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12 Survival Tips for Night Shift Nurses
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Nurses have to be flexible and work both day and night shifts when required. Since it’s possible to choose a regular shift in the nursing profession, some people choose either the day or night shift to accommodate other activities in their lives. For example, a nurse attending additional courses during the day might find it easier to work nights.
Working in the night shift has several advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are differential pay, slower pace of work, simpler bureaucracy, more close knit relationships with other nurses, and a chance to learn more and be more self-reliant. Night nurses also have the advantage of not battling with daily traffic! The disadvantages are many as well, such as being invisible to daytime administrators and missing out on promotions. There’s also the disadvantage of continuously fighting off sleep, which condition improves the longer you’re on night shifts.
If you are a nighttime nurse, you will find the following tips useful:
1. Always eat a full meal before your meal. During the daytime, the health care facility’s cafeteria might be well stocked but there’s no telling if you’ll find anything worth eating during the night. Carry a few snacks as well, to keep hunger at bay.
2. Get at least 8 hours sleep during the day. Granted the pace of work may be slower at night, but that doesn’t mean you can sleep on the job. Your patients need the same diligent care during the night as they do during the day.
krisrian
over 1 year ago
2 comments
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ldyhwk
almost 2 years ago
6 comments
Obviously, the writer of this article have not worked the night shift... come and see for yourself!
jgs
almost 2 years ago
4 comments
Look at a digital watch so I do not forget a medication? Are you serious? I also must give props to the night floor RNs, who often work with much less staffing than we do in the ICUS. Even if we are understaffed, I remember many a night of getting an admission from a floor where there were only two Rns for thirty patients and one RN had to spend most of her/his time with the patient that would then be transferred to us at three a.m.
jgs
almost 2 years ago
4 comments
I have to agree with most of the comments here. This article seems to be written by someone who has not worker many, if any, night shifts. THere is little, if any, ancillary support, less pharmacy personnel, so it is harder to get stat meds up, fewer lab techs, so you cannot get lab results back as quickly, and in recent years in our ICUS the CCM fellow needs to cover more patients and has less residents. That means the nurses need to be even more self reliant.
I may have read one of the points incorrectly, but how or when are nurses going to be able to have the time at the end of their shift, when they are more awake, to "Pay bills, make important phone calls, or check homework?" Does the author actually think this can be done at work at the end of the night shift, when you are trying to wrap everything up?
Get eight hours of sleep? I worked nights in an ICU in Manhattan for thirty years. I would have killed for eigiht hours of sleep every day. In today's world many of us do not live near our place of employment. Accounting for rarely getting out on time due to many factors, travel time and having a few minutes to ourselves, never mind our families before or after we come home or before we go to work , eight hours is a dream. If I got six hours, it was rare. Everyone knows that "day sleep" is not the same as "night sleep."
It may be more common today,but for years, we tried having in-services, meeting with administrators, staff meetings, etc. on our time. That does not mean at the beginning of our shift or at the end. It rarely happened.
pokuneff
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
I am pretty nervous - am an older nurse and also a new grad. After 3 months of orientation, I will be starting nights tomorrow night. Sleep is tough for me regularly, so this is definitely daunting.
ICU_RN
almost 2 years ago
10 comments
Whoever wrote this article obviously works dayshift and decided to try to invent some helpful tips for night staff. Night shift is always busy and is sometimes busier than days. There's no secretary, no tech, and no support from administration. Plus we get just as many admissions and sometimes more than dayshift and there's no secretary to put the orders in the computer or call stat consults. Also I agree that we have more codes since the floor nurses have more patients and there's less or maybe no support staff so patients are not checked on as often. A patient can be going bad and it's not discovered until it's a code. Plus that tip on not going to sleep right away when u get home is very bad advice. I guess the author thinks night shift is so slow that we couldn't possibly be tired when we get home. I don't know about anyone else but I know that I'm exhausted when I get home and I definitely go straight to bed.
andrea_stoffels39
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
I have been working both day and night shifts. It is important for all nurses to understand that there are complexities encountered on both shifts. This is definately a team effort.
IndyEm
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
Nights are definitely as busy (if not busier) than days. People don't realize how hard it is for patients to sleep in the hospital - it's bright and noisy night and day. Plus, night shifters get the lovely benefit of sundowners :) however, in my experience, night shift nurses are much more supportive of one another and work better as a team than day shifters. Maybe it has to do with the fact that there isn't as much support available to them - they know they have to rely on each other.
Dmenefield
almost 2 years ago
2 comments
I totally agree with marina, nights are extremely busy and we do have more codes not to mention we have less support at night. Nights are not slower as this article mentions oh and we can't forget to add the pts who sundown. Nights are def more work to me and I'm on a telemetry/ med surg unit with 6-7 pts a night.
marina_dilbone1
almost 2 years ago
26 comments
sounds like someone has been out of the loop for a while-night shift is still very busy and i don't understand why some people truly believe it is slower-there are more codes on night shift and on telemetry and med surg floors the patient to nurse ratio is increased add a few admits and if you work twelves the night fllies-I do find some of the hints helpful though for me it is better if I go straight to bed and turn off my phone