Im a newgrad starting overnight shifts on a 7 patient medsurg assignment. Just starting out, will I have "down time" to study up on policies & procedures, EBP, meds, etc? I will have a 6 week didactic orientation but I hear its very fast paced & they just read a bunch of slides so its hard to retain all of the information. My peer cohort is planning on learning the P&Ps on their weekends off of work, but I have a better idea...
I am thinking of taking up an online masters program to keep me out of trouble on my nights off, (up all night at home alone with nothing constructive to do). However, it seems like my other newgrad peers working graves use their nights off to study all of the hospital policies & procedures, practice standards, EBP that we didnt learn in school/clinicals. So I just dont want to take on too much by using my first year of nights off work to further my masters education, if it means I will meet less than ideal standards at work.
Is it unreasonable to hope to keep up my P&P learning working graveyard shift? I am trying to make altering my circadian rhythms and upheaving my social life, into a positive thing. So Im looking to choose my perspective to be that I will have time to focus on studying while its (less hectic, aka Q*IET) on a night schedule.
I am hoping there may be a few hours of down time during my night shift to periodically study work related materials between call lights, sundowners, etc? Im guessing between 2am after my assessments & charting is reasonably caught up, and up until like 6am before I have to get ready for shift change hand-off?
I thank you for your experienced opinions night-shifters!
