What Do You Do When Co-Worker Falls Asleep on Night Shift?

[NightNerd]

So, fellow night shifters, how do you handle it when someone you're working with falls asleep - not just doses off for a minute, but legitimately is in la-la land, sometimes a few times per shift? Just hypothetically, of course.

[Cruella de ville]

I worked at a place we were allowed to nap on our unpaid lunch break but out of sight of patients.

We did have a nurse who would pick up all sorts of overtime and would sleep for hours on the night shift. The first time I saw her sleeping I gently woke her up and offered to go for a walk with her, go grab a cup of coffee etc. The next time she rolled over with her pillow and blanket to go back to sleep.

I went to management as I understand someone's head bobbing, or accidentally falling asleep but purposefully and hiding from the cameras?

She kept her job for a long time until she was fired for neglecting patients when sleeping.

What a mess.

[3ringnursing, BSN]

Years ago an RT on night shift was fired for sleeping on the job. Sleeping at this facility was not permitted, even during break, but every night she would go find an empty room and crash out.

This gal was not loved amongst the nursing staff, PCT's, or RT staff due to being rather odd, as well as frequently rude and inconsiderate (whether she realized her behavior was repellent or not is unclear).

One night toward the end of the shift we had a code and this RT was overhead paged - over & over, but she never showed.

The RT manager arrived for day shift about 30 minutes later and discovered "Susan" (not her real name) was MIA/AWOL, and began a room to room search. He found Susan conked out on the bed in a empty patient room. When he found her she had the gaul to argue she wasn't technically sleep because her eyes were open - but the evidence was pretty damning that she had been overhead paged numerous times during the code and she never appeared.

Susan was escorted off the premises that morning by security, never to return.

[Froggybelly]

If it's not something that would be tolerated on the day shift, it shouldn't be okay on the night shift either. If the floor is that slow, perhaps she could clock out and go nap in her car or an on call room. It's fraudulent to sleep when she's being paid to work.

[englishgarden]

I have strong feelings about this and I don't think it should be ignored. If this only happened once or twice I would gently wake the person and offer them a break. But the people who do this habitually should not be working nights. I say quietly report it and let your manager address it. Some nurses are trying to work two jobs back to back and that is just unsafe for everyone...I don't have any tolerance for this.

[NightNerd, MSN, RN]

Hm. It is actually pretty cool that some places are able to provide for naps. I personally probably wouldn't ever take one because that 15 minute tease is too much. But at our hospital, it is a no-no from all sides. My concern is always that something will happen, a code green, a rapid, whatever, and I'm not going to have another RN with me until everyone shows up. I haven't even been on this unit a year, it's a new specialty for me, and I don't like feeling like I'm in this by myself. Everyone else on the unit, RNs, NSTs, are really good about this, thank God, but I've started to really hate working with this person because of this.

[NightNerd, MSN, RN]

Years ago an RT on night shift was fired for sleeping on the job. Sleeping at this facility was not permitted, even during break, but every night she would go find an empty room and crash out.

This gal was not loved amongst the nursing staff, PCT's, or RT staff due to being rather odd, as well as frequently rude and inconsiderate (whether she realized her behavior was repellent or not is unclear).

One night toward the end of the shift we had a code and this RT was overhead paged - over & over, but she never showed.

The RT manager arrived for day shift about 30 minutes later and discovered "Susan" (not her real name) was MIA/AWOL, and began a room to room search. He found Susan conked out on the bed in a empty patient room. When he found her she had the gaul to argue she wasn't technically sleep because her eyes were open - but the evidence was pretty damning that she had been overhead paged numerous times during the code and she never appeared.

Susan was escorted off the premises that morning by security, never to return.

Wow! That is just awful. This is exactly what I'm afraid of happening!

[RNrhythm, BSN, RN]

As an NOC RN, I often work with registry who did not know they were going to be up all night until a few hours before the start of shift. Also, we are chronically understaffed and a lot of registry refuse to work for our corporation (which is nationwide). So the ones I get are often older RNs who may be a little desperate. If someone falls asleep, I gently wake the person and acknowledge the situation in a non-judgmental way, offer coffee, etc. I'd much rather have a sleepy nurse than no nurse at all.

