Recurrent dreams about work.

not a psych nurse, but it sure sounds like textbook anxiety. If you have an employee assitance program I recommend contacting a professional to learn how to deal with stress. We all have stress, but maybe you need some new coping skills. GOOD LUCK

When I was a new ICU nurse I dreamed an entire 8-hour shift-- every set of vital signs q15 minutes, every turn, drug, blood draw, lab result, visit from the house staff, respirator change, visitors, hourly U/O, NG tube fidget, hemodynamics titration, and charting all of it. I woke up to go to work in the morning absolutely exhausted because it was just like working a double shift.

I found myself thinking about what I SHOULD have said or done, after the fact. Waste of time of course. Nursing is stressful so it is important to learn how to cope.

I don't have work dreams that often, but when I do it's one of the ones you describe! I'll wake up in a panic and almost feel like melting butter when I realize it was just a dream, I relax so much.

I have dreams with all the beeping alarm sounds everywhere. Sometimes I'm in a hospital, but sometimes I'm just in random places hearing alarms. I've had a dream about an IV pump alarm going off that I couldn't find, but it was my alarm clock!

We had a patient once that stayed with us for weeks and weeks, constantly yelling out, "Nurse...nurse...nurse!" the entire time. I had a dream that I could hear her calling somewhere, and the whole dream was just me running around trying to find her.

I have a similar dream- it's time for report and I realize there's a patient I haven't seen all shift. The 'deluxe' version of this is that I cannot for the life of me find their room. The 'super deluxe' version is I have a full bladder and the staff bathroom is occupied for the whole twelve hours. Yeah....

Not a nurse yet, but I worked as a night auditor at a hotel for 3 years. I'd have a recurring dream that I was sitting at the front desk (a no no as we were supposed to stand) and I would dream that I fell asleep and woke up with my manager standing in front of me. Actually had a dream I left in the middle of my shift to go swimming (at 4 am) and both my bosses were there when I got back with soaking wet hair and told them flat out where I had been. Also dreamt that I forgot to make breakfast numerous times. I'd always tell my boss about them, she'd get such a kick out of them and tell me I'm crazy. Well yes, but that's beside the point

I have a similar dream- it's time for report and I realize there's a patient I haven't seen all shift. The 'deluxe' version of this is that I cannot for the life of me find their room. The 'super deluxe' version is I have a full bladder and the staff bathroom is occupied for the whole twelve hours. Yeah....

I've had this one numerous times.

There is also the version where I fall asleep at the patients bedside and don't wake up until it's time to give report.

This is analogous to the exam dream many have in school...going to take a final only to find out that you did not go to class all semester OR that you cannot find the room for the test!!

I don't think this is terribly worrisome, just your brain processing your shifts. When I worked at bedside, the dream was always that a pt had been put in some "phantom" new room at the end of the hall, and I had not seen them all shift!!!

Sometimes it is hard to tell if my dreams are actually me dreaming, or if they are my thoughts as I am drifting off to sleep.

When I go to bed I start analyzing my entire day. Every medication, intervention, assessment, ect... What did I miss? Did I forget to report something? Sometimes I will realize something small that I forgot or could have done better/different. Once I realize what that is, I can hardly sleep from anxiety thinking about it.

I reach a point where I do sleep and no longer am controlling my thoughts.... I will start dreaming. Then I will wake up suddenly, heart racing, realizing something random that I did not realize I had forgotten. This can be hours after going to sleep. Whatever it is that woke me is usually I have no memory of thinking about prior to going to sleep. Something like forgetting to warn the oncoming nurse to be alert for a pending lab result. Random stuff.

Then there are the totally off the wall work dreams. Often I am having to respond to an emergency situation and I am doing it badly, or floating to an unfamiliar unit/hospital. Sometimes I dream of running down the halls with never ending beeping IV's, monitors, bed alarms, ect... Actually I even hear these as I drift off to sleep.

Most of my work dreams involve things I am anxious about/fear in real life.