Night shift and clinicals

windsurfer8, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2016

First off if any instructor says they will "pretend they haven't heard that" I would be suspect of their ethics. Second I have never heard of anything like that...Unless there is a written rule "students must get at least 8 hours sleep prior to attending clinical" you are clear. Now they MAY say "all students must be fit for duty" to which if someone shows up hungover the clinical instructor can and will throw them out. If you are "fit for duty" then you should be good. However I would get try FACTS. And anyone who tries to hide something that could endanger patients or staff should not be working there.

LeChien, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2016

Why does your instructor even know your work hours? That's none of her business

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Jul 15, 2016

My instructor told me that this is not allowed and she would have to call the board of Nursing

When she is referring to Board of Nursing, is she meaning your state Board of Nursing? If so, then I would think that they have far more important issues than a student working prior to a clinical. You don't have a nursing license and not acting independently at the hospital. Why would they care?

amygrizzard · Jul 15, 2016

I think she said that because she knows that I really need this job and can't afford to be saying I can't work a certain night. I don't really think it's an ethics issue. And I do feel that I am fit for duty. I've never heard of that rule either but I really don't want to ask administration because if it actually is s real law then I'd be screwed either way.

amygrizzard · Jul 15, 2016

Yes she means my state board of Nursing and Im guessing it could potentially keep me from getting my license but I'm pretty much on the same wavelength as you in asking why they'd care as long as I'm not making med errors. That might be the concern though.

amygrizzard · Jul 15, 2016

We were talking about working in class tonight. She heard me say I work every Friday night. But I know plenty of places that work people on a double shift. Which is the same thing I'll be doing.

Cdnbscn · Jul 15, 2016

I worked nights through nursing school too, but never when I was going into clinical that morning. Patient safety is your primary concern! While you may feel ok for the first few hours running on pure adrenaline and coffee, you'll come down quickly and it puts both you and your patient at a disadvantage! You're there to learn and it's awful hard to get the most out of your education or clinical experiences if you're exhausted. What's worse, is that you could potentially make an error that could cause serious harm! I found that I could work nights around my clinical schedule but sometimes it meant pulling doubles on weekends to get my hours in. I would do homework on nights and occassionaly go to school from a night shift and sleep on my break between classes. But night shift going into clinical is a huge no no and you can, and will, be removed from the clinical site and possibly the program for unsafe practices. It's not worth the risk.

amygrizzard · Jul 15, 2016

Unfortunately I really don't have a choice at this time. Fortunately for me all our real nurse work is done in the morning and after lunch is post conference. Sometimes we have to power thru and if I feel like I can't do it then I'll ask to be assigned a different duty that day.

mrsboots87 · Jul 15, 2016

I call bull on her being able to call the board and them actually have anything they can decline you licensure for. As log as you are performing safely in clinical, there is no grounds to report you for anything.

When I was in nursing school, we had to go to the hospital no earlier than noon the day before to get assigned a patient that would mostl likely still be there the next day. We then had to write our careplans. 13 original pages easily became 20+ types pages filled with all the med cards, concepts maps and pathos, labs, etc etc. they took at minimum 6 hours to complete but for most of us it was more like 8 or more depending on how complicated the patient was. This does not include the two hours spent at the hospital getting assigned and collecting the patient's info and then the drive to and from the hospital. This meant that pretty much all students were up until at least midnight and then reported to clinical pre conference by 6:30 am ready to go. There were many nights I would be up until 2am completing the careplan and then would be waking up at 5am am to get ready for clinical then get there.

The clinical instructors all knew about the late night before clinical but it was expected that we would make it happen and be dedicated. Maybe not the best way to go about it, but it definitely weeded out some of the weaker students. Not once were we ever made to feel like we could be reported to the Bon for not getting a full 8 before clinical. We were just expected to practice safely and if we felt impaired then we were to speak up and be sent home.

It is not the clinical instructors job to regulate your sleep schedule. It IS their job to monitor if you are impaired and/or unsafe to practice. I would honestly bring this up to a lead faculty member or the DON of your program because those threats are not ok. I have also worked over my 12 into 16-17 hours and while not ideal, I was not unsafe. That would only be unsafe if you are doing it multiple days in a row.

cupcakeluver · Jul 15, 2016

I don't know if it's an actual "rule". My school had this policy also. We could not work 24 hours before a clinical day. We were told specifically not to work prior to clinical. Now you could work a shift after clinical...but not before. So go figure. The instructors never elaborated on whether or not it was a BON thing or just school policy so I'm not sure. I think it was a school policy though.

So yes, I have heard of it and it was enforced at my school. If you were caught working before clinicals, you were sent home. It didn't happen often.

My advice? Don't tell anyone you work that Friday! Just leave it out. Good luck. I know how hard things are financially during school. Hope it works out for you.

AvaRose · Jul 15, 2016

Wow that must have royally sucked. We got our patient assignments when we got to clinical in the morning and then wrote notes as the day went on which we used after clinical to put together our charting and care plan for the focus patient of the week. Charting took about 4-5 hours although it got easier by the last quarter that we had to chart and I could get a critical care charting done in about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. We weren't allowed to work 24 hours before clinical and my school preferred students not to work at all during school though I had no choice.