[Nalon1 RN/EMT-P, BSN, RN]

If it's not something that would be tolerated on the day shift, it shouldn't be okay on the night shift either. ...

My thoughts exactly.

Why does it matter if it is day shift, mid-shift or night shift?

The question should be "What Do You Do When Co-Worker Falls Asleep?". Thats it.

Call them out on it. I am not going to do their job as well as mine. I am not going to cover for them if they fall asleep. If I was a patient and that were my nurse I would not want that. If it happens more than once, it is going higher up.

If they have narcolepsy, they need to get it looked at.

[lindseylpn]

I think some people just aren't cut out for nights or they think that a 2 hour "nap" during the day is going to get them thru a 13 hour night shift. I've worked with many people that just don't realize they need to get as many hours of sleep during the day as they would if they were sleeping at night. I've had several co-workers say they didn't even sleep between shifts sometimes and then they'd try to dose off all night. I remember a co-worker once that got off in the morning, went to a theme park all day and then came back into work that night. She did things like that on a pretty regular basis too when she was working a weekend shift. I don't get it, I couldn't go without sleep like that on a continual basis. I've been known to head bob myself, it's inevitable to not get sleepy at night sometimes but, I'd feel awful if I fell asleep and made other people cover for me. Usually I'll start by trying to make a noise to wake them up, I "clear my throat" a lot. I'll then say their name or shake them a little. They're usually embarrassed and apologetic but, some people just don't care and will go right back to sleep. It's kind of like having another patient to worry about.

[lindseylpn]

We once had a nurse come in on day shift, give meds and start feedings then immediately went into an empty room, laid down and fell asleep. She was fired that day. I can't say I've ever even seen that on a night shift where I've worked. I do remember once a CNA fell asleep on the toilet for like 2 hours, we thought he'd walked out and quit. He'd been made to work a double and was very embarrassed about the situation when he woke up.

[3ringnursing, BSN]

she was breaking a sitter last night and a doc walking by the room noticed her sliding out of her chair.

Boneless Chicken

Wow … that's not just sleepy, it's catatonic. I have to wonder just how boneless and relaxed do you have to be before one slides out of a chair onto the floor? Does that wake her, or does she continue to sleep uninterrupted?

My husband has sleep apnea but is in total denial so I've seen my fair share of someone inappropriately fall stone cold asleep in a chair. As this is routine after dinner entertainment at our house since he does it nearly every night, I can honestly say not once has he ever slid out of his chair on to the floor.

He'll also tell anyone who will listen, "The sleep study was completely wrong … that doctor made a mistake!" - therefore he refuses to wear his CPAP. Unsurprisingly he gets very poor quality, as well as decreased quantity of uninterrupted sleep. Although he will stoutly deny having even been asleep at all, he wakes himself up every couple of minutes throughout the night because one of two things happen:

1) Each snore gets progressively louder until audio wise it is equivalent to the acoustic range of a buzz saw, which jars him awake.

2) He awakens choking because of an apneic episode.

Despite proof to the contrary, he continues to deny he snores.

Even with all that going on he has never once slid to the floor.

If he didn't have witnesses to say otherwise my husband would never even consider the possibility that his severe fatigue is the result of chronically poor rest from snoring.

Substance abuse/diversion, narcolepsy, or merely not getting enough rest are all possibilities for why this coworker is nodding out during her shift. Or she could also have sleep apnea induced fatigue - if she lives alone she may not even realize she snores.

Regardless of the reason, it's unfair to you and unsafe for her - after all, she could be doing this elsewhere too, such as while driving. I agree with OldDude, RN: "Intervention is a must".

[oldpsychnurse]

I worked nights at 2 different facilities. One was 8 hour shifts, the other was 12's. I didn't have much trouble staying awake working 8's, but the 12's are a different beast altogether. I never went to sleep, but I did nod off a couple of times. Pretty much everybody I worked with did occasionally. I usually let them snooze a few minutes if we're not busy. I don't see much difference between sleeping vs being on the computer with ear plugs in, watching a movie or listening to music, which a lot of my co-workers are guilty of. Anyway, I'm done with that now and good Lord willing will never work another night shift. They're brutal, and people who don't work them don't understand.