Night shift and Oncology unit questions

[PeaceLove88]

Hey Everyone,

So I finally landed a night shift position and I have a few questions about this shift.

1. Is it difficult to stay awake during the night?

2. What methods do you use to prepare beforehand?

3. How alert are you at night when taking care of your patients?

I have never worked the night shift before and I still have some time before I start. I have orientation and will be following a preceptor during the day shift for 3 months. But I would like to be well prepared when I do start.

Also, I will be working on the oncology/bone marrow transplant unit. If anyone here is in this specialty,

1. Are there any books you would recommend I get to prepare for certain procedures and terminology?

2. Any other comments or suggestions would be so helpful

Thanks guys!

[ittybabyRN, RN]

I'm still in orientation as well, I do 5wks days/5wks nights for 20 weeks. I just finished my first night rotation and honestly disliked it, I'd done nights before though as CNA so I was prepared. You can do it a few ways depending on how you adjust, what worked for me was the two nights leading up to when I was going to start I would stay up late, 1-2am. I would sleep until 12-1ish and occasionally nap from 3-4:30. The morning after working I would sleep until 3-4ish then just get up/shower/eat and go to work (I worked 7p-7a). My body didnt' handle it well and I felt like I slept for 5 weeks. My preceptor who loved working nights would sleep in until 10ish on her first night of work and then just stay up all night, then she would only sleep until 2 or so and be up for a few hours before work. I couldnt do it but you jsut have to see how your body adjusts. I never felt drowsy or unable to focus at work, I just never adjusted well enough to feel "normal"

Good luck!

[tdrynelle]

I too am starting my nursing career on an Oncology unit, working nights (which I hadn't done before). I have now been off orientation for about months. As for working nights, I have yet to get tired on nights, mostly because I'm too busy to stop and relax enough to get tired. In fact, the nights usually fly by. Part of working Oncology is that (at our hospital anyway) we end up doing most of the lab draws, as most of patients have ports or piccs. Drawing labs on 4-6 patients certainly eats up a chunk of time.

As my schedule is 2 12-hr nights on the weekends, I usually try to stay up a little later the night before I start. Then I (try) to take a 3-4 hour nap in the afternoon before I start. I sleep all day the day between my shifts. Then after my last shift is over, I come home and sleep 3-4 hours and make myself get up for the rest of the day. I end up going to be early that night, but after a good night's sleep, I'm back to my normal sleeping schedule for the remainder of the week.

All in all, I really like working 12 hour nights. There are not as many doctors around and things are a little calmer. However, having said that - there are nights when things are just crazy too!

Keep an open mind. As a new grad, you may really like the somewhat slower pace and the commodore of the staff during nights. It's a great environment to learn in!