Can't stop dreaming about work...when will it end??

CodeteamB · Mar 25, 2013

Ahhh, the new nurse stress dream! I had those for a long time. Mine was always that I had 7 patients, And they were in a grocery store, like one in the bakery, one in the produce aisle etc. It was always 2 hours into my shift and I hadn't actually assessed anyone, or done anything, I was just wandering around the Safeway while my coworkers asked me whether I had finished such and such a task. It's stressful alright, but I stopped having them after about 6 months

eatmysoxRN, ASN, RN · Mar 25, 2013

I had those nightmares for several months. I still dream about being at work sometimes. Now it's usually having dragons as patients and my coworkers are unicorns and leprechauns (I have incredibly weird and vivid dreams). Anyhow.. I always hated dreaming about being at work especially when it was during my working days in a row. Sometimes the only break from work I'd get was my drive home (which was usually spent in worry of what I forgot to do).

~ No One Can Make You Feel Inferior Without Your Consent -Eleanor Roosevelt ~

julz68 · Mar 25, 2013

Well that's comforting to hear I'm not alone in the "weird" dream category! Back in school during my OB rotation, I had a dream that a lady was in labor and instead of a human baby, she gave birth to 3 kittens! She said she couldn't figure out why she had kittens since her partner was a Tyrannosaurus Rex! Haha!

ktwlpn, LPN · Mar 27, 2013

I've been a nurse since 1989 and I still sometimes wake up exhausted from "working" all night! Often I am pushing a medcart down a nearby country road or major highway looking for a group of patients that I was supposed to admin meds to hours earlier and can't find.Or I am running through the halls of the local hospital pushing an empty stretcher and I'm desperate to find a patient that MUST be transported to a study STAT and ALL of the rooms are empty,it's night time and no one is around. Or I am unable to code myself out of the secure LTC faciility and I realize I am naked but for a hospital gown and I have a security bracelet on my ankle. Sometimes (after a spicy dinner) I dream the walking dead are attacking the facility. That's a really,really scary one.

FlorenceNtheMachine · Mar 27, 2013

I had those stress dreams too! Mostly vague dreams of feelings of chaos and impeding doom, and not being able to think in a dangerous situation. I have gotten into British TV dramas and now I dream about them!

jmll1765, ASN, RN · Mar 27, 2013

I've been in nursing for 4 years now and I still occasionally dream about work. Usually it involves getting to the end of my shift and not having done a single thing...no meds, assessments...nothing! Talk about panic! I woke up from a dead sleep one time because my phone was ringing and I looked at the clock, it said 10:00 and I just knew it was work calling to ask why I late for my shift. It was 10am, not 10pm! I work 7p-7a :laugh: I finally quit hearing call bells in my sleep after about 6 months.

girlmeetsworld · Mar 28, 2013

I dream about work all the time. Im glad to know Im not the only crazy one. It went away after about five months, but our unit has been so hectic and stressful lately the nightmares are back. The other night I actually got out of bed when I thought I heard a vent alarm.

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · Mar 28, 2013

I've been a nurse for six and a half years and I still have work dreams. Last night, for example, I dreamed that I was back in nursing school, on my peds rotation and my teenage patient withdrew care and died. Then for some reason I did have to go to work, so maybe I wasn't in school?

Last week I dreamed that a patient on my floor gave birth to quadruplets and one had an exposed brain but all four were already bottle trained. (I work adult medicine - don't know nothing 'bout birthin' no babies!) My charge nurse told me "oh well, they're our patients now."

I don't have the stressed out, heart-pounding ones anymore though - like the "it's the end of the shift and I realized I haven't seen one of my patients yet" dream. Although I still dream that I get terrible assignments. But that should be no shock considering the assignments I get most of the time, haha.

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · Mar 28, 2013

She said she couldn't figure out why she had kittens since her partner was a Tyrannosaurus Rex! Haha!

The oldest excuse in the book. Clearly she was cheating on Mr. T Rex!

julz68 · Mar 28, 2013

The oldest excuse in the book. Clearly she was cheating on Mr. T Rex!

Ah hahaha! Funny!

I love reading about everyone else's dreams!! Makes me feel more normal. :)

tugirl12 · Mar 28, 2013

I feel normal now! I've only been a nurse for about 8 months. One night I woke up and screamed "I forgot to chart that morphine!!!!" I can't tell you if I really did or didn't but when I woke up my heart felt like it was going to come out my chest!

I also had a dream that I had what I thought was a good day, then at the end of my shift I found out I had an extra patient that I had not seen all day!!!! Talk about a panic attack!!!

My boyfriend told me the other day I was talking in my sleep! He said I woke him up started saying stuff he had never heard so he said "what in the world are you talking about?" and all I said was "My patients!"

Oh the joys of the first year of nursing!!!