preparing for your first night shift

Krista77 · Mar 8, 2006

Great question elizabells! I've been on 12 hour days for 4 years... now I'm going to be starting L&D on 12 hour nights soon.... What to do!?!?! I also hate to get up before the crack of dawn- when EVERYONE else in to world is still sleeping!!! I'm not sure if nights will be for me, but I HAVE to start somewhere (ya can't just walk into a day position in L&D around here )

Krista77 · Mar 8, 2006

So. I finally got the email on my senior practicum clinical placement: I'm in one of the best NICUs in the country (WOOOOOOOO!!!!) on nights (also WOOOOOO!!!) Now, while I'm definitely excited for nights because I hatehatehate getting up early in the morning, my thoughts have turned to that first shift. How did you all prepare for that? Should I stay up all night the night prior and sleep the day of? Should I start doing this a couple of days before? Luckily I only have one class, one day a week, for two hours 5-7 (not sure if that's a day I'll be working yet). I'm sure I'll adjust fine and dandy, but I really want a job in this unit after graduation and I don't want to make a crappy impression on my first day by being zonked out.
Can ya tell I'm a little anxious and excited? Can ya can ya can ya?

Oh, and congratulations too!!!! :balloons:

LHJ_RN · Mar 8, 2006

I worked nights for years. I am naturally a bit of a night owl anyway. What worked for me was staying up as late as possible the night before and sleeping late the next day, never could do the nap thing a few hours before work. How many nights a week will you be working? if its a couple its much easier to stay in a rhythm that way. On my days off I would still try to maintain my night wakefulness by working on my hobbies, watching TV, movies etc. I would end up going to bed about 3 or 4am. This really seemed to help me and I didn't feel as tired than if I tried to get back to a day schedule. Good luck and congrats!

elizabells, BSN, RN · Mar 8, 2006

I'm going to be doing three - for our practicum we are assigned to a nurse on the unit and work alongside her for the full nine weeks. If she's working a saturday night and you want to go out, tough cookies, that's nursing. Which is fine with me, I'm not so much for the going out. The whole point is that by the end we should be functioning basically as an RN on our unit does - we should have the same pt load, etc. So 3 12's a week.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Mar 8, 2006

I worked a lot of night shifts over the years and my mom worked nothing but nights. I would recommend that the day before you work nights that you try to stay up all night and then some so you are good and tired before you fall into bed. Go to sleep with the plan to sleep a full 8 hours, so do whatever you have to do to cut out interuptions that might wake you (like turn the phone off). For me, I found that a sleep schedule where I went to bed at about 1 or 2pm in the afternoon and got up at about 9pm at night, got up showered, dressed, grabbed a quick "breakfast" and ran off to work was the best schedule. It got me through the 5am slump when things are the slowest and the hardest for most night shift people to get over. I used to go grocery shopping and run errands on my way home in the mornings. My mom had aluminium foil taped over the windows of her bedroom so absolutely no light got in. Her room was pitch black. She split her sleeping. She slept for about 3 hours when she got home, was up during the middle of the day and then laid down and slept again from about 5 or 6pm to 9pm.

If that 5am slump hits you at work get up and move around. I was the "cleaner" on my unit. We had the cleanest, most organized med carts and cupboards in the facility. We WANTED JCAHO to inspect our unit. Of course, that won't be every 5am, but when it does happen, just get up and MOVE. I was always peeking in on the patients because I was always afraid of finding someone dead and not discovering it for a hour or two.

In my earlier years I tried using different chemical assistance to stay awake or to get to sleep. All it did was make my head foggy and muddled--didn't need that. The best way to go to sleep is as naturally as possible. If you know relaxation techniques they help. I learned from trying to meditate that we fall asleep when our skeletal muscles are totally relaxed. Turned out I was a bad meditator, but a good sleeper. :lol2:

123456yy · Mar 8, 2006

Ok, so here's my method, and it may not work for you, you really just have to find your own routine. Heavy curtains or blacked out windows are a MUST! I also have a humidifier or a fan that I keep on to drown daytime backround noise. My boyfriend lives his life in the day like everyone else, so the days I'm off, i flip my schedule back so I can spend time w/ him. The night before I'm due back at work, I stay up as late as I can, usually 4am or so. Then off to bed and sleep most of the next day. If I know it's going to be a heavy night, or it's essential that I get a full 7-8hrs, a little benadryl goes a long way! Oh, make sure the ringer on your phone is turned off or down. My friends and family still call me while i'm sleeping!! Congratulations on your job, and good luck! Night shifts are a blast! Good luck!:roll

wooh, BSN, RN · Mar 8, 2006

For me the problem has never been staying awake at work (as said above, if you have a slow time, you can find SOMETHING to keep busy.) But the drive home. How far of a drive do you have? Take a snack for the drive home to keep you awake. If I have a long drive and didn't get enough sleep the day before, I try about halfway to make that my stop for gas. Getting out of the car for a minute will get me the rest of the way.

Good luck!!

dmartfw · Jan 9, 2012

Anyone who works the 7p to 7a shift who can give guidance to me regarding relaxation techniques for going to sleep as soon as I get off shift? I am starting my first 7p - 7a shift and plan on staying awake until 2pm or later through the week prior to starting and would like to make sure I get relaxed and sleep well so I can be ready for my first day. I do not want to be sleepy and foggy or sluggish (would make a very bad inpression)! Thanks to anyone with guidance.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2012

I, personally, do not need any relaxation techniques to fall asleep after a night shift. I'm lucky if I don't fall asleep driving home. When I take the bus, I definitely DO fall asleep on the bus and as soon as I'm at my house, I barely brush my teeth before I fall asleep. My best suggestion is to wear sunglasses on your way home.

I don't find it necessary to spend a week preparing for night shifts. Not that that's possible anyway since I have, maybe, a day or two off between switching from days to nights. On the day of my first night shift, I usually wake up in the morning as usual and try to take a nap in the afternoon from, like, 2-4pm. Sometimes this isn't possible and by the time I get home the next morning, I've been awake for 24+ hours. All I can say is, you'll get used to it....

wooh, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2012

Lay in bed and do something that requires enough thinking that you can't think about bothersome things. If I just go to bed, I'm going think about all that I need to do, how little sleep I'm going to get, what happened at work. So I go to bed and do some Kakuro or Sudoku. Keeps my mind occupied just enough to forget my troubles and go to sleep.