txnurse48

Don't pass up an opportunity to burp a colostomy bag.

Ick, what is that wet, gooey stuff I just touched on the bedside table, bedrail, etc?

Late comment to anotherone. I had to giggle at your comment re the colors and the leaves on the trees. I've noticed the same things after working app 100 hours in 10 days, then sleeping it off, and switching to being a day-timer during my time off. I'm amazed at all of the traffic during the earlier parts of the day and the brightness of the sun (I live in Texas), and just the LIFE that is out there. I walk my dogs twice a day, and wear dark sunglasses and a hat with a wide brim to decrease the glare. My neighbors must think I'm a kook. :) I'm just not used to being in bright sunlight! Hopefully, the dog walking gets me enough sun exposure, for at least 1/2 of the year anyway. viva la nightshifters!

I love working 12s at night and have been doing it for two years, but I have always been a night owl. I feel very queasy if I get up before the sun rises. Although working 12s at night, especially 3 in a row, leaves me feeling jet-lagged, I love having 4 days off. I feel like I really get a break from work. When I worked 8-5 M-F at a desk job, I dreaded Sunday evenings and Monday mornings.

I have been working nights for two years and try to work 3 12s in a row. On my first day off I sleep til 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Then usually nap between 10 and midnight for an hour or so (usually falling asleep during Leno or Fallon), then go to bed for real between 3 am and 6 am and sleep til noon. I keep this schedule pretty much on all my days off, but I'll change it if I have an early morning appt. I have found that keeping close to the same schedule on all my days works best. During spring break 2012, I tried switching immediately to days so I could spend time with my 20 year old son and he later told his granny ( my mom) "Even when mom's awake, she's asleep!". Lesson to me--give myself 48 hours to switch back to days. Although, sometimes I'm able to stay awake for about 20 hours and switch that way, but that's always an accident when it happens. Another warning--getting hooked on caffeine. I found that it just made me more tired and craving carbs. I now take a home-made smoothie to work with lots of fruit and some kale and spinach, gave up dairy, and I haven't had to drink caffeine to stay awake for 3 months now. And, I feel a lot better. :) May not work for everyone, but it's been a great cure for the "sick and tired of being tired" routine.

Good explanation. Unfortunately, we often get pts that should "swing" home or "swing" to LTAC, but the powers-that-be have other ideas.

I, too, prefer to review on my own or with 1 or 2 others who study similarly to me. While I don't remember sitting through reviews in nursing school, I do remember certain instructors spending too much time listening to whiners during some classes. Sounds like an opportunity to speak up and say, "May we start the review?"

I prefer to wear a watch with a stretch band (I know, my son tells me I look like an old lady) or a slap watch which has few nooks and crannies for fomites. The slap watch is really nurse-friendly. I can easily and quickly move it to my upper arm if I am going to be up-to-my-elbows in something. The watch part is removable if you want to wash the band later. Really like the idea about the clippy light. Currently using a penlight or my mini-mag that I prop somewhere when needed if I don't have extra hands available.

Your username says it all! :)

I have to say our hospital is great with scheduling meetings. They are usually scheduled mid day shift or right before night shift. Our scheduler calls at all times of the day but it doesn't bother me. I turn my phone off or put it on vibrate when I'm sleeping and return calls when I wake up. When I first started working nights, I put a "do not disturb" sign on my front door when I was sleeping to deter any would-be visitors. Now I don't have to because most people know I'm up all night and sleep til at least 1300 even on my days off.

I have been working nights since I graduated a couple of years ago. I love it! The pros: usually no management around, no meetings or few meetings, few family members or visitors (as they are often more demanding than the pts), more time to get the know the pts (especially those who are up at all hours of the night), reverse commuting, the helpfulness and friendliness of other night nurses. Cons: sleep deprivation when working back-to-back shifts (although I prefer those shifts), not knowing if I'm supposed to be eating breakfast or dinner, so I just eat what I want whenever I have time which may just be twice a day, not enough time to spend with family/friends, decreased motivation to get anything thing done after I wake up on my days off and then when I do wake up enough, all the businesses are closed, neighbors who do not understand that when they come over at 5 pm and I'm in my nightgown and scarfing down a salad that I really don't have time to visit even after they ask me if I'm working tonight, coming to work and seeing hours-old leftover food in the breakroom from admin to day shift and nothing fresh or nothing at all for the night shift, having to stock the supply room because central supply person is gone for the day, having to search multiple Pixis for meds because our unit is out of Protonix or Prilosec, Really?? and there is no pharmacist to stock at night, having a computer issue and having to wait for IT to respond (although this is getting better), having to plunge a toilet because housekeeping is gone for the day, having the kitchen call and ask for the diet of a pt who has been NPO for 2 weeks and then asking to have the diet order faxed right at med pass time, dr ordered snacks that are not stocked in the pt fridge and no one in the kitchen to deliver them, having people ask me, What do you do all night? The patients are sleeping. Really??? But, even with all this, nursing is the BOMB! I still love it!

I have really enjoyed reading these comments and as an RN who graduated at the age of 48 with a second bachelor's degree, I can say getting my BSN and RN have been the best moves I have ever made in my working life! I left a decent-paying job but not much job-security in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and moved away to go to nursing school FT and lived off my savings (which wasn't a lot). My family thought I was nuts and several co-workers tried to talk me out of it, saying that nursing isn't what it used to be (but what is). I've always worked in hospitals or other healthcare facilities in various positions M-F, 8-5, which never really agreed with me. I always dreaded Mondays! I now work 7p-7a in a physical rehabilitation hospital and I love it. I like the staff I work with, the patients I care for, and the hours I work (FT is 36 hours/wk with 12 hour shifts) and the money is great, too. I've been working two years and I have paid off all student loans, credit card debt, and have assisted my son with getting through his 7th year of university. All my life, people have been suggesting to me that I should go to nursing school and I always resisted, because I didn't want the responsibility of saving lives. Ironically, I feel that in becoming an RN, I saved my own life. I now look forward to going to work most of the time :), instead of dreading another day of mundane lunchtime meetings, watching the clock, and just generally not being challenged emotionally, cognitively, and physically. Would I make the same decision to go to nursing school if I had it to do over again? Absolutely!! And I would have done it a few years sooner, too!