Sleeping on The Job?

[pam78]

Hi, I had the privilege of orienting a new traveling nurse to our unit on night shift. On my second day with her I noticed at the beginning of the shift after she finished her assessment ( she had only one patient) she was falling asleep during her charting. We still paper chart on this unit. This continued throughout the shift, At first I thought she just was not use to the night shift but something was not right. She nodded off all night until 7:00 a.m! I let my supervisor know what happened and went home. After I thought about it she may have been high on something. Do the Travel nurses have to take a drug screen? I am worried that this may happen again at another job she may go to. Does anyone have suggestions in what I should have done differently? Thanks for your input.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Since this particular thread is over 1 (one) year old, the original poster may or may not be seeking any further suggestions on this issue.

However, has anyone mentioned undiagnosed narcolepsy?

[leslie :-D]

However, has anyone mentioned undiagnosed narcolepsy?

yep, post #7.

leslie

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

yep, post #7.

leslie

Thanks, Leslie! I totally missed that post. :)

[hvlqodvhiniyc]

It's a really old thread for true, so time for an anecdote. We had someone who was fired for sleeping on the job who fought the termination. In the employee manual/code of conduct, sleeping on the job wasn't prohibited. To whomever who wrote the book, it must have seemed so much common sense that it didn't need addressed. Same thing for the person writing up the termination. The employee was awarded back pay and damages.

[NYcDcG]

a cop once told me that every (stupid) rule was put it writing because somebody broke it. like those "caution this beverage is hot" warnings on coffee cups.

i wonder what happened to that sleeping nurse, or if she ever came back to that facility.