Having hard time working night shift!

moorsh · Mar 24, 2005

Night nurses - whatever your specialty, need advice:
This is my first night shift job ever in 8 years of nursing. I took it because there were no day positions in any of the ICU's at my hospital and I wanted desperately to break out of Med/Surg so I took a night position.
I've been doing it for a year now and figured that by now I'd be adjusted to it but I'm still not and it is getting to me.
I try to do my 12's in a row and then enjoy a string of days off on a normal schedule. I know that this is not a healthy sleeping pattern and you should stick to a regular sleep pattern but what am I supposed to do at 3am wide awake on my days off? (Besides going to Walmart!)
I've asked my co-workers and they seem to just kind of shrug it off like it's no big deal maintaining a normal life as a night nurse (all of them have always been night nurses) but I feel very messed up struggling with my sleep and wake times.
My partner is in accounting and has always had 9-5 day jobs and this is getting to him as well. He took a night auditing position just to stay on a similar schedule as me.
He keeps hoping that I'll find some outpatient job and have a M-F 8-5 type schedule which I'm wanting to do at this point as well just to get some type of normal life again but:
I love my co-workers. We work together as a team, we do our admissions together, baths together, whoever has the most stable patients who are "ready to go to the floor" helps out the ones with the unstable problem patients, it's an unwritten rule. This rule even applies to floats and agency who come to help us out.
As I see day positions in the other ICU's start to open up I get tempted to transfer, but I also know that in 8 years of nursing the type of teamwork I have on my current unit seems to be in the minority. I'm afraid that I'll transfer to a floor with "attitude" with no team work and getting dumped on with heavy assignments while the others sit at the nurse's station watching me drown.
Also as a still fairly fresh ICU nurse I feel somewhat dependent on the more experienced ones for advice and help with things that just didn't come up in my previous Med/Surg LVN experience and I know that other floors can set you up to fail with the old "you should have known that and we're not here to babysit you" routine.
Another bonus is that my unit seems totally devoid of BSN or CCRN snobbery, I know that this is not the case in the other ICU's that I've floated to.
What should I do?
After a year of nights and still not adjusted to it, is it time to finally say that I'm not cut out for it and need to quit whining and get a day job?
If not, what things can I be doing better or differently to make a night shift life better?

Hi RN 34, I am no expert but I worked nocs for 4 years. I took melatonin when I wanted to sleep. It worked pretty well; I could flip between being up nocs and days. I enjoyed having my evenings with the family. (I worked 8 hr shifts) Eventually, I got my BSN and went into home health which I love. It's 8-5!

RN34TX · Mar 24, 2005

Hi RN 34, I am no expert but I worked nocs for 4 years. I took melatonin when I wanted to sleep. It worked pretty well; I could flip between being up nocs and days. I enjoyed having my evenings with the family. (I worked 8 hr shifts) Eventually, I got my BSN and went into home health which I love. It's 8-5!

I've heard that melatonin is counterproductive to night workers, something about the circadian rhythm??

But if you find that not to be the case maybe I'll give it a try.

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Mar 25, 2005

You sure have a problem if after a year you are still having lots of trouble getting sleep pattern adjusted. I am not a night person either. I can do evenings, no big deal, but after 2 nights I am not a well person. I know you have built a good relationship with your coworkers and would hate to give it up, but I would consider what was really best for my health in the long run.

Have you talked to the HN? Is there any way you could do a day/night rotation? Would that be too difficult on your system?

In the end you have to decide, can you continue to work like this and be sure you are doing a safe job with patients?

Good luck on whatever you decide.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Mar 25, 2005

I didn't have good luck with melatonin, in fact it seemed to cause insomnia, but that might be all in my head, but bottom line was it didn't put me to sleep. But I've heard other night shift workers swear by it. Benadryl and valarian are my friends.

I found when I went from 8 hour shifts to 12 hour shifts that I began to have more fatigue and sleep disturbances. I think working 8's I got more into a rhythm and sleeping patter. So after 5 years or so of 12-hour shifts and 14 years at this job of nights, I'm going to try day shift. I can't believe after all these years, my body would change like that, but it has. Night shift isn't for everyone.

Sounds like you've weighed your pros and cons and just need to make a decision. When my partner went to day shift this past year, I also had to think of him and our relationship, as well as my job. It wasn't working out with us with me on 12-hour nights, and him on 8-hour days. So that was the deciding factor to me on top of my new found fatigue.

Good luck in whatever you do.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Mar 25, 2005

What a shame. I used to love night shifts. I did night shifts for 3 years with absolute delight. However, some folks cannot adjust to them, especially if they're early birds. I'm a late worm, so nights suited me. Also, I am single without children, so nights didn't interfere with the family life.

You'll likely be unable to adjust to nights. I've known people who have pulled nights for 25 years and still have not adjusted. :stone

stidget99 · Mar 25, 2005

Hi RN34TX.......I have been doing the noc thing now for over 8 yrs w/ a a couple of minor in-between day jobs.

