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.

[caliotter3]

You really don't know why? Because you put up with it. And because the Sup might have been her friend or relative and also didn't want to confront. And why should she when you facilitated the nurse sleeping and getting paid for it and you made it possible for Sup to ignore the problem.

Why did you do it? Guilt? Martyr? Why did you let them get away with all of that?

Very simple. I did not put up with it. I spoke to the House Supervisor, more than once. The residents needed care. Whether or not I liked it, I was there to do work and taking care of residents, no matter who those residents are assigned to, constituted work for which I was paid. I am going to go to the DON to complain about the House Supervisor? Why? I was on good terms with the DON and otherwise on good terms with the House Supervisor. The DON obviously agreed with the House Supervisor, because when it came time to lay off nursing personnel, she chose to lay off good employees instead of the nurse who slept for pay. Not my call. That doesn't mean I can't talk about it.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

Maybe I wasn't super clear, but I HAVE been waking this person up. Have a few times, actually. If it had been just a one-time situation, it wouldn't have bothered me, but it seems like it's going to be a semi-regular thing. I guess I'm just kind of steeling myself for the possibility that this may need to escalate at some point.

I loled at "a little introverted to be an RN." I am absolutely an introvert. I like to do my job, take care of my patients, and be done. I'm a good nurse, but maybe not so great at the charge thing, which I've had to start doing recently. I don't like repeatedly needing to ask people to do their jobs, especially since our unit is small and it's usually only two RNs on the floor. I don't pester anyone about little things, but this is something I feel is becoming excessive.

Maybe...hmmm. I don't have the time to read every post. I went by your title. Perhaps "continually" falls asleep...:)

I want to stress the need for you people to write up nurses if you want action. Documentation of the event forces your boss to act. Where I am from you don't have to be charge to write someone up. You can write up the charge (it's happened to me once).

It may seem like since I advocate writing people up for things, that I have done it many times. Actually, I have only written up 2 people in my entire nursing career. It could've been many more but the art of diplomacy is a hat the charge must master; especially in large facilities.

Since you are charge, part of your job is to make sure people are doing their job. The fact that you haven't written this person up could put your charge abilities in question when management finds out. When you write in to a nursing forum complaining about a fellow nurse's plethoric (not the medical kind) sleeping habits on shift, it appears excessive already.

Take a few pics of this person sleeping to back up your story, than write them up. It would be proper to give them a warning but since it seems you have talked to them about it...well, there you go. Get ready for the inquiry; how many times, how long, when, where, what times, etc...

[RNrhythm, BSN, RN]

I had a NOC colleague who would nod-off in mid-sentence. One night, she was napping in the break room (perfectly OK) and I observed her sleep apnea first hand. I urged her to see a doctor and get a sleep eval done. I soon changed units/shift and wonder whatever became of her.

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

Maryland states nurses are not to sleep in their nurse practice act. Most hospitals in our area are kind and don't report it to the board, but you could, in theory, jeopardize your license. I worked with a nurse that the rest of my coworkers allowed to sleep 4 to 6 hours while they "covered", funny thing was she always gave me report on her patients. I finally went to the full time charge and let her know this must end or I was going to administration. Irritating that some people think it is my responsibility to do their job so they can have 2 jobs.

[Ellie G]

We got 30 minutes plus a 15 minute break. Still not close to 2 hours.

[Kimmy_RN]

We are a small CSU of 9 beds.. our patients are the sickest of the sick. We cleaned out a storage room on our Unit and got it approved for a respite room. We have a couch, lamp, rug, end table, and massage chair in there. If someone needs to doze, they have someone babysit their patient while they clock out to nap. If there's an emgergency.. we grab them right quick. This works well for us. I rarely need a nap.. but once in a while.. life happens and you've been up for 48 hours. Our surgeons have Sleep rooms.. so we made one for our nurses! Maybe something like this would work on your unit?

[Aloe_sky]

On my unit there are a few nurses that are always falling asleep. I personally dont care and like another nurse mentioned, I may even attend to their patients if I'm not busy. What does get me mad is if I haven't taken my break and they have been off the unit for 2 to 3 hours to sleep. That REALLY gets me mad. I'd actually prefer they sleep at the nursing station at that point lol.

I can't fall asleep at work, I'm never that tired and I'm too chicken lol.

At our facility sleeping is a big no-no but that doesn't mean you won't see nurses sleeping at the nursing station or in an empty patients rooms! It happens literally every night on our unit. For the most part people may make comments to each other but it's never something that's brought up to the nurse or management.