Taking a sleep aid when on call?

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I'm wondering what you all think about taking sleep aids when on call. I'm not talking about call where you might have to actually go in to work, but call for outpatient care where you have to manage patient complaints overnight, possibly call the doctor/pharmacy, and possibly refer to the ED.

What do you think?

I would agree with this, you need to know your own body and be willing to take the chance that something could possibly go wrong. You will be on call, so what if someone calls and you give poor advice because you are groggy. If you know your body's reaction to a certain medication then go ahead and take it if you feel comfortable knowing you will fully wake up. If you cannot say for certain that you would fully wake up then I would find alternative coping strategies (meditation, yoga, turning off the electronic a few hours prior to bedtime, caffeine free tea, hot bath, hot milk etc.), you need to find what works for you personally. I would give it some time because you are new and the stress level will probably decrease with time. Good luck!

Yeah this. I know that melatonin will help me get to sleep but I can wake up from it no problem. However, if I take benadryl or unisom, that's when I get groggy and start doubting or forgetting night events (dog waking me up, conversations with the husband). So it's tricky. I'd really exhaust the nonpharm interventions first.

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I'm not talking about something like Ambien, btw. I'm talking about Benadryl or doxylamine, a low dose of a med I am used to where I am confident I would still wake up and my clinical judgment would not be impaired. Are we not allowed to take NyQuil if we have a cold while on call?

The job is a great fit for me; it's call that's not a good fit, and I'd hate to give up the job just because of a call requirement every 6 weeks or so. Did I mention it's my first time? No one wants to try to reassure me that maybe I'll get used to it or suggest any non-pharmacological coping strategies?

I dunno, are we allowed to take a possibly mind-numbing swallow of Nyquill if on call? I supposed anything OTC and prescribed as directed, but still not always the best idea if you're on-call however, "Know thyself" and you gotta do what you gotta do. Make sure you read the fine print, whereever it may be. Your post is probably refreshing because you're not asking if you should quit and find a new job first before trying any way to cope with the current circumstance.

Ok, yeah, and do some exercise. My nurse said it's good for you. And you'll get used to your oncall every six weeks. And everything will be ok. Remain calm! All is Well!

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Specializes in Critical Care.
I'm not talking about something like Ambien, btw. I'm talking about Benadryl or doxylamine, a low dose of a med I am used to where I am confident I would still wake up and my clinical judgment would not be impaired. Are we not allowed to take NyQuil if we have a cold while on call?

The job is a great fit for me; it's call that's not a good fit, and I'd hate to give up the job just because of a call requirement every 6 weeks or so. Did I mention it's my first time? No one wants to try to reassure me that maybe I'll get used to it or suggest any non-pharmacological coping strategies?

I absolutely will. I've worked jobs that have a call component, and what nobody is telling you so far is that your issue with call is, as you already recognized in your OP, 183,281,173% psychological. It's not knowing what's going to happen that is causing the anxiety.

What's more important is addressing the anxiety issues. I can see from your post, that you have great pride and responsibility in your work, which is awesome! Go you!!! If the anxiety is present in other places in your life, it may be appropriate to get that looked at by a professional.

Now that that's out of the way, how is call handled at your facility? Do patients call you directly, or is it an answering service?

I'm imagining it's either an answering service, or forwarded to your phone/the call phone from the office..

you can use do not disturb, and it will allow you to let all calls through, but silence everything else. You can also set it to block all calls and notifications, except alarms, and calls from specific phone numbers (like the office if it's forwarded directly from the office) You can also enable it to allow calls through if they call within a short time frame. On iPhone I think this is enabled by default with no way to turn it off.

Worst case scenario is that you miss a patient call that 50-90% of the time won't even be an emergency.

Your co-workers also take call, so ask them what they do. :) Best of luck!

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Specializes in Tele, Interventional Pain Management, OR.

Ehhhh... a sleep aid while on call. I'd say no. But then I'm the person who lapses into a semi-comatose state after a 3 mg melatonin, so...

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I'm unsure. I guess test it out...have a friend call you in the middle of the night and have you do a math problem or something. See how you do.

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I'm not talking about something like Ambien, btw. I'm talking about Benadryl or doxylamine, a low dose of a med I am used to where I am confident I would still wake up and my clinical judgment would not be impaired. Are we not allowed to take NyQuil if we have a cold while on call?

The job is a great fit for me; it's call that's not a good fit, and I'd hate to give up the job just because of a call requirement every 6 weeks or so. Did I mention it's my first time? No one wants to try to reassure me that maybe I'll get used to it or suggest any non-pharmacological coping strategies?

If you don't have any concerns about your ability to function, why ask in the first place?

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If you don't have any concerns about your ability to function, why ask in the first place?

fair enough.

because I'm anxious and feel bad about it and am seeking reassurance.

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If the anxiety is present in other places in your life, it may be appropriate to get that looked at by a professional.

Thanks. I have been dealing with anxiety for all my life and have sought much professional help, been on lots of meds, and worked on various strategies, some effective, some not so much. It's a chronic struggle.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I will figure it out.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
My judgment was that the sleep aid would not impair my ability to give professional judgment over the phone -- certainly not more than the ongoing sleep deprivation would have.

Any suggestions for how to deal with call without becoming an anxiety-ridden sleep-deprived zombie if I shouldn't take sleep aids?

If you have taken OTC sleep aids in the past with no problem and you are Sure doing so won't impair your practice then why ask us? I for one would not do it but I spent 5 years of my life in a BON monitoring program and would never do anything to have that happen again.

As far as sleeping and OTC I have some ideas but it's against TOS to give medical advice so if you can PM me I'll share.

Hppy

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Worst case scenario is that you miss a patient call that 50-90% of the time won't even be an emergency.

If she is being paid to take call, she needs to take every call, not tell herself that maybe it wasn't an emergency, so it doesn't matter that she slept through it.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

The thing with sleep aids is that they are designed to make you sleep. No one here can tell you if it's going to work or give you reassurance that this anxiety will pass, we don't know you and you have shared that you have chronic anxiety. I am not typically an anxious person, but I slept like crap when I was on SANE call - I woke up hourly to check my phone for missed calls, and I would have to respond to the facility in person too, within an hour of notification. Thousands of hours of SANE call burned me out.

I hope you find a solution!! Good luck.

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If she is being paid to take call, she needs to take every call, not tell herself that maybe it wasn't an emergency, so it doesn't matter that she slept through it.

Agree that missing a call is not an option. Even though it'll eventually go to the doctor on call if they can't get me, there is not a chance in hell I want that to happen.

Please know that patient safety is my #1 priority. I just want to take care of myself too.

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