Nursing Dreams and Nightmares

Updated:   Published

Can't get a break even when I'm sleeping.

It probably happens to every Nurse ... the dream about the constant beeping of the IV. Almost every Nurse takes their job to bed with them and dreams about some of the craziest things. Nurses can't get a break even when asleep. Is this you? Have you had nightmares? Tell us about some of the off-the-wall dreams you have had.

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Specializes in hospice, LTC, public health, occupational health.
LibraSunCNM said:
I'm sure this is very common, but dreaming that at the end of a shift, I find out I had a patient I never knew about or saw once.

I've had that one, but also, I'm currently a hospice nurse and had a dream that I declared death on a patient that wasn't dead. I was paranoid for weeks after that dream every time I had to confirm a patient death.

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All of your nurse brains are amazingly imaginative...mine just dreams of the beeping noises from the pumps and call light going off over and over!!attachment.php?attachmentid=23730&stc=1

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Specializes in Psychiatric.

We went camping in our camper trailer last week and I dreamt I was in my office at work and a client emergency alarm went off (usually means attempted suicide or self-harm) so I leapt up off the mattress in the pitch dark and couldn't find my way out! I was bellowing at my partner "Quick! I've gotta go! Where's the damn door!?!?". It was funny the next morning but terrifying at the time!!

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I'm an LNA. Had a dream I fell asleep for like 5 minutes during my shift (of course that would never happen) and woke up at the end of shift and none of my residents had care done and I felt horrible. Then it turns out my coworkers picked up all my slack for me and I almost felt worse about that!

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

I have had this dream!

VampyrSlayer said:
Had a dream I fell asleep during my shift and woke up at the end of shift and none of my residents had care done and I felt horrible.
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I dream occasionally about the IV pumps beeping, but mostly I dream that I turn around to a patient in their chemo chair & they are blue in the face and coding with an allergic reaction or something. I call their name & for another nurse to come over and it's like I'm yelling in my sleep but nothing happens. :dead:

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.

You know even after a decade I don't think I've ever truly had a nursing dream. I mean I hear the beeps in my head (lol) when I am driving home and at home, but don't think I've had a full dream.

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Im pretty sure some patients have this type of nightmare too!

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All of the above. I have had dreams where I forget patients, forget to give report, or forget some really important task. I had one where I accidentally let a levo drip run dry and the patient dropped their pressure and coded...man I sure was happy to wake up from that one!

Also, when it's quiet and I'm trying to sleep after a busy shift, I can still the honking/beeping sound from all the vents constantly alarming. I have to turn on the TV just so there's some kind of noise in the background other than my imaginary vents LOL.

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Specializes in NICU, Peds, Med-Surg.

I haven't worked in NICU for 18 years, yet last night, I had one of those verrrrrry long, detailed dreams about it.

(I call dreams like this "epic movie dreams" and I'm surprised I didn't have a big barrel of popcorn in my bed when I woke up!)

The thing that's funny is that the parts of the dream about TAKING CARE of the sick premies was FINE---this dream wasn't about

the stress of that at all. It turned into a "nightmare" when my shift was finally over, but ALL my nursing notes were BLANK!

I frantically started writing, knowing that the next nurse was waiting on those notes and would be mad. I also realized I

hadn't weighed some of the babies. A few nursing students were sitting with me, and they were SHOCKED at how much

we had to chart. They kept watching me struggling, and I was making SO many errors and explaining to them how you have to put a line through and initial, etc. etc. They kept saying they weren't sure they'd be able to handle all of that

charting, and maybe needed to change careers.

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Specializes in LTC, Rehab.

This wasn't a dream, but is funny. I was admitting a new patient in a 2-person room, and I had the computer on wheels facing the new patient, asking him a bunch of questions, etc. I started hearing a beeping, and it didn't sound like it was coming from inside the room (the place was loud sometimes, and my ears aren't perfect either). The only thing I could think of was a PEG pump down the hall, but I stuck my head out in the hall, and didn't hear it. A few minutes later I hear beeping again. Turned around, and on the TV on the wall - which the other patient was watching - there was a patient in bed in a hospital, with alarms going off. :^)

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Specializes in Hematology-oncology.

I've had many a dream when I worked night shift (and slept at night on days off), where I would sit bolt upright in bed, panicking that I hadn't checked on my patients in awhile.

Probably the craziest dream I had occurred while I still worked in pediatrics though. I dreamed that I came to work, and was told that I was floating to the NICU. Upon arriving, the charge nurse handed me my assignment with the 3 babies I was responsible for on it. When I walked over to the first bassinet and looked inside it was a baby *SQUIRREL*! I looked at my notecard for the patient, and it said "baby boy McNut". All I could think was "I can't believe I got floated to the NICU to take care of a squirrel!". Then I woke up. Ironically enough, when I went to work, I WAS floated to the NICU, but I cared for 3 human babies. ?

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