Night shift and Sleeping

JDZ344 · Mar 26, 2011

What CNAs do during the night shift? Like say.. 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM. Patients are usually sleeping, right?
Like what task CNA do during the night shift?

SLEEPING? Hahahhaha.

woknblues · Mar 26, 2011

What I find sad about this thread is the "badge of honor" that many of us wear in burning ourselves out. Using the road bumps on the side to wake ourselves up, no breaks, falling asleep with our clothes on when we get home, etc. Our ethical standard of our workplace trumps our own personal commitments we made to our spouses and families, and to ourselves, to our bodies.

People get attacked for recounting a story and nobody even knows if management had organized this for the safety of our patients, and nurses, and performance (med errors, etc) of the job. Nobody asked, they just wanted to recount what "good, hard, workers they are"- point taken.

I had posted a thread some time ago requesting opinion of a type of work shift that incorporates more time for breaks, like a "siesta" type shift with a few hours to break, nap and take care of whatever you need to. I received such hostile responses, you would have thought I was suggesting illegal activity.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Mar 26, 2011

Why don't some of you try sleeping during the day, so you are awake at night? Day shifters can't sleep during their shift, so why is it acceptable for night shift to sleep? If you are covered, and sleeping on a break, that's different. But some people have said they sleep for an hour and a half, to two hours on nights. IMO, sleeping for that long is unacceptable. Sleep at home. If you get proper rest during the day, you won't feel the need to sleep at night.

Lennonninja, MSN, APRN, NP · Mar 26, 2011

Why don't some of you try sleeping during the day, so you are awake at night? Day shifters can't sleep during their shift, so why is it acceptable for night shift to sleep? If you are covered, and sleeping on a break, that's different. But some people have said they sleep for an hour and a half, to two hours on nights. IMO, sleeping for that long is unacceptable. Sleep at home. If you get proper rest during the day, you won't feel the need to sleep at night.

I've never slept on night shift, nor do I ever plan to. Sometimes it's just not as simple as "sleep in the day time" because the rest of the world doesn't care that you have to work all night and need to sleep in the day time. I've had to attend events for example on a Saturday morning 9am - 1pm where I have to work that night, and this was a non-negotiable, non-reschedulable thing. I got about 3 hours of sleep before work that night, but I stayed awake all night.

I have slept on my 30 minute lunch at my non-nursing day shift desk job, and I've always felt worse after sleeping.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2011

I guess you have to work that out somehow or take less nights, if it really becomes a problem. My friends and acquaintances know that I'm not available during the day, and I won't answer the phone. Sometimes, its a matter of setting boundaries with people where you can. I also don't have kids, either, so its easier in that respect.

yousoldtheworld · Mar 27, 2011

Hmm. I work a combo of 2nd and 3rd shifts (as an aide), and if you are caught sleeping on the job you are immediately terminated at my facility.

Not only that, but we are busy, I rarely even take all of my breaks. Sure, you get tired, but if you are doing all of the work you are supposed to be doing, you likely wouldn't have a chance to fall asleep, even if you wanted to. Aides and nurses have between 19 and 24 residents apiece on 3rd shift, and they are 100 percent total care (it's a facility for the severely developmentally disabled).

Aides have rounds (and when you have 19-24 incontinent residents, those rounds take a while), clothes to put away, wheelchairs to clean, school/workshop bags to pack, and in the morning, residents to bathe and dress.

Nurses have med passes, lots of treatments (most are delegated to the night shift), tube feeds, trach care, breathing treatments, enemas and douches to give, ordering meds, putting away meds that have come in from the pharmacy, preparing meds to be sent out with residents who are going to workshop/outings, etc etc etc.

Contrary to what the other shifts tend to believe, 3rd shift isn't just sitting on their butts all night, I work just about as hard as I do on 2nd shift!

yousoldtheworld · Mar 27, 2011

Oh, and don't let anyone fool you - patients/residents DO NOT SLEEP. Ever. Someone is always awake and wanting someone. Someone else is usually up, confused, either wanting to wander or being combative.

As soon as you get those taken care of, someone else is up wanting something. It's neverending.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2011

You got that right. Someone IS always up....needs to be toileted, needs a sleep aide, a drink, trying to get out of bed, bed alarms going off, asking to leave...having nightmares and needs to be comforted...

Then there's charting, orders, stocking, cleaning. Turning residents and changing them. Then we wash people to help days.

I have very little time to even contemplate sleep at night. Where does anyone find 1 to 2 hours to sleep when all of this happens at night?

yousoldtheworld · Mar 27, 2011

To clarify before I get griped at as others have, I see nothing wrong with sleeping on your breaks. But some of the posts here don't sound like they are talking about sleeping on breaks only.

But if you work somewhere where you get 2 hours of breaks per night AND your patients/residents are quiet enough for you to sleep for hours without call lights and various disasters, please, accept my application.

anotherone, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2011

This is a spinoff thread from the thread about the nurse getting caught sleeping. I have always wondered if everyone stays awake on night shift (RN Wise). I am a CNA (getting my BSN in May) and every NURSING HOME I have worked in, workers have slept between rounds mostly CNAs but some nurses (LPNs). I have a big fear that I will end up falling asleep during night shift in the hospital and was wondering what keeps night shift nurses up at night??? Is it an easy feat or does it require a bunch of coffee and willpower???

Hahahah. Where do these people work? I am a nurse in a hospital on a med/surg floor. I rotate but do mostly nights. We are super busy on nights and mostly short. Night shift is assigned less cna's to begin with. Sometimes we have one cna sometimes none. Patients moslty have q4vitals, sometimes q2. Then occasionally we will have patients on insulin drips so that is q1-2 accuchecks depending.Some patients are on q6 accuchecks instead of ACHS. Then there are PLENTY of patients to change and turn. The rare walkie/talkie constantly on the call bell all night for nothing essentially......The cna is so busy I hardly see him/her sometimes. Keep in mind there is no way a cna can do all of this so the nurses are running around doing thier own meds, assessments, vitals, changing/turnign patients. etc

JDZ344 · Mar 27, 2011

Why don't some of you try sleeping during the day, so you are awake at night? Day shifters can't sleep during their shift, so why is it acceptable for night shift to sleep? If you are covered, and sleeping on a break, that's different. But some people have said they sleep for an hour and a half, to two hours on nights. IMO, sleeping for that long is unacceptable. Sleep at home. If you get proper rest during the day, you won't feel the need to sleep at night.

i agree that a long, extended sleep break is unacceptable. But, no matter how long I sleep for in the day, I hit a wall around 3-5am. Just human nature, I guess. II don't care if people do sleep, on their breaks, that is up to them. Some people have to stay up with kids, pick the kids up from school, etc.

rnmi2004 · Mar 27, 2011

Patients at my job rarely all sleep all night. Meds, VS, toileting because of the IVF running 24/7, pain, nausea -- it just doesn't happen. On the rare nights when there is a stretch of time where they didn't have needs, I would help others, catch up on charting, do chart checks, lots to do besides sleep.

If some of these posters work at a place that sleeping (while not neglecting patient needs!) is allowed, I think that's a good thing. Working night shift is hard on the body -- it's downright unnatural. The shift differential isn't enough to make up for the fact that we are potentially screwing up our health. The sleep you get during the day -- even if there aren't interruptions -- isn't the same quality of sleep people get at night.