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

[UM Review RN]

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!

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?

[mtnmom]

I cannot immediately recall any of mine but I have had several bizarre dreams relating to nursing. I should make it a point to write dreams down soon after awakening because my dreams are often so vivid and lifelike that I awake wondering whether the dream really happened. But they soon fade away with only the memory that I had a strange dream remaining.

I do find that I tend to have much stranger and more vivid dreams of any type when working at night and trying to sleep during the day. Is this anyone else's experience?

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

I do find that I tend to have much stranger and more vivid dreams of any type when working at night and trying to sleep during the day. Is this anyone else's experience?

Yes, that's been my experience as well. I think we're not getting into and staying completely in REM (or whatever you call the deepest sleep mode) because of the daytime noises and whatnot.

[Super_RN, BSN, RN]

I am always trying to check the vent when the alarm clock goes off. :) I have told my boyfriend several times to go check the vent and suction the patient :chuckle

:) Jaime

[MamaTheNurse, BSN, RN]

like most of you, my dreams always involve me finding myself at the end of the shift and I've not even gone in the room of most of my patients, never mind passed meds, charted, etc. - it's creepy!!!!

[Dorito, ASN, RN]

I cannot immediately recall any of mine but I have had several bizarre dreams relating to nursing. I should make it a point to write dreams down soon after awakening because my dreams are often so vivid and lifelike that I awake wondering whether the dream really happened. But they soon fade away with only the memory that I had a strange dream remaining.

I do find that I tend to have much stranger and more vivid dreams of any type when working at night and trying to sleep during the day. Is this anyone else's experience?

My dreams were always more vivid when I had worked a night shift and was trying to sleep during the day. I used to have in-depth conversations with the Dr (my bathrobe hanging on the back of the door). Glad those crazy shifts are over again. Most of my dreams were as mentioned previously- realize at shift change that you had one or two pt's you didn't know about and didn't assess or pass meds.

[Q.]

I used to dream ALOT about work when I was staffing ~ mainly they were like continuations of my prior shift. Since leaving staffing, I've only dreamt about work every once in a while and definitely not as intense.

The one dream I remember was this one, when I was staffing in L&D:

I dreamt I was taking care of a laboring patient and she began to deliver on the bed ~ an infamous precip delivery. Of course I had no equipment with me, I was alone in the room and no one was responding to my emergency light. Her baby slipped out and I eased it onto the bed. Then, suddenly, another baby was born, to my surprise and horror, this woman had twins. I picked up the second baby and DROPPED it on the floor, and it's head fell off. I distinctly remember looking at this headless baby, and the head had an expression of shock on it, like, "I can't believe you dropped me!" I was stunned and horrified ~ the mother wasn't even aware, I was alone ~ I wrapped up the baby and head such so that it appeared like the head was attached, and I left the room and went shouting down the hall "I NEED HELP!!" The nurse in charge said we were short staffed and not only did I NOT have any help, but I had to stay and recover the patient. At this point in the dream I lost it, I said to myself, I just killed a baby, I'm done, my career is done, and I proceeded to just leave the unit in hysterics.

Then I woke up.

Oddly enough, I gave birth to twins 6 months ago. :stone

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

Well, congratulations on your babies! :) :) I was wondering why I hadn't seen your posts very much in the past few months. Hard to type when holding little ones.

As far as the dream goes, I would feel very disturbed to have a dream like that too.

It might even be a little hard to bear in mind that dreams are usually symbols of life situations and your own interpretation of them, rather than literal.

[moonchild20002000]

Many years ago as a new nurse I would have very vivid dreams,talk in my sleep.

One night my husband told me he woke up in the night to hear me telling him "I'm sorry,that leg has got to come off" while I was pulling on his leg.I

really took a lot of ribbing over that.I have said so many things to him during my years in nursing,we have had many laughs the morning after.He would tell me,well you delivered babies again all night or did surgery or whatever I would tell him.I usually would only have a vague memory of the dream.

The dreams that I remember usually involve having too many patients,not enough time to do all I needed to do,pts crashing etc.

.

[LoriAlabamaRN]

When I was just out of nursing school, I was working as charge nurse of a 35-bed rehabilitation hospital. I was always nervous that there would be something I couldn't handle.

I worked nights, and one day I dreamed of SUCH a horrible night... I dreamed that I went in to give a young lady her meds, and she was not breathing, no pulse, blue/gray in the face. I hit the code button and called out for help with the backboard, but noone came. I ran out of the room but noone was at the nursing station. I ran into another room to see if staff was in there, but noone was, and that patient was not breathing, blue/gray face. I hit THAT code button and ran into another room... same thing. No dial tone at any bedside phone to call 911. I went into every room, never found any staff members but 35 dead patients. In total hysteria I went running down the hall to get the security officer, and a large black shape started sweeping across the floor toward me. I suddenly realized that the reason all the patients were dead was because Death itself was in the hospital... and I was next.

I woke up completely hysterical, crying, shaking, covered with sweat. My husband did some SERIOUS comforting, finally convinced me it was a dream. I won't ever forget it though... *shudder*

Lori

[bagladyrn, RN]

I once dreamed that I was dead, but still had to go into work and do all my regular duties, but that I got no recognition for doing so because I was dead and no one knew I was there! I woke up really p*ssed that I was going to have to do this stuff for eternity!

Shortly after this dream I gave my notice and moved across the country....apparently my subconcious ascribes to the idea of using the big stick to get the mule's attention!

[geekgolightly, BSN, RN]

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!

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?

Angie I just had that same dream. I felt horrible and anxious in the dream when I realised that somehow it was 1600 and I had just done my first assessment and hadn't even passed meds. I kept thinking to myself, "how could this have happened? What was I doing??"

I was so relieved when I woke up.

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

Angie I just had that same dream. I felt horrible and anxious in the dream when I realised that somehow it was 1600 and I had just done my first assessment and hadn't even passed meds. I kept thinking to myself, "how could this have happened? What was I doing??"

I was so relieved when I woke up.

Yep, same here.