Post-traumatic nurse disorder ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Cardiology, Oncology, Medsurge.

post traumatic nurse disorder/ or sleep deprived, you choose which…

i really had a freaky situation happen to me when i first began working. i’m a nurse now, however earlier before officially starting nursing school i became a nurse assistant. now right after getting my certificate i began working at a rehab hospital and in a step down unit at a community hospital. unwittingly, i set myself up for working way too many hours of seeing things i’d not seen before (blood, feces mix --confused, multiple lines, dying or confused pts,get the picture, all of this new to me).

o.k. one night i found myself awake in my living room at home in the dark unawares (not knowing if i‘d been sleeping, just awake)…now i thought i was in the hospital (step down unit!)…looked to my right and saw the red lcd of the clock radio at the side of the living room’s sofa and thought to myself…spo2 monitor, someone’s resting, don’t’ disturb that pt!…and then went into the hallway looked in on a “patient’s room" (our guest room) and thought patient’s sleeping can’t disturb this one lol and back tracked to enter the “nurses station” (our restroom). now i just stood there and realized something was missing…maybe light, ‘cause i worked days? no! my mind told my semi - awake traumatized self o.k. if this is the nurses station, let’s see with our hands…hand to my left = toilet, hand to my middle = sink. this is not the damn hospital, and this is not saigon lol…anyway…have any of you folks suffered such awful disorienting stuff since you’ve been the nurse?!!

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Specializes in cardiac med-surg.

on vacation, 500 miles from home, 2 codes going on simultaneously in my nightmare

ackkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

Recently I was in the daily morning process of trying to outwit the snooze alarm. I said to myself in my head, "MLOS, you have to open your eyes." Then I fell back asleep again, and dreamed of hearing various coworkers' voices saying, "MLOS, open your eyes! Squeeze my hand! Lift this leg up off the bed!" I was undergoing my own neuro exam in my sleep ... :confused:

Very disorienting ... definite post-traumatic nurse disorder! :chuckle

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

When I was first a nurse, I would hear the IVs beeping in my sleep. A couple times I got up as if to go silence them and realized mid stride that I was home and it was night time and I dreamt the sound.

More recently, I've been having vivid dreams involving my coworkers. Nothing inappropriate, or even medical, just bizarre. I think I'm just spending too much time with them...lol

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I've had interesting nightmares and night terrors, many associated with the fact that I have been the victim of assault, battery, etc. directly r/t my job in nrsg. I can't say anymore b/c the mods will remove my post. You can't talk about such matters on this site.

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the most I've had is waking up and not knowing if it is day or night , or if I am late for work or even suppose to be at work. One time I dreamed that I was on the toilet and peed the bed though .

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.

Oh yeah...and I'm not even a nurse yet. After one particularly vivid dream it took nearly 30 minutes to convince myself that I had in fact NOT stolen a '79 Winnebago from the scene of an accident and that my boss was not a police officer who was going to haul me off to the locked unit.

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Specializes in Range of paediatric specialties.

I lie awake at night worrying about clinical decisions I've made in the community , was it the treatment , will that mum cope with the NG Ive just inserted etc. When I worked in hospitals I could ring the staff on shift and get them to check, but now I lie awake til am and can't wait to get to work and ring the client or get some advice from a specialist.

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Specializes in Cardiology, Oncology, Medsurge.
on vacation, 500 miles from home, 2 codes going on simultaneously in my nightmare

i was pondering to myself, there must be a solution, cure to this misery of post traumatic nurse disorder. now my thought that a little rest on a far off island would be swell, well that too has been blown asunder with this muffie post!

aagh!

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Recently I was in the daily morning process of trying to outwit the snooze alarm. I said to myself in my head, "MLOS, you have to open your eyes." Then I fell back asleep again, and dreamed of hearing various coworkers' voices saying, "MLOS, open your eyes! Squeeze my hand! Lift this leg up off the bed!" I was undergoing my own neuro exam in my sleep ... :confused:

Very disorienting ... definite post-traumatic nurse disorder! :chuckle

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:
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I've had numerous incidents. Recently had a whole slew of dreams where people I knew were being diagnosed as terminally ill.

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Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.

Yes. When I was first a cna, at a nursing home, I would wake up frequently during sleep and be in a panic, thinking I am at work, picked an empty bed and fell asleep, and all my patients were being neglected/unsupervised/fell/soiled and sitting in it. It was terrible.... It happened all the time....

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