Post-traumatic nurse disorder ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - page 2

1. 
   Feb 14, '07

   I always have the recurring dream that I really had 7 patients instead of 6 and I go the whole day without even setting eyes on that one patient.
   
   I also have this problem when I wake up in the mornings.. I always think my clock is wrong. I have to double check it with my cell phone and the TV.... I don't know why I get panicky about it.. its weird..
2. 
   Feb 14, '07

   Quote from TigerGalLE

   I always have the recurring dream that I really had 7 patients instead of 6 and I go the whole day without even setting eyes on that one patient.

   I've had that dream. It's very similar to the school dreams I used to have where I went a month into the school year before realizing that I was supposed to be in a certain class...
3. 
   Feb 14, '07

   haha!! i still have that dream too!! But in my dream I don't realize I have that class until Finals week.. And I have to go take a final in a class i haven't been to all semester!!
4. 
   Feb 14, '07

   My recurrent dream is way too many patients, and it is end of shift and I am running around trying to find vital signs and I&O's for the chart. It is a really panicy feeling because I know I did the work, just can't find the documentation. (unfortunately, sometimes this is close to how it is when I am really at work!).
5. 
   Feb 14, '07

   For the first 3 months as an aide I didn't get any restful sleep. I was hearing IV pumps and the telemetry monitors all night, with the occassional SpO2 alarm. And when those would wake me up I would think that I was in a patient's bed. All of our rooms are private but most have an extra bed, so I was sleeping in that extra bed. But then when I had my first patient die, I dreamt for 3 nights that I was either in her bed with her or in her bed after she had been taken to the morgue! Kinda had to be careful what I said to other people about these dreams/nightmares - doesn't sound good to say you were dreaming about sleeping with a patient! LOL ! I still think that "Sleeping With the Patient" would be a good book title! When I woke up from these dreams I was always panicked that someone had seen me "sleeping on the job!"
   By the way, I still hear IV pumps everywhere I go. I was in Kohl's department store yesterday while they were doing inventory and using those little hand-held guns that beep on every tag. Nearly drove me nuts! I just wanted to scream at somebody to go flush the IV or change the bag!
   
   Good to know I'm not alone!
6. 
   Feb 14, '07

   I work in the NICU and have had many a dream about work, like not seeing a whole med kardex until the end of the shift and missing a ton of meds, dropping a baby (AAAAGH!!-more like a nightmare), having to work on an adult floor and not having a clue as to what to do, the best by far though was my dream that instead of babies in the isolettes they were all puppies!!
7. 
   Feb 14, '07

   My weird ones:
   
   Missing half a semester of a class , both at my highschool and at a community college I attended many, many years ago.
   
   Having an additional car 'lost', either having left it in another state when we moved, not knowing were a certain car was parked for months on end, or forgetting that we actually owned a car and then trying to catch up on payments, insurance and tags.
   
   Then of course, there is the patient that no one ever gave me report on that I didn't realize was there until the end of my shift....
   
   
   Sleeping pills are such a blessing
8. 
   Feb 14, '07

   If I get a call while sleeping right after getting off work, I answer with this is So and so, west nurses station and then promptly go back to sleep.
9. 
   Feb 14, '07

   Still have occasional nightmare of a 3 hour medpass in LTC, not knowing anyone's name, no name bands endless hallways full of dementia patients.In one dream all my dementia patients turned into sreaming babies, in walks my DON, asks where all these babies came from and where are our patients!!!
10. 
    Feb 14, '07

    One morning after a long stretch of night shifts, I stopped by the grocery store on my way home and was pushing the cart around the store when I realized I had done the grocery shopping several days ago and had no need to be there. I left the cart, walked out of the store, got in the car, and drove home wondering what that was all about.
    I've also gotten up during the night to check patients that I thought were staying in the guest bedroom.
11. 
    Feb 14, '07

    Recently in my dream, I was just starting my night shift, and the manager that I worked with in my first nursing job and who I liked a lot visited my facility for some kind of meeting. We said hi to each other and she told me with a very concerned face that she heard from people in my facility that I am not doing great in this job! And I asked her to give me some advice as to what to do next..
12. 
    Feb 14, '07

    I once was so confused after a 16 hr shift that when I got home I took a vicodin, tylenol pm and benadryl at the same time!! Woke up 18 hours later, not knowing where I was, thinking the pres was Kennedy(I was born in '79), and screaming because I thought I was supposed to be at work. Had to call my mom who thought I was having a breakdown. In tears, curled up in a ball screaming that I had been fired because I missed a shift. Really 'woke' up in the ER with an IV in my arm. I refuse to do 16 hr shifts anymore. It didn't help matters that it was a very stressful shift and I was sick.
    
    I can't believe the stuff I take home with me that only shows itself in the middle of the night. I thought I coped very well only to wake up in tears.

    Last edit by bethin on Feb 14, '07
13. 
    Feb 14, '07

    I have frequent dreams that I cant find my MAR,am very late and extremely behind on my med pass.The medications are all jumbled in the drawers.And I cant find the patients Im looking for.I hate this.I wake up all panicked.It happens too many times!

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