sleeping staff

itsme · Jan 23, 2003

Sounds like the perfect time for a fire drill!! That would wake them up!

ERNurse752, RN · Jan 23, 2003

hehe...or a good time to run in and start shaking them, yelling, "Code Blue!!!!"

NS_RN · Jan 23, 2003

My Gawd...what type of unit is it?? All of them? Wow.Good time for nsg supervisor to do a round,eh??

Anyhooo...on my 34 bed med unit, we have a few RN's who just can't seem to make it thru the nite shift without a nap....drives me nuts. They will go in the family room to take a nap. Of course, that is when thier patients always need a pain med or an aerosol.

I NEVER sleep on nites...I'd feel gross if I did. And I have young kids and never get a nap before night shift...these nurses have no reason not to sleep all day before thier nites if they wish.

Arghhhhh.

passing thru · Jan 23, 2003

In my hospital, I'd say 30 % of staff sleeps a full hour at night. 1/3 of staff is agency. agency does not sleep, they would get fired. nor do they snitch if they know what is good for them. staff sleeps, and supervisors know it...they look the other way.As they say, "what happens on night shift STAYS on night shift."

ChainedChaosRN · Jan 23, 2003

A year ago, almost to the date, I paid a "surprise" visit at 3:30am to my LTC facility. I found 5 people sleeping, the first I found was the nursing supervisor sleeping at the nurses station. I had to shake her shoulder to wake her up.

The CNS's I fired of course filed union grievances. Only one went to arbitration, she lost, the termination held and was valid. Amazes me how someone can sleep on the job and think they shouldn't be fired. Ignorance shows no boundaries.

I continue to make random "surprise" visits. It's no longer an issue. Thank God for the patients.

Dawn

jacolaur · Jan 23, 2003

I would take a picture, blow it up nice and big and send it to them, maybe send a copy to the supervisor, post one at the lunch room entrance, heck maybe even the lobby....wtf..everywhere... :devil:

passing thru · Jan 23, 2003

I would have to have a camera that did not flash. You do not understand. Everyone ""KNOWS"". except ceo

eltrip · Jan 23, 2003

Not sleeping on the job is usually in the employee handbook. Wherever I've worked, it's one of the grounds for immediate dismissal, for any position.

RainbowSkye · Jan 23, 2003

You know what? I think you have a responsibility to report this to whoever you need to report it to. I know it's hard to be the bad guy, but if anything would ever happen to one of the patients because a nurse was sleeping... If you're a licensed person, I think you actually have a legal responsibility to do so.

I don't think sleeping on the night shift should be tolerated (go Chaos!) except during the 30 minute lunch break time. Generally staff is paid a premium for working nights (at my little podunk hospital it's $3/hour) so I would expect them to be awake at work.

Enright · Jan 23, 2003

I was a full time night nurse for 12 years, 11p to 7:30 a. I am horrified to hear that this goes on still. I always took it as a personal and professional reponsibility to get enough sleep to do my job. When I was a night manager, I fired people I found sleeping. Its a job, not an adventure. Prime problems were substance abusers, young partyers and nurse moms trying to do it all on no sleep. No excuses. Firing due to sleeping was one of the easiest employment actions to uphold.

I guess what corks me off the most is that I was so busy as a night RN/charge, I had no time to pee, let alone take an hour or two for sleep. Sleepers and units that allow this give night nurses a tarnish they do not deserve. When I left clinical nursing I had a nightly patient load of 15 very sick children to medicate, do aerosols (no R/T), assess and cater to their up all night parents.

I believe any RN who sleeps on his/her shift should be fired.

night owl · Jan 23, 2003

Originally posted by NS_RN
My Gawd...what type of unit is it?? All of them? Wow.Good time for nsg supervisor to do a round,eh??
Anyhooo...on my 34 bed med unit, we have a few RN's who just can't seem to make it thru the nite shift without a nap....drives me nuts. They will go in the family room to take a nap. Of course, that is when thier patients always need a pain med or an aerosol.
I NEVER sleep on nites...I'd feel gross if I did. And I have young kids and never get a nap before night shift...these nurses have no reason not to sleep all day before thier nites if they wish.
Arghhhhh.

This could drive me nutz, but I'm not going to let it because it's not my unit. If it were, I'd drive them nutz!...They'd hate me and make my life miserable somehow. I'd call the supervisor and say, "You've got to come and see this...just come here and pay a visit...again...it involves pt's safety!" and not tell him/her exactly what it is so they'd see for themselves. The thing is, they wait for the supervisor to make rounds, then they grab their blankets, pillows and gerichairs then find a real dark corner and the unit is unsupervised for a good two-three hours! If they know this goes on, how is it they don't say anything or do anything about it? I'm clueless. I never sleep on nights because I make sure I get enough sleep BEFORE I go to work. It would be my luck that if I fell asleep, my pt would up and die and be stiff when I found him or someone would fall OOB hit their head and die, some out of the ordinary thing and I'd be fired, but these idiots do it every night and I mean eeeeevery night and nothing ever happens (thank God)while they snore away...that we know of, but then again I could tell you a few stories that would make your skin turn inside out. BUT, it all gets covered up and all is honkey dorey. These cold-hearted, immoral rats have no conscience at all and don't give a rats orifice about the pts safety. It's a bunch of bull**** and they should all be disciplined severely. I'm sorry for going off, because even though it's not my unit, it DOES make me angry knowing these pts are helpless while the entire staff sleeps. It's not fair to the patients that these jerks get paid to come to work and sleep all nicely wrapped up in their blankets and it's definately not fair to those of us that stay awake and work.

Peace, out...........