Would you call in because you didn't get any sleep?

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  1. Would you call in sick because you didn't get any sleep?

    • 106
      Never, I'd go on in
    • 252
      Might or might not
    • 148
      Probably would
    • 231
      I have before and would again. Too risky not to.

250 members have participated

I was trying to sleep the other day and somebody rang my doorbell at 1130 just as I was gettting there :angryfire. Made me so mad I couldn't go back to sleep for a L O N G time. I called in sick because I wouldn't go to work on no sleep. Turns out I finally DID go to sleep so I called back & said I'd come in if they needed me.

So I got curious: Have you called in sick (or would you) because you hadn't gotten any sleep (after trying, of course) by the time you're required to call in for your shift?

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, Rehab, ACU-Telemetry.
Sleep is very important. No matter where you work, how many hours you work, I don't care what anyone else says but if you work days it is less likely you will call in because of a lack of sleep.

If you are scheduled to work nights and don't get any sleep or less than 4 hrs then it is more likely to call in because frankly, nights are boring and quiet and just plain old a good time to sleep. haha :chuckle

I hope that your not implying that working as a nurse on nights is quiet and boring. Maybe you just meant 'nights' in general. I have worked nights for sixteen years, and it is definately NOT quiet and boring. Naturally, it isn't as hectic as working days, but it is nonetheless almost as busy.

I usually work my three 12hr shifts in a row. I will be 50 in May. I find that I can barely function on my third night. I have trouble sleeping anyway, and have to take 75mg of Elavil to just to get 'some' sleep. People who work nights are more likely to be overweight, because we don't sleep well, eat right, etc,., and it has been proven that we have a shorter life span.

But I'll take nights any day. :up:

Kathy (in the panhandle - for three more weeks - :yeah:)

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Specializes in Behavioral Health, Show Biz.

;)SURE.

I don't function well without adequate sleep.

My practice would be unsafe for my patients.

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Specializes in Acute,Subacute,Long-term Care.

i have called in once due to lack of sleep. i didn't feel that i would be safe to work that 12 hour shift. i was exhausted. i have been able to work et function on 2 hours of sleep at times. so it would depend on how i actually felt.

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No!! I Would Not Call In.

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Specializes in L&D, NICU, PICU, School, Home care.

Once. Worked a shift that went from the scheduled 12 hour to 18 and wa working that night as well. Got to bed but the chaos of the shift kept my brain from shutting down.

My bedroom is like a cave! Room darkening shades and blinds. Window quilts. Fan on high speed. I live across from a school and can sleep through the school buses usually. No phone. Cell on but no sound (just lights up). Sometimes I see the light sometimes not.

You have to protect your sleep when you work nights (never worked days in 35years in hospitals) it is too important to your safety as a nurse and to your own health.

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Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.
Once. Worked a shift that went from the scheduled 12 hour to 18 and wa working that night as well. Got to bed but the chaos of the shift kept my brain from shutting down.

it is too important to your safety as a nurse and to your own health.

I would call in under those circumstances, too.

When asked if I want to stay over on 1st shift, I always tell staffing that my brain shuts down after 8 am, I can't think straight worth a crap and do they want the patients kept breathing or not? :no: :nono: :bugeyes:

Thankfully, it's written in our union contract that we can't get mandated overtime (on the med/surg floors, anyway).

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

Yes.... I have called in due to not getting sleep. It has usually been when I've had the night from you-know-where, and I get home hours late. By then I usually have a pounding migraine, and don't sleep. I protect my patients from my lack of sleep, just as I protect them by not working when I'm sick.

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Specializes in Women's Specialty, Post-Part, Scrub(cs).

It really depends. I have worked a 10 (6a-4p) at one facility and gone to another for the 12 (7p-7a). BUT, only if I am off the next day. And twice a month is my max. Got one coming up next Monday. It must be said that I am a bit of an insomniac so it usually just allows me to sleep good when I get in. BUT...I have called out before. When I have been on an insomniac binge (and the benedryl just doesn't work)...no sleep leaves me physically sick. I have not had to do it often but it has happened.

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Specializes in ICU, telemetry, LTAC.

Once in 3 years. I had 3 days off, end of august, and on friday evening the air conditioner broke in our apartment. They had to order a part and it would arrive monday.

Heh. Well friday night, about two hours sleep. No sleep daytime saturday, due to heat, no luck Saturday night either. Sunday, same thing but by that time we had had all the windows open, as well as the sliding door to the porch, for two days. Sometime during the night sunday I began to lose it, because there were, of course, bugs coming into the apartment. I don't like bugs. So I killed each and every one and began a loud, running count of all the bugs I killed. Then I decided if the house was sterile maybe we wouldn't have bugs. Lots of frantic cleaning, punctuated by shoes smacking the bugs, followed by counting, followed. My husband was a little um, upset. Thankfully my daughter slept through all that.

Monday morning, I tried again to sleep. No luck, still hot, parts hadn't arrived for AC. Around noon the painters arrived and began to paint the windowsills in the building. Well howdy, now I got paint fumes to help out the fevered brain, so I shut the window to the really hot bedroom. That didn't help when the painters turned on a boombox and started singing. When I arrived in the living room, half naked, wild eyed and looking for the baseball bat, my husband handed me the phone and told me to either call in or he was taking me to the ER. I called in. AC part arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon, and by 5:30 pm I was asleep, where I remained for about 19 hours.

Nothing since has happened to rival that hairy weekend, and I've been fortunate to get at least 4-6 hours of good sleep prior to every night I work.

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I would...but I would make sue I had a valid explanation for it.

They say that someone that is severely sleep deprived drives as poorly as someone who is drunk.

If that is true for driving, then what does that say about nursing working severely sleep deprived.

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Specializes in Critical care, private duty, office peds.

Depends on why I didn't get sleep. If it's something I could've prevented, then I"d feel too guilty to call out. It would also depend on how much sleep I actually got (no less than 5 hrs for me). Sleep is about the top priority in my daily life. My husband >>> not to wake me up earlier than need be. ERRRH! I purposely turned down a nightshift opportunity due to the concern of the switch to day-sleeping. (I would've met my lifetime goal if I had taken the darn job) :sleep:

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Absolutely I would. I'm not safe without adequate sleep.

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