Sweet Dreams, Baby! Tell us about your strange dreams r/t nursing

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  1. How often do you dream about nursing?

    • 41
      Always
    • 116
      Frequently but not all the time
    • 130
      Sometimes
    • 31
      Never

318 members have participated

Specializes in Utilization Management.

Nursing is nothing if not an intense occupation. Sometimes we dream about it.

I just woke up horrified to discover that I had five out of seven patients that I never got a chance to look at or assess for the entire shift! :uhoh3:

So glad THAT's never happened in real life, but it's 0530 and there's no way I'm gonna be able to sleep.

How often do you dream about your job?

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That is usually my dream...that I'm at the end of my shift and didn't know I had one patient, or several patients and have not seem them, passed meds, etc. The other one I have is I'm going to be late and can't dial the phone correctly to call in. I try and try but can't the numbers dialed in the right order! It drives me nuts cause then when I wake up I feel like I've been up and working all night! LOL

Glad it's not just me!

Becky

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How often do you dream about your job?

Too often!

I had a dream one night that I came in to drop something off and the nurse on duty asked me to flush a tube feeder as she was swamped. While I was flushing the one I heard the next pump beeping, signaling the end of another tube feed. By the time I realized how silly it was, and that it must be a dream, I had flushed 15 feeding tubes on a 20 bed unit!:uhoh3:

I also have recurring dreams of being injured at work, usually a broken bone, and being sent to my facility for rehab. For some reason the only empty bed is in a male room...I spend most of the dream telling anyone who will listen that they can't put me in a room with a man.:o

I've been on vacationfor two weeks, haven't had a single work dream.:)

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Specializes in Family.

Most of my nursing dreams have been the ones where I've had patients and didn't know it all night.

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Specializes in psychiatric ER, Mental Health.

I am just a student, but we are in our "childbearing family" unit now. The other night I had a dream I was pregnant, and checking my fundus after the delivery. I dont remember the delivery, or even where the baby was, but I remember trying to make sure everything was in its proper place!

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Specializes in ER, NICU, NSY and some other stuff.

When I first started out I worked in nicu right out of nursing school I went to work at a place that nurses were viewed as a perishable commodity. (Use them up and toss them away)

I got shorted on my orientation to fill holes in staffing. We had what was know as the "boarder nursery" it was a small room (Maybe 12x12), this room would hold 4 feeder growers and a nurse. It was down a short hall isolated from the main room of the NICU. Each night I would get assigned there as all I could do was take care of feeder growers. Each baby was on a 3 hr schedule. I would begin feed-feed-feed-feed, essentially no interaction with the other staff as they were all in the other room. 12 hours of this monotony at least 48 hours a week.

I would dream that I forgot to feed someone. I would wake up in an utter panick all the way in my dining room knowing exactly who I had not fed. I would look at the clock and sure enough it would be that baby's feeding time. It finally got to the point I could sit up in bed and remind myself that someone else was taking care of the babies right now and go back to sleep.

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Specializes in CCU (Coronary Care); Clinical Research.

I used to dream a lot more than I do now. One night I dreamed that I either heard a call bell or hadn't checked on my very critical patient and I flew out of bed and woke up in the kitchen (thinking it was the patients room!). I felt like the biggest idiot!

Whenever I had/have a really sick patient or one that crashes I tend to dream about it at home, usually along the lines of what went well, what didn't go so well, what could have been done differently. I think that it is just my bodys way of processeing all that went on. I will also have dreams about decisions that I was kind of iffy on...sigh...at least they are nearly as bad or frequent as when I initially started- at that time I was having dreams almost every night!

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Sorry to disappoint. I have very vivid dreams at night yet none involve my job. I dont' know why that is----maybe it's cause I talk things out w/my spouse when shifts are particularly draining or hard and then "wash away" the bad shift in a long, hot shower and let it go. But don't ask me about my other dreams----you will probably think I am rather weird, and you would not be the first, rofl.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

I don't dream about the job like I used to.

In fact, when I do, they are nightmares.

My most vivid one involved a student.

I was the instructor for a nursing program in another city from where I am now. This particular student was very difficult and was on the "strange" side. One night I had a horrible nightmare about said student. I was walking in a parking lot and kept hearing someone behind me. I started to walk faster and faster. Kept hearing footsteps coming from behind; I would glance over my shoulder only to see shadows. I finally became so frightened that I stopped and knelt down behind a car. Then, the footsteps ceased. I was lying underneath a car. I could see someone coming towards me and realized they were bending down to look under that car. This student bent down .....looked me in the eyes and said, "I'm going to kill you". I saw the blade coming towards me and I woke up.

I was always a little leery of that student from then on.......

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Specializes in Cath Lab, OR, CPHN/SN, ER.

I only have dreams about work if I've had a rough night. Usually it's the dreams where I am redoing something in my head (Maybe I should/could have done it like this").

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
I don't dream about the job like I used to.

In fact, when I do, they are nightmares.

My most vivid one involved a student.

I was the instructor for a nursing program in another city from where I am now. This particular student was very difficult and was on the "strange" side. One night I had a horrible nightmare about said student. I was walking in a parking lot and kept hearing someone behind me. I started to walk faster and faster. Kept hearing footsteps coming from behind; I would glance over my shoulder only to see shadows. I finally became so frightened that I stopped and knelt down behind a car. Then, the footsteps ceased. I was lying underneath a car. I could see someone coming towards me and realized they were bending down to look under that car. This student bent down .....looked me in the eyes and said, "I'm going to kill you". I saw the blade coming towards me and I woke up.

I was always a little leery of that student from then on.......

OK, now THAT was a scary dream. :uhoh21:

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
OK, now THAT was a scary dream. :uhoh21:

Tell me about it. When I awoke, I went into the living room and cried and cried. It was almost to the point of hysteria. To this day, I do not know why I had that nightmare. But, it really made me fearful around that student for a while.

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