. I have researched, published and presented to national audiences on the very real dangers of a fatigued workforce. Time Management 101 is not helpful when employers do not respect a night shift worker's need for uninterrupted sleep.

OP had ample time to sleep without interruption/regroup. This is not about a culture of fatigue. It is about failure to plan, on an individual level.

Reference to my "Time Management 101" post indicates that you continue to reference this situation, as opposed to "an aside" while mentioning your CV.

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Everyone's different, but yes it's OK.

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Sleep is very important. PLEASE get your sleep/

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