Night-Shift Nurses: Get Your Sleep!

Do you get enough sleep to prepare for the stress of your unit? Does the quality of your sleep support alertness and efficiency? Are you fatigued, and does that negatively affect your job performance? Do night shift nurses know how to get the best out of their sleeping hours? How would they know? Nurses Announcements Archive Article

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Night-Shift Nurses: Get Your Sleep!

There is an educational gap for nurses who begin their careers working on the night shift. Though many new hospital nurses begin on the night shift, strategies for remaining healthy is often left for the nurse to learn anecdotally from other nurses or people in other professions who work nights. New nurses who begin their careers on the night shift do not always feel welcomed to the team.

My study-buddy in nursing school was a retired New York police sergeant. While we took walks at lunchtime and he frequently pointed out corners and houses that he had made arrests while he was on night-shift street patrol. Because he worked the night shift for eight years, he planned to become a school nurse. He told me he that he lost years of his life working at night, and he wanted to preserve his health so he could spend with his family.

Though night nurses are awarded a night shift pay differential, and union regulations or administrators enforce a 4-night limit on consecutive 12.5-hour shifts, it is often not a preferred assignment. A study by Lin, Liao, Chen, and Fan (2014) shows that job stress is inversely related to sleep quality and personal health status. Nurses reported that their highest level of jobs stress is the result of fatigue (Lin et al., 2014). Research by Johnson, Brown, and Weaver (2010) demonstrated an inverse relationship in nurses between psychomotor performance and hours of sleep.

National Movements or Programs for Sleep Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have a cooperative agreement with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for the 5-year National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project (CDC, 2014). The project objectives include expanding sleep health promotion, developing partnerships to improve education and awareness, recommending a data collection model, and disseminating sleep health related policies (CDC, 2014). The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (n.d.) also recommends the resource Sleep Education, an affiliated website which introduces the every day person to insomnias, sleep movement disorders, hypersomnias, and parasomnias.

The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2016) features Sleep Health as a new program of the nationwide initiative, Healthy People 2020. Objectives of the Sleep Health program include increasing medical evaluation of people with symptoms of sleep apnea, reducing drowsy driving and resulting vehicular crashes, increasing the rate of sufficient sleep for students in grades 9 through 12, and increasing numbers of adults who get sufficient sleep.

Check out the whole story at American Academy of Sleep Medicine. And now, let's discuss both sleep health success and failures, because it feels like I can never get enough sleep! I depend on lavender aromatherapy, my eye masks (one at home and one in my work locker), and listening to relaxing music and nature sounds through my ear buds. But still, please tell me your story.

References

American Academy of Sleep Medicine: Setting standards & promoting excellence in sleep medicine.

Sleep education: Shift work overview

Sleep and sleep disorders

Healthy People 2020: Sleep health

Johnson, A., Brown, K., & Weaver, M. (2010). Sleep deprivation and psychomotor performance among night-shift nurses. AAOHN Journal, 58(4), 147-154. doi:10.3928/08910162-20100316-02

Lin, S., Liao, W., Chen, M., & Fan, J. (2014). The impact of shift work on nurses' job stress, sleep quality and self-perceived health status. Journal Of Nursing Management, 22(5), 604-612. doi:10.1111/jonm.12020

 

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HangInThere

About HangInThere, BSN, RN

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

This is the topic of my MSN and DNP research.

0 Votes
Specializes in taking a break from inpatient psychiatric nursing.

Oh, that's cool. :yes: For me it is for an undergrad class in health promotion.

Do you work the night-shift now? How's your research going?

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Specializes in taking a break from inpatient psychiatric nursing.

I had a problem with getting the right foods at the right time. Unfortunately, I was in the habit of eating breakfast after my shift and right before conking out. Silent reflux and sinus infections resulted.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

I've actually developed an educational program on adapting to night shift for students and practicing nurses. I presented it as part of onboarding at our hospital for 2+ years before leaving for my current job in academia. My research also went into a webinar I did for the ANA on fatigue in the workplace back in March of this year.

I worked nights for 30+ years until starting this job in March.

1 Votes
Specializes in taking a break from inpatient psychiatric nursing.

Very interesting. Did you see improvements that correlated with your educational program over the 2+ years?

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
Very interesting. Did you see improvements that correlated with your educational program over the 2+ years?

Yes. Decreased turnover. Improved sleep hygiene. All of this is, unfortunately, anecdotal as I did not have IRB approval to do this as a study per se. I would love to get it approved at a facility and do it as a full-fledged study. Judging from other industries which have done this- this is a low-cost effective intervention.

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Specializes in taking a break from inpatient psychiatric nursing.

In the meantime, I need anecdotes and suggestions! Commuting home from a night-shift is a big problem. It's 8am and the sun is up and glaring in your eyes when you exit the hospital. You have to be alert, especially if you're driving, but also crossing streets or on busses or subway so you don't fall asleep! Then you get home and you feel wide awake, but it's 9am and you have exactly 9 hours to sleep, shower, eat, check email and phone, review a new policy, and make your lunch.

How do you possibly relax and got to sleep when all the events of your last shift keep running through your mind?

0 Votes
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I worked night shift for years...I actually preferred them due to my personality. I have a somewhat reserved personality and could not stand the hustle and bustle of days, so nights worked out best for me.

However, I could never obtain enough sleep while working nights. Some of it was due to poor sleep hygiene and some of it could be attributed to poorly managed thyroid disease. In addition, I have been an insomniac since middle childhood, so a full 8-hour's worth of sleep is a rarity whether I work days or nights.

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