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12 Survival Tips for Night Shift Nurses
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3. Wear a good quality digital watch all the time. At night, the body tends to relax naturally and the digital watch’s bright display will keep the time in front of you all the time. You’ll never miss a patient’s medication schedule if you keep looking at your watch now and then.
4. When you get home after daybreak, don’t go to sleep immediately. Relax for a while, watch TV or do housework. Your body will tell you when you’re ready to sleep and your sleep will be more relaxed.
5. Make sure you manage your shifts in such a way that you sync with your family’s day and night schedules. Keep synch points for kids, spouse, parents, or roommates so that you don’t feel out of the loop. This will give you a sense of normalcy and make you feel that you’re all on the same clock.
6. If you work multiple shifts, try to gradually work towards the night shift. Go from day shift to evening shift and then to night shift so that your body adjusts to the work timings.
7. It’s tempting to work more night shifts to make the differential pay. However, try and save that money for unexpected changes in case of illness, or disability. To make sure that you are motivated the right way, use your differential income to pay back loans or to make investments.
8. Keep your personal business for the time when you’re the most alert. You may want to pay bills, check your child’s homework, and make important calls and so on. It’s best to make use of your shift ending time in the mornings for these tasks. You’ll be alert and awake when your shift ends, just before your body starts decompressing for its ‘nighttime’.
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