Need help from night shift nurses

kwagner_51 · Jan 27, 2006

If you don't work saturday, take a nap about 3pm. Sleep as long as you can. When you get up, stay up all night Saturday night. STAY BUSY!! Clean, do laundry, mop the floors, etc. Try to stay up until 1 pm Sunday. Then sleep until 9-930 Sunday night.

When we sleep "normal" hours, we get about 8 hrs sleep and stay up 16 hrs. When the time is reversed, we still sleep 8 hrs and are awake and funtioning for 16 hrs.

So if you get up at 9pm Sunday and don't go to bed until 1 pm Monday. That is 16 hrs. The part that weirds us out is the fact that it is spead over two days and not all in one day.

If you think you will have problems taking a nap on Saturday, go to Walmart and by some Tension Tamer tea. Make yourself a cup of tea about an hour before you want to sleep. [i let the teabag steep for 5 minutes and use sweetner.] If you have kids, you can have a 'tea party' with them.

I think what your NM did was wrong and if I were you, I would start looking for a different unit to work on if you have that option.

Good luck and keep us posted!!

_______________________________

In His Grace,

Karen

Failure is NOT an option!!

jillyk*rn · Jan 27, 2006

Hi,

I feel for you:icon_hug: . Is it possible to reschedule the class?? People who don't work nightshift (like your NM) have no clue how hard it is:banghead: . I have been an RN for 15 years, and done a majority of nightshifts (to accomodate school for my boys), and one of the biggest things that peeve us night shift is how classes and meetings are scheduled. If you can get enough hours of sleep you can make it through your class.

Good Luck

christvs, DNP, RN, NP · Jan 27, 2006

Thanks for responding guys. :) The thing is I have to work Saturday 3-11 PM, so I'm thinking I'll just go to sleep when I get home Sat night and then try to take a long nap before I go into work Sunday night. Not sure what else I can really do at this point. The tele class is 2 days long. I already did day one last Monday, so this coming Monday AM will be day 2. If I wait until the next available class I will have to wait two more months, and that is not what I want to do cuz I don't feel comfortable putting it off anymore. I like my job, patient assignments, and all the other nurses and aides I work with. It's just the NM that none of us likes. I just had lunch today with some nurses I work with and they were all saying how they don't like her much either. I just hope I stay awake during the night shift and then during class. I want to get it over with already cuz I'm sitting here freaking out.

Indy, LPN, LVN · Jan 29, 2006

I would stay up later than you normally do tonight, like till two-ish or so. Then sleep. If you can't sleep as late as you'd like tomorrow, that's ok but take a nap starting around 3ish, so you'll feel like you had "recent" sleep. Coffee at two am will be a must sunday morning. You'll also need some coffee just before your shift ends, and a snack to make it through the class. Then you can go home and crash. Please tell me you don't have to work 3-11 monday! If you do I'd consider calling out sick.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jan 29, 2006

Christine, I'm sorry I didn't see your post until now. Call and talk to the off shift supervisors and see if there is a PRN nurse that they know of who will be willing to work your Sunday night shift for you. The off shift supervisors usually know their prn nurses pretty well and who is likely to take on a shift for someone. The other resource is part timers. Sometimes a unit manager doesn't think about going to the supervisors or a staffing office, if your hospital has one, to hunt up a prn or part time nurse. There may be problems with this also because it is considered a weekend shift. Then, again, when I was a hospital supervisor there were prn nurses who liked to work Sunday nights and sometimes there were prn nurses who had been cancelled earlier in the week who need the work hours. Your unit manager wouldn't know that.

That aside, I would recommend that you get as much sleep as close to the time you will be going in to work on Sunday night as you can. So, I would try to stay up as long as I could the night before and as much of this Sunday morning as I could.

On Monday morning, take something with you to munch on and to drink during the class. Things will be OK until you are sitting still for awhile. If the presentation gets a little boring you will get sleepy and the worse that will happen is that you will nod off. If you can sit next to a person you know, tell them your situation and ask them to give you a poke if you look like you're falling asleep. Sip and chew stuff to help keep your mind off being tired. Try to keep as busy as you can--talk to the person sitting next to you, shuffle papers around, whatever might work. It always helped me a bit to think of being an astronaut in outer space. . .they have no gage other than digital clocks to know whether it is day or night. Be an astronaut and attempt to convince your mind that time of day doesn't make any difference.

I've had my share of the kind of schedule you are facing tomorrow over the years. My one last ditch measure to get through them is to challenge myself to do it. I'd have a self-conversation with myself and dare myself to see if I can get through this. I imagine what a good story it is going to make to tell people about how I survived this ordeal.

That, or call off work and hope you don't get penalized too badly.

NYERNURSE · Jan 29, 2006

Some states are seriously considering laws against driving while sleep deprived. Lack of sleep is a major contributor to MVA's.

It's too dangerous. I'd discuss the scheduling screw up with your manager.

Another point....how the heck are you supposed to learn while half asleep? Maybe that doesn't matter as long as the task gets checked off and out of your managers' hair. :cool:

christvs, DNP, RN, NP · Feb 6, 2006

Hey thanks for your responses everyone. :) I just wanted to let you know that I was all dressed Sunday night and ready to go into work (but still not happy about it) when at 9 PM my phone rang. It was my charge nurse (who I love!!) and she knew about my class the next morning cuz I kept complaining to her so much about it and my manager. She called the superviser and explained the situation and the superviser said "oh she can't work and then go to class! I have a per diem nurse to work for her." !!!!! :) I was so happy!

-Christine

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Feb 6, 2006

I'm glad your charge nurse was understanding and you didn't have to work! I hated going to mandatory meetings or training after a night shift. I usually stayed awake alright, but the drive home is dangerous. I don't like driving sleep deprived. :nono:

loriannlpn · Feb 6, 2006

You can tell nursing staff are replying to this thread, giving all of the "tips" to getting used to new shift.

LOL, good luck, take some extra vits to keep your self healthy..

Lori

Gompers, BSN, RN · Feb 7, 2006

Hey thanks for your responses everyone. :) I just wanted to let you know that I was all dressed Sunday night and ready to go into work (but still not happy about it) when at 9 PM my phone rang. It was my charge nurse (who I love!!) and she knew about my class the next morning cuz I kept complaining to her so much about it and my manager. She called the superviser and explained the situation and the superviser said "oh she can't work and then go to class! I have a per diem nurse to work for her." !!!!! :) I was so happy!
-Christine

That's great! I swear, you can put up with anything if you really like the people you work with day to day (or night to night, as the case may be).

Next time you need to switch shifts with somebody, make sure that it's during the same week (Sun-Sat) and for the same number of hours - then it won't be overtime for anyone, just switching regular hours around. Was someone offering to work for you without switching, just taking your hours plus theirs? That may have been the problem. Rules rules rules! :uhoh3:

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Feb 7, 2006

Ha! I knew there might be another way to approach this! Everyone remember for the future that the off shift supervisors usually know who they might be able to get in to work when the situation calls for an extra nurse! That was one of the positive things about being a supervisor--learning to see the BIG picture of what is going on in the facility and having some resources available. Don't PO your supervisors. Be friendly with the PRNs and Float nurses. They really can be a good friend when you need one and a real good resource when you need to take a day off. I am so glad you got the night off. And it got accomplished without anyone having to call off. :yeahthat: