Sleeping during nightshift!!

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 1, 2007

Kenny: Not everyone is blessed to be able to be home fulltime when their kids are little. Two-income-earner families exist for a reason, and it's not always because people are greedy. Also, for better or worse, there are a lot of single parents who have to work to support their kids. Personally, I am careful to withhold judgement of folks who have to work and use daycare to support their families. I have been blessed having a military husband who supports us well (although definately not rich, being enlisted) and I was able to be home or work around his schedule when I did have to work. I rarely used any daycare, and when I did, it was in the home of a friend who was a licensed provider. Also, kids don't stop needing parents around when they become "big". Teenagers are as needy as toddlers, just in different ways. Very few parents can afford to stay home for 18 years or more to raise their kids alone, although I suspect many would love to, if they could.

But I make no mistake about who is raising my children, it has definately been my husband and I......anyhow I digress.

I guess I am of the mind some other countries seem to be; what a person does on his/her UNPAID break should be up to them, as long as it's not illegal or dangerous. Studies continue to show a nap can be beneficial to personal health and sharpness at work (for some people). I don't think nodding off on an unpaid break is a horrible thing as long as one's patients are all cared for and covered, and all workers on the unit are afforded the same opportunities to take a break. I guess I did night shift too long and hated every minute of it---the exhaustion always got to me. But rare was the night when I really did take any sort of nodding-off break. I did not work fulltime nightshift and I just did not like sleeping during my working hours as it sometimes made me feel worse. But I did not begrudge coworkers who did, as long as things were covered. Fulltime nightshift work is very difficult, even for those who claim to love working NOCs. It's really been shown to be unhealthy. Anyhow, it's sure interesting to read the differing opinions and procedures across the board on this issue.

Cattitude · Mar 1, 2007

fulltime nightshift work is very difficult, even for those who claim to love working nocs. it's really been shown to be unhealthy. anyhow, it's sure interesting to read the differing opinions and procedures across the board on this issue.

you know something? i was a noc nurse who loved my shift! i also love the ability to shop and do my errands during the week without the crowd. i thought i had the perfect work life.

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[color=#483d8b]then i changed jobs and went to a day position and 5 days at that. after getting used to the "real world" again i can honestly say i feel 100% better. i will not go back to nights again ever unless life circumstances force me to. it really is very hard on the body/mind.

[color=#483d8b]i did it for 7 years and it takes a very special breed to do noc's, love us!!!

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blueheaven · Mar 1, 2007

This is not my first night shift position and I am shocked at how many people at this hospital sleep during their shift. I'm not talking about nodding off for a couple minutes either. They are slumped over in chair, head on the desk drooling all over themselves (at the nurses station!). Their little slumber lasts 1-2 hours, some even sneak off and sleep in their vehicles for this amount time. During this time almost everybody is busy, and even busier because they're pick up their slack.
I have mentioned this to several of the CN's, and don't get much of a response. It just some how seems accepted?!? This just can't be normal?
It's so frustrating, I run my butt off and barely manage to get breaks, eat while chart etc... and there they are: snoozing in the corner.
Please tell me this is far from the norm where you work!

Questions, Why are you running your butt off and allowing yourself to be abused?? Are you in charge?? If you are, WAKE THEM UP! If you aren't in charge and it's their patient WAKE THEM UP! Take your breaks, WAKE THEM UP and say, I am taking my break, lunch and get away for a bit. OR go to your manager and tell her, hey I worked through my breaks and my lunch and I need to be paid for that time.

I don't know if it's the norm where I work at now, because I have never worked nights. From the looks of some of my patients in the morning, I kinda think some sleeping is going on.

blueheaven · Mar 1, 2007

Kenny: Not everyone is blessed to be able to be home fulltime when their kids are little. Two-income-earner families exist for a reason, and it's not always because people are greedy. Also, for better or worse, there are a lot of single parents who have to work to support their kids. Personally, I am careful to withhold judgement of folks who have to work and use daycare to support their families. I have been blessed having a military husband who supports us well (although definately not rich, being enlisted) and I was able to be home or work around his schedule when I did have to work. I rarely used any daycare, and when I did, it was in the home of a friend who was a licensed provider. Also, kids don't stop needing parents around when they become "big". Teenagers are as needy as toddlers, just in different ways. Very few parents can afford to stay home for 18 years or more to raise their kids alone, although I suspect many would love to, if they could.
But I make no mistake about who is raising my children, it has definately been my husband and I......anyhow I digress.
I guess I am of the mind some other countries seem to be; what a person does on his/her UNPAID break should be up to them, as long as it's not illegal or dangerous. Studies continue to show a nap can be beneficial to personal health and sharpness at work (for some people). I don't think nodding off on an unpaid break is a horrible thing as long as one's patients are all cared for and covered, and all workers on the unit are afforded the same opportunities to take a break. I guess I did night shift too long and hated every minute of it---the exhaustion always got to me. But rare was the night when I really did take any sort of nodding-off break. I did not work fulltime nightshift and I just did not like sleeping during my working hours as it sometimes made me feel worse. But I did not begrudge coworkers who did, as long as things were covered. Fulltime nightshift work is very difficult, even for those who claim to love working NOCs. It's really been shown to be unhealthy. Anyhow, it's sure interesting to read the differing opinions and procedures across the board on this issue.

The only reason I came OFF night shift originallly was because my youngest teen age daughter was giving me problems and the state was threatening to take her away from me. Talk about teenagers needing more attention than toddlers!! My husband (at the time) was absolutely NO help whatsoever and I was the primary source of income.

As for Kenny- Don't judge us until you have walked a mile or two in our shoes (I have no soles on mine now)

blueheaven · Mar 1, 2007

Or maybe those folks could change their standard of living so that they can be parents when their kids were small rather than letting someone else raise them. ---Just a thought...

Your ability to generalize everyone's situation is a bit much for me. Not all of us have or had supportive spouses as far as child-rearing goes. Change my standard of living??? PLEASE! When my children were small my RN pay was at poverty level (for a family of 4). Made just a little too much to qualify for any other help. We did not live excessively, drove a junker. I would have LOVED to have been able to stay home with my kids and had the opportunity to homeschool them etc.

I know many nurses (and many here on the boards will bear this out) that if given the opportunity would stay home.

kenny b · Mar 1, 2007

It's pretty clear to me that I owe you and a lot of other people a BIG apology. I don't have an excuse for hurting you like that, but please listen to my reason (even if I don't perhaps deserve that consideration).

I used to teach high school math at an inner city school. I got to see a few great turn-around successes. I also got to see many lives ruined by teen pregnancy, drugs, and you name it. In many of those cases both parents were working and, although they didn't exactly live the high life, they could definitely afford to tone down their lifestyles and live on a single-parent income.

Anyway, I bumped into one of my sucesses the other day. This girl was one who's parents never really found time to raise her and she'd had some bad experiences with her so-called "qualified" caregivers throughout her childhood (licensed, bonded, and you-name-it, but no substitute for the real thing).

Anyway, without going into too much detail, I worked with her a lot and I when I last saw her she was on the right track to overcome all the pitfalls you have when you go looking to fill that void in your life. Unfortunately, yesterday, (10 years after she graduated HS), I bumped into her and found that she'd allowed that void in her life to overwhelm her and she'd sort of ruined her life and repeated the cycle.

I've met her parents more than once and I can tell you that they'd swear on a stack of bibles that there was no way they could make a single income work and I know that's false.

So I went into a kind of black dispare as I began to wonder how many of my "successes" turned out like this. Then I logged into allnurses for some comfort and came across this thread.

I over-reacted and I'm sorry for that beyond words - to everyone that my post hurt.

And just for the record, when my mother finally kicked my worthless, abusive father out, we were 7 months behind in the mortgage payment and she made just over 7k that year. I have some experience with this kind of situation. Which only means that I have even of an excuse to have spouted off the way I did.

My hat is off to all of the single parents trying to make it work.

Are you going to pay my bills? Because if I don't work, my son doesn't eat, and I don't have health insurence. Yeah, pretty high standards I have...

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Mar 1, 2007

Or maybe those folks could change their standard of living so that they can be parents when their kids were small rather than letting someone else raise them. ---Just a thought...

Wow... thats pretty judgemental. Not everyone has a spouse. And not everyone has a spouse that has a job that can support them and their children. Some also have to financially take care of elderly parents/grandparents. :crying2: I doubt all nurses and their partners who work drive a brand new SUV and live in a huge brand new house while putting their kids in daycare.

I am a very part-time working mom, btw. I work around my dh's schedule. But I am sticking up for others who aren't as financially well off as we are.

NurseCherlove · Mar 1, 2007

As a day shift nurse who runs my butt off every time I work, the thought of the night shifters sleeping where I work really pisses me off for one simple reason: the supply drawers by the patients' bedside are hardly ever stocked adequately!!!!! These locking drawers are *supposed* to have things like IV tubing, 2X2s, 4X4s, needles, syringes, etc. to save the nurses from having to constantly walk back and forth to the main supply area all day. The only break I ever get is a quick lunch and sometimes I wish I could go on without having to take that (I just get entirely too hungry to function). Also, I hate going into a patient's room first thing in the AM to give early AM meds and lo and behold...no ice, no water. When our night techs go in to draw AM labs around 5:00 or so, they should be bringing in ice and water with them because the day techs also run like the day nurses do.

I'm not trying to start up something about who works the hardest or anything...it's just that the couple of times I've stayed over and worked a 16 hour shift, I have noticed some sleeping in the break room and lots of standing around chatting at the nursing station - things I've never had the pleasure of doing. I realize it's hard to stay up all night, but night shifters are well compensated for that trouble and I think they should be required to do the things mentioned above to help day shift!

Sorry, just had to vent...it's a big pet peeve of mine where I work.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 2, 2007

I'm not trying to start up something about who works the hardest or anything...it's just that the couple of times I've stayed over and worked a 16 hour shift, I have noticed some sleeping in the break room and lots of standing around chatting at the nursing station - things I've never had the pleasure of doing. I realize it's hard to stay up all night, but night shifters are well compensated for that trouble and I think they should be required to do the things mentioned above to help day shift!
Sorry, just had to vent...it's a big pet peeve of mine where I work.

Sorry you have that going on in your facility....frankly I wish I had the opportunity to relax the way your nightshifters seem to! I'm from a unit that quite literally has no break time, no meal time, and the techs are running too (except that they make darned sure they get their breaks no matter WHAT the heck is going down).

I get frustrated when the day shift complains that the IV trays weren't stocked at night, when we are SOOOO busy at night that we don't have a prayer of getting the time off that they do during the day. They have guaranteed meal breaks. We don't.

I think I'm well compensated with a shift differential, but like you I don't like to get into the "who works harder" discussion. I'd just like it if the day shift DID realize how hard we DO work at night, just once in awhile. We come in to a medroom that's trashed from the daytime, and if it looks like that the next morning, WE are blamed for the mess. Same with the breakroom: if it's a mess in the morning, why didn't we clean it up? Never mind the fact that we never saw the inside of that room for 8 hours, LOL....and the mess that's there is from the PREVIOUS shift!

Ah well, I guess I had a vent left in me, too :)

flashpoint · Mar 2, 2007

These self righteous nurses on this board who feel that nurses should not take a nap during their "unpaid" breaks are the professions "know it alls" I'm sure most of them are day shift nurses who either had NEVER worked a night shift...or have not worked one in so long, they don't remember how long it can be.

I don;t think I am a "know it all." I work nights most of the time (for now), but I don't sleep. I do much better if I stay busy...if I tried to sleep for just 30 minutes, I would wake up in worse condition than if I had stayed awake. I have no problem with people sleeping, smoking, leaving, or whtever as long as there is staff to cover the floor. I don't appreciate the nurses who consistently take lunch breaks that end up being 2 hours instead of 30 minutes and then get bent out of shape when you wake them up. If you can keep your sleep time to whatever your break is supposed to be and don't end up dumping on your coworkers, I think you should go for it. If you can't, you need to stay awake.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 3, 2007

Originally Posted by lorster
These self righteous nurses on this board who feel that nurses should not take a nap during their "unpaid" breaks are the professions "know it alls" I'm sure most of them are day shift nurses who either had NEVER worked a night shift...or have not worked one in so long, they don't remember how long it can be.

Amazing it is when people have a different opinion, they are automatically "self-righteous" and "know-it-alls" to some. What a shame.

GardenDove · Mar 3, 2007

Amazing it is when people have a different opinion, they are automatically "self-righteous" and "know-it-alls" to some. What a shame.

Maybe it was the tone of somebody's delivery of their opinion. I've noticed before on other threads that one person will have a 'self rightous' tone in their post, then everyone else who shares their opinion gets lumped with the one who is particularly strident.