What kinds of nightmares or dreams do you have as a nurse / pca / healthcare worker?
As a PCA - I used to work at a nursing home with the same group of residents. I would dream about doing a toileting round on them, taking each one to the bathroom in my sleep, in the same exhausting pattern I had been doing for years. I would never wake up refreshed!
As an RN - I have recurrent nightmares about forgetting I had a patient on my assignment. I'll get to report and then the horror dawns on me that I forgot about the patient in room "7" all shift - never assessed them, checked on them, or gave them meds, even though they were assigned to me. I have nightmares about missing entire med passes (i.e. I suddenly realize it's 1030 and haven't done my AM med pass). Not really a dream, but the first time I rotated to night shift, I forgot and woke up in the afternoon in a blind panic that I was late for shift - I even called the hospital to try to salvage myself.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I've had a thing with amio ever since the dream, skeevs me out. Do you remember what happened to the patient?
Ultimately, he was fine. It was rocky for a bit, though. He was anxious, restless, dizzy, nauseated and had cardiac dysrrhythmias. I don't think he actually seized, but I remember padding his side rails and getting prepared for the eventuality. The vomiting was epic -- we'd pad the side rails and he'd barf all over the padding, so we'd pad them again.
Greg did the same thing with Heparin, only I caught that one when only half of the bag had gone in. I don't know how he kept his job as long as he did!
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
The ABSOLUTE worst nightmare is one in which I am standing at the elevator trying to code out of the secure dementia unit and I keep putting the code in over and over but the door won't open for me...I look down and am wearing only a hospital gown, slipper socks and a wander guard bracelet on my ankle . I wake up in a cold sweat, SOB , heart pounding and tears on my face and I have this one every couple of months. We have a few residents close to my age-it hits too close to home.
I often awaken feeling exhausted from a "nocturnal shift" spent running through never-ending and ever-lengthening halls searching for residents I should have assessed and medicated hours earlier or I'm pushing the med cart down the long, winding road behind the facility or the middle of the nearby major highway-in rush hour traffic. But those nights are nothing compared to the feeling of cold air on my buttocks that causes me to look down and see that gown and wander guard bracelet on my ankle..it gives me shivers just writing about it...I so hope I don't have it tonite.
My recurring work nightmare is where I am back in the Emergency Department and everything I am doing is in slow motion. I can not keep up with the pace of the shift and problems shooting at me rapid fire. I can not quicken my pace no matter how hard I try and all the people and problems keep piling up until I wake in a panic and at the same time relieved that it was just a dream.
"But the scariest was when my vented ETOH withdrawal patient turned into a lion, roared out of bed, and started attacking staff. This may actually be the most realistic dream."
Yes, this is realistic. Apart from getting out of bed, I think we had this guy in my PACU a few months ago.
I just remembered another dream....this one was recent-a few months ago.
I am a (new) supervisor role at my current job. Totally new experience for me.
I had a dream I was trying to support a nurse how to prevent burnout, and she lunged at me and I had to defend myself by not hitting her, but preventing her from choking me, because she was burned out...this is the polar opposite of how the staff views me
My most memorable dream happened when I was a student. I was doing my clinical immersion in the PACU, and I dreamed that my patient had all kinds of issues: needed a FSBS, needed blood (which I couldn't do because I wasn't licensed yet), needed a slew of labs drawn that I didn't know, etc. I looked around for someone to help me, but everyone had gone to a lunch (with pizza, if memory serves) without me. I ran back to the patient but couldn't do anything to get started. When my coworkers finally emerged from the lunch, I asked them to please help me with the blood, and one nurse (who had to be the absolute sweetest person in the department) said, "Look, we had a meeting, and we decided that we've helped you enough and we're not going to help you anymore." Thankfully I woke up.
So I told them about this dream the next shift I worked, and one smart-aleck nurse replied, "Oh, you heard about that meeting?"
Back in 2000 -2004 I worked for the worst manager ever. This manager made my life a living hell to the point I would not answer the phone on my days off. The staff would rather work short then have her come help, because she was so incompetent as a nurse. It was such a hostile work environment, but I thought I could prove to her my worth..... I was wrong.
I still have nightmares about working for her, and all the rotten, cheap shots she took.
Now that I've posted in and read this thread I had TWO nursing dreams last night
1) Left work, drove 45 minutes home, realized that I left before my shift ended and never gave report on my patients to the day nurses. I knew I'd get in big trouble for patient abandonment, so I was trying to drive back (but kept getting lost as luck would have it in a stress dream!) without anyone noticing what I had done.
2) I had to give 2 units of prbcs. I took a temperature right before I hung the first bag. A few hours pass, I hang the second one and realize that I never checked another temp after starting the first transfusion. I check and the patient's temp is 106F.
Today I had a dream that I pooped on myself at work and had to work the rest of my shift all poopy, Lol.
I've had the "forgetting" dreams before and they are the worst although I've actually been in a situation where a patient was forgotten to the end of the shift. When I worked nights in ltc the call light came on in a supposedly empty room at about 6am, the cna went in to check and there was a man asking what time breakfast was... He was admitted on 2nd shift and the previous nurse "forgot" to mention it in report or finish the admission paperwork. Luckily the man didn't actually need any care, meds or anything and we never let on like we didn't know he was there but, it was very scary!
I picked up an overnight shift last night and had the most vivid dreams when I finally went to bed. It mostly consisted of a patient chasing behind me while I was driving my car around the city. I just kept driving and driving, with the guy a few inches behind me the whole time.
Specializes in family practice and school nursing.
I am really in the minority. I've been a nurse for over 30 yrs and can count on one hand the number of times I've dreamed about work.I don't think much about work when I leave either. I don't know why but I always seem to leave work at work..
My nightmares include warehouse-like units (complete with improvised and dirty furniture and linens), multi-floor or multi-building patient assignments (patient 1 in building 1, patient 2 in building 2 down the street, etc), unit rearranged and no one will tell me where things/rooms/patients are, not being able to find the assignment sheet and no one willing to help me, forgetting about patients, missing med passes, not having done anything all day long and realizing only 1hr left...
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
Ultimately, he was fine. It was rocky for a bit, though. He was anxious, restless, dizzy, nauseated and had cardiac dysrrhythmias. I don't think he actually seized, but I remember padding his side rails and getting prepared for the eventuality. The vomiting was epic -- we'd pad the side rails and he'd barf all over the padding, so we'd pad them again.
Greg did the same thing with Heparin, only I caught that one when only half of the bag had gone in. I don't know how he kept his job as long as he did!