Night shift naps

Specialties NICU

Published

A BIG no-no...but some RN's still do it. And, for the most part get by with it. HOW? It is embarrassing to the unit when there is a float nurse not to mention the alarms answered on their behalf. Noone wants to be a snitch, but it's always the same people...night after night.

Management must know about the problem, but what is done. I know discipline is sometimes unknown, but come on. I get tired too. I have kids too. I plan accordingly, so that I can sleep...for the most part.

These are my friends/co-workers. It's not fair for morale between night shift and day shift to be torn down because of a few offenders. Yes, they know.

How is this handeled in your unit?

My problem was always that I'd be busy busy busy and be exhusted, then I'd sit down to to do my charting and fall asleep before I'd hardly get started. Been told I'm strange b/c I'm a 'day' person, and even as a child, I've never been able to get myself up or work or do anything before the sun was up, or after it was down. It was like my brain just shut down. Unfortunatley the morning shift has to start at 5:30, before the sun is up, and the evening shift ended at like 11 pm, long after the sun set...so I chose the lesser of two evils and went with the evening.

I tried different things, like drinking coffee (I am NOT a caffine drinker at all!), standing up to do my charting, even moving around while I was doing it, but I'd just fall asleep on my feet or end up leaning against the wall.

I guess I was just lucky that by the time I'd finish getting all the residents into bed and have everything situated with them, it was about 9:30 at night.

Actually there is research out there if you stay free of the caffiene you'll actually do better on a night shift...not death drop. In fact insted of a nap the best thing to do is take a short walk it will wake you up...get the blood pumping. Best to stay away from junk food, but that is difficult where I work we all are huge pot-luckers!

I hope that I am never a patient or that my family/loved ones are never patients on these units where you people never take breaks! It is well documented that breaks are necessary. There is NOTHING wrong with sleeping on your designated break if that is what you want to do....

I can't believe that the people you work for think it is acceptable to not give breaks....man this thread is just blowing me away.

As far as people sleeping and not working etc....document and report. If things don't improve find a place to work where management deals with issues.

Eliz

Me too! It is a law about the breaks! And it does help - no matter how busy you are. It will give you time to regroup. It is rare when I don't take even a 15 min break even when charge. There are times we don't, but we call the supervisor and ask for lunches to be brought up and each takes a turn to eat.

I think one should have a nap when all things have been done and there is not anything to do and you don know there won't anything unexcepted happen.

I think one should have a nap when all things have been done and there is not anything to do and you don know there won't anything unexcepted happen.

It's your break the unit should be covered so you can take one...if it isn't you best talk to management about getting more help! Sure you don't go off take a nap when your pt is coding!

A benefit?!?! Wow, that's nuts. I'd find a different place to work.

Yeah, well, this is the same place who decided that after I got abused by a resident, I should SOMEHOW stay away from her and STILL take care of her at the same time (they kept assigning me to her care), then fired me after she abused me again just barely over a week after the first one.

I'm still fighting with the state Health and Human Services.

When I worked nights, we all took our turn at napping. With two breaks and dinner, we had an hour. We covered for each other and we slept in the nurses bathtub, very comfortable and they knew where we each was so could wake if an emergency happened.

Specializes in ob, peds, dialysis, public health, manag.

Naps Are Not Tolerated On Our Unit, However I Used To Work A Closed Labor And Delivery Unit That Had To Staff With At Least 2 Nurses No Matter What. In That Situation With No Patients We Would Stay In The Lounge Off The Nurses Station And Watch Te Or Nap, Whatever, But With No Patients You Could Take Turns If There Was Nothing Else To Do. We Would Mostly Keep Busy With Cleaning And Stocking So Napping Was Not Usually An Option. The To Good To Be True Nights Were Few And Far Between. Mosy Of The Time We Had Already Paid For Them In Full. Nice To Think About Though.

Specializes in ob, peds, dialysis, public health, manag.

Naps Are Not Tolerated On Our Unit, However I Used To Work A Closed Labor And Delivery Unit That Had To Staff With At Least 2 Nurses No Matter What. In That Situation With No Patients We Would Stay In The Lounge Off The Nurses Station And Watch TV Or Nap, Whatever, But With No Patients You Could Take Turns If There Was Nothing Else To Do. We Would Mostly Keep Busy With Cleaning And Stocking So Napping Was Not Usually An Option. The To Good To Be True Nights Were Few And Far Between. MosT Of The Time We Had Already Paid For Them In Full. Nice To Think About Though.

Specializes in ICU, forensics,.

I've read different research on night shift workers and napping. Several studies show that you get a much safer nurse if you allow them to sleep during night shift. Obviously as their break. The last place I traveled to, encouraged naps. It was an ICU, and each person relievedtheir counter part. These naps would be 45 minutes. I couldn't believe it.

Ive just graduated as a nurse and wondered how do you stay awake all night, i know im going to have night shifts, and wondered how you do it.

Thanks.....:nurse:

Specializes in NICU.
Ive just graduated as a nurse and wondered how do you stay awake all night, i know im going to have night shifts, and wondered how you do it.

Thanks.....:nurse:

You just sleep all day. Same with when someone works days, but it's opposite. I sleep fine all day long, therefore I'm not tired at night and can stay up. Also, our unit is so busy, we're always busy with stuff ..... makes it easy to stay awake.

I don't see how people can wake up at 5 am and stay up all day, lol.

Specializes in NICU.
You just sleep all day. Same with when someone works days, but it's opposite. I sleep fine all day long, therefore I'm not tired at night and can stay up. Also, our unit is so busy, we're always busy with stuff ..... makes it easy to stay awake.

I don't see how people can wake up at 5 am and stay up all day, lol.

Tell me about it! I feel dead to the world when I wake up at 5am, but when I sleep during the day and wake up at 5pm I feel fine. I'm a night owl by nature though.

But yes, to answer the question: you sleep during the day. Plain and simple. Don't get into the bad habit of not sleeping, even if it's your first night on! Try and get a nap, at least, before work. I see too many people waking up with their kids at the crack of dawn, then staying up all day and coming to work at night. I understand that there are often childcare issues, but it's very unsafe to treat night shift like it's some magical time where you can work a full-time job yet never send your kids to daycare. These are the nurses that fall asleep on the job or on their drive home in the morning. You need to make sleep a priority.

And besides, the hospital is a 24-hour place - especially in an ICU environment. Things don't stop when the sun goes down! There are nights you will be so busy that you barely sit down and falling asleep is the furthest thing from your mind!

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