New To Night Shift

[PennyNickelDime_RN]

Hi everyone!

I just recently switched from working 40 hour straight PM shifts for the past six months. I am now working WE program, Sat/Sun 7:00-7:30am and am suffering terribly. One of the problems is that I am unable to take a nap before working Sat. By the time 4am rolls around I literally feel sick to my stomach. I get home around 8am go straight to sleep and wake up generally around 3pm only to be back at work Sun at 7pm. I realize that it takes time to adjust but my question is since I am only doing two nights/week and picking up one PM shift middle of the week will I ever really adjust to the new schedule or will it feel like this forever?

I am an "older" first time nurse, never was able to say up past 10pm for the past 25 years and even PM's was stretching it at first. I switched to NOC weekend program for two reasons, one so that I would actually get to see and spend some time with my husband and secondly, 40 hours working sometimes 4-5 days in a row was beating me down. In addition I did have to work every other weekend for the most part. There seemed to be absolutely no time to get anything done with that schedule. I'm just concerned with feeling so sick towards the end of my 12 hr. shift.

I guess I just wanted some feedback as to if it gets better even though it is not daily NOC's. If I knew it would improve, I think I wouldn't feel so stressed and anxious about it right now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[daniedi77]

If there is a point where you have nothing to do, exercise, just small stuff cuz if you sit still long enough you will get comfortable and SLEEPY. Listen to music, read, clean up. When I get sleepy I start to stock or bleach down everything.

[kcochrane]

Another question about NOC's. Are you bored d/t patients sleeping and nothing to do? It is driving me insane.

It really depends on the unit and the night. My unit is busy because we are a long term respiratory unit. I'm busy from the time I come in until about 1:30ish. That includes the first med pass, counting narcs, writing up assignments, doing the census and calibrating the BG machines. We have pretty good down time between 2 and 4:30. I study for school so it keeps me occupied. If I'm not busy at school, I will read a book. About once a week we have nights where we don't have much down time due to sick residents or needy residents. I know some of the other units in my facility are very boring, so we are probably unique.

The biggest reason I like nights is that I can spend more time with my residents when they need it. I don't feel rushed and I can do extra things.

[Scraggles]

I worked and:redpinkhe LOVED the 7p-7a shift, for 10 yrs, 3 shifts one wk and 4 shifts the next, in a Cardiology Step down unit ratio 3-6 pts/ nurse, at Duke Med Ctr. We had so much more autonomy and garnered more respect by the Docs than the day shifters. I guess I was one of those night nurses that belonged to that quirkey group of people that thrived on that type of constant sleep deprivation.We were a tight knit team work, hard working group of ladies. I don't recall any transistion issues I had however that was 10 yrs ago. Now working in Specialty Rx sales for 5 yrs and enjoy it very much. I'm too old to ever think of working hospital based shift hours again but admire those that can and do into their 40's. :oI could understand if you are older there would be more challenging issues with night shift hours. Good luck with the transistion.

[angelfaceLPN]

I tried a position like yours before and it literally made me sick to the point that I had to quit because I couldn't take it anymore. I am a bipolar person and major changes like that are absolutely miserable for me. I have to stick to a routine and slowly readjust my self to do different schedules. Good luck to you!

[Midwest4me]

Another question about NOC's. Are you bored d/t patients sleeping and nothing to do? It is driving me insane.

Yes, I DO get bored; most of the pts are sleeping but we do have 2-4 who get up, wander around for several hours, sit and play games or work puzzles. To alleviate my boredom I get on the internet, look up various topics on webmd, chat with a sister who also works noc shift, read, etc.