


Many night-shifters quickly discover that if you do not pack your own healthy lunch and snacks, the cafeteria only serves soggy grilled cheese, fried chicken tenders, and cold fries at 3 a. It required a lot of effort and meal planning, and often still fell short of my goals. Īdditionally, i t was often challenging to maintain a healthy diet and workout schedule w hile working night shift. We have kids, partners, and responsibilities that require our attention during the day, and we end up sacrificing our sleep and our health to accommodate our family and night shift schedule. But for many of us, th is simply is not possible. Many night shift nurses that probably do it the right way stay on a night shift schedule all of the time, even their days off. National research organization, The Sleep Foundation, estimates that one in five Americans who work non-traditional shifts (nights, early mornings, rotating) will experience shift-work disorder, a specific type of circadia n rhythm sleep disorder. On night shift, I wasn’t able to focus on school, let alone, have any quality time to spend with my husband. all of the time.ĭuring that point in my life, I was also in school, and I had to switch back to day shift in an effort to feel like a “normal person” again. I felt like I was constantly battling exhaust ion, sickness, and grum piness. Womp.įor me personally, night shift nursing was rough and not conducive to my physical or mental health.
#NIGHT SHIFT NURSE SBART CODE#
For example, when you have a patient that is trying to code on you, or you desperately need an order for Ativan because your patient has sun-downers, and you can ’ t get a hold of your attending. – this can present extremely stressful situations. Most interdisciplinary team members that you would see during the day are not there at 3 a. We had a critical care team t hat we could call at a moment’s notice if something went wrong – o ther night-shifters are not so lucky.Ī significant downside to night shift nursing is the lack of resources you have. Luck ily for my co-workers and I, we had several university resources available on our night shift s, in the event things went south with one of our patients. In a Cardiac ICU, anything might happen with only a moment’s notice. It ’ s a 32-bed unit that t akes open-hearts, heart and lung transplants, ECMO, and many other sick and critical patients.Ĭontrary to popular belief, w orking the night shift in this unit did no t mean you got to take it easy and put you r patients to bed by 9 :00 p. I worked in a L evel I T rauma C enter in the Cardiac ICU at a u niversity – teaching hospital. More research, most notably in specific night-shift metrics, is necessary, and with the implementation of the role in additional facilities, more can be understood about improving patient care and nursing staff satisfaction during night shift.I started working night shift s straight out of nursing school. The night-shift CNS position has improved morale and equalized support for night-shift nurses. Providing education during night shift reduced overtime costs and increased morale, positively affecting turnover rates. Through regular rounding and on-call notification, the CNS was available to every area of the hospital for consultation and clinical assistance and assisted with rapid responses, codes, and traumas. The night-shift CNS participated in nursing education and skill certifications, communicated new procedures and information, and created a communication committee specifically for night-shift nurses. The goal was to provide an advanced practice presence to improve patient outcomes, communication, education, and cost-effectiveness. In an attempt to bridge the gap between day- and night-shift nursing, a night-shift clinical nurse specialist (CNS) position was created in a midsized, community teaching hospital. Night-shift nurses receive fewer educational opportunities and less administrative support than do day-shift staff, tend to be newer, with less experience and fewer resources, and experience greater turnover rates, stress, and procedural errors.