Anyone who works the day shift, makes their sleep at noc a priority. They never get up at 2 or 3 in the morning to participate in some family function or whatever. Noc workers must to do the same thing. Our lives are just 12 hours opposite of the typical day shift worker. It blows me away when I hear a noc shifter who says that they are coming in to work on only 2 or 3 hours of sleep. To me, nurses who do that are impaired nurses. But I digress.

It is absolutely imperative that you make your sleep during the day your priority. Turn the phones off. Post a note on your door...."NIGHT WORKER - PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB DURING DAYLIGHT HOURS". Let your family and friends know that you are sleeping and to not disrupt your sleep. I had a sister who couldn't keep things straight. She would frequently call me at 2 or 3 in the afternoon--irritated the bejeebers out of me. So, one time, I called her at 3am "just to gab". She got the message and has respected my sleep needs ever since.

What do I do all noc to keep myself busy? I don't see things as just "keeping myself busy". I do the same things that day shifters do....grocery shopping, Walmart shopping, housework, crafts, pay my bills, computer time (of course...lol), movies, etc. I find that I have more "me" time which does get old at times but I will bet that not too many day shifters have the luxury of taking uninterrupted bubble bath :). I have found that I have included other noc workers in my circle of friends and we have socialized during the wee hours of the morning.

When I do get together w/ family and my day shift friends, it usually happens after they are off of work. There is that overlap time (5pm - 10 or 11pm). I don't find that I am missing out on much at all.

But even with all of this...working the noc shift is a real committment not only to your job but also to yourself. If you find that you are not able to make your sleep a priority for you or if you find that the rest of your life is not fulfilling, the noc shift is not for you. It's a personal choice. When I started working the noc shift, it did take about a year for me to get it right (i.e. realizing that I needed to make my sleep a priority). Working the noc shift is a way of life For many of us it works...for some it doesn't. Good luck to you!

pkapple · Mar 25, 2005

RN34TX- try the day job, you might find a great group of coworkers, if not you can still seek out another daylight position like op or homehealth.

I have always been able to switch from days to nights ok, helped out on nocs as a day worker and even did the dreaded d/n rotation gig. I understand tho, my DH sure can't do nocs at all-he becomes physically ill after about a month and is very unpleasant to live with as well. If your problem is not sleeping but rather social/family issues that leaves you with only 2 options: find a day shift, or get a new family--not!!!!

Good luck with your decision.

Pill Hoarding Hussy · Mar 25, 2005

i d/n rotate. 2 week rotations. i am a person who loves to sleep, anytime of day so it is not really a problem for me. when i started out, i would take benadryl in the day if i could not sleep, this only happened the first night in rotation- after that i am so beat after my shift i fall into bed.:) the problem is missing my dh when i am on noc's. if makes the time we do get together (noc's off) very precious.

on noc's off i go back to a regular schedule and when i am rotating back into noc i sleep all night the night before, get up around 9-10 am do things around the house (cook, laundry, bills) until late afternoon, then take a nap before my shift. by the morning i am very tired and have no problem falling asleep. when i am rotating out after my nights, i sleep until 12n or 2pm get up and have fun, then go to bed at the regular evening time. benadryl helps if unable to sleep. this works for me.

if you can't adjust, find a day job- your work is not worth making your life miserable. even if you love your co-workers and feel supported there. it is difficult but you can find that elsewhere. good luck!

LPNer · Mar 25, 2005

You must not consider anything mid day to be the time to do anything.

I have worked eves/nights for the biggest part since 1977. I do it well because when someone asks me to do anything at 1300, I ask them "why don't we schedule that for 0200." I'll be awake then. I almost always follow that with a joke so as not to offend whoever it is, but I hold firm.

After some years, my family began scheduling family get togethers in the evening (with a few exceptions, but those are major holidays and the festivities go on day and night!)

To be a successful full time night nurse you must be a full time night person.

On my nights off I do laundry, cook multiple meals, do light housework, etc just like any other person does on their day off. Heavy housework or projects are done when I have a string of days off; even then, it is activity in the early morning and everning. NOT mid-day.

talaxandra · Mar 25, 2005

I've done predominantly nights for over eight years, and while I used to be fine, the last couple of years I haven't been sleeping as well as I used to

My mother, who's a naturopath, suggested calcium tablets about 30 minutes before going to bed - according to her this helps reset seritonin levels. I have no idea if that's true, and bear in mind that I'm very suggestible, but I do sleep way better when I remember to take them. She suggests swallowing them with warm milk but urgh! Water's fine :)

Routine helps, particularly for the half hour to hour before you go to bed, to help wind down. And what stidget99 said is key - getting enough sleep is vital. I take the phone off the hook and let my calls go to voicemail, draw the blinds and don't answer the door.

If nothing works - and nobody can say you haven't given nights a burl - maybe look at moving. Work's important, but it should ruin your life :)