Help Wanted- Asking the Night Shifters for Advice

Nurses Nurse Beth

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Dear Nurse Beth,

I am a4th-semester nursing student due to graduate in December 2018. I have never worked night shifts in any job I've had. Soon I will begin precepting on night shift. How is it best to adjust to night shift and what are some things to avoid or helpful tips I should know? I worry that I may not be as alert on night shift and that this could compromise my nursing care.


Dear Worried,

Congrats on your upcoming graduation!

Just yesterday I met with a group of new grads who are dealing with working night shift. Blackout curtains for day sleepers are really helpful, because they trick you into thinking it's night time.

One nurse said she manages to sleep 8 hours by using blackout curtains and setting her phone to Do Not Disturb.

The first night on, taking a short nap is helpful. By hour second night, you are typically tired enough to sleep when you get off work.

Ironically, sometimes being worried about not being alert increases your adrenalin while on duty and keeps you alert. Once you get home, though, you may experience some mental fogginess.

How easily you adapt to working nights is individual. For some of us, it's hard to sleep during the day even when we're tired. Others, self-described night owls, love sleeping during the day and never needing an alarm clock.

The real benefit to working nights is the pace and the opportunity to learn. There are fewer interruptions- no scheduled tests and surgeries- fewer visitors, and a calmer environment. You have time to read the H&P and research the labs. Night shift differential is a plus as well!

Some people fall in love with night shift for good reason.

Let's hear what the pro night shifters have to say :)

Best wishes,

Nurse Beth

Author, "Your Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"...and your next!

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Turn your phone off when you're sleeping! People know you work nights but they call non-stop anyway. Let the voicemail pick it up. Otherwise, you'll have broken sleep and be more tired during your shift.

This, and a strongly worded sign on your front door if you get a lot of solicitors.

Specializes in Orthopedics, Med-Surg.

There is a lot of good advice here. If you don't have blackout curtains, light absolutely will not penetrate aluminum foil and scotch tape on the inside of your bedroom windows. White noise is very good. Turn off the phone. One of the best things I could tell you that I don't think anyone else mentioned was to treat every day the same whether you're scheduled to work or not. My theory was it wasn't the shift that exhausted me; it was the constant attempt to reacclimate between working nights and living days. So I went to bed at the same time every morning and slept until midafternoon every day, regardless of whether I was scheduled to work or not. You cannot burn the candle at both ends for very long.

I loved working nights! Can't wait to go back. When I was on nights I kept my same schedule even on my days off. I treated working nights like ppl who worked days. I would get home and do my housework, errands, ect then go to bed around 2-3pm sleep to 9pm when I worked 8hrs. With 12hrs I would go to bed at 10-11am I'm good with 6 or 7 hrs of sleep. I didn't have kids or a husband so it was easy for me.

When I moved out of my marriage with my two sons 18 & 20, I started on nights. They didn't understand about keeping the house quiet during the day. That is until my next day off when I set my alarm for 3 a.m. and went into their bedrooms and started vaccuuming and ensuring I bumped their beds frequently to ensure they were awake. And I flipped the lights on as well.

Strangely, it was never a problem after that! They had to know that their daytime was now my night time and they were to be quiet!

I turned a fan on for 2 reasons: white noise and it cooled the room. I had a warmish hot shower when I got home because I read it would lower your body temperature quicker. I also used foil in addition to back out curtains on my window to make sure there was not one sliver of light. And a twel aginst the bedroom door bottom. Ate a small meal when I got home like a banana or bowl of cereal. It's easy to put on weight on nights so be sure you pack lots of healthy snack foods.

This worked for me for 10 years and while I travelled as a flight nurse to different countries with lots of time changes.

Welcome to nursing and best of luck!

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