Online Lifestyle Magazine for Healthcare Workers by Pulse Uniform

10 Things to Keep Night Shift Nurses Going

Staying efficient at work and mentally alert can be a real challenge to nurses who work in night shift. But more than simply trying to give your best in the hospital, you also have to care for your own physical and emotional health, which means attending to your other needs as well. If you know how to handle things the wise way, you’ll find that working in the night shift is not that bad at all. Here are some tips to keep the ball rolling.

  1. Sleep and eat well before going off to your shift. Remember that your needs for goodnight sleep and healthy food aren’t changed by your shift. They are still the same as the daytime people’s necessities.
  2. Freshen up. Looking fresh and beautiful never fails in making one feel good. A hot shower, body odor protection, a little fragrance sprayed, and nice scrubs uniforms will set the day up, I mean the night.
  3. In order to get a goodnight sleep, allow end-of-day decompression time like the day shift people. A relaxing activity will condition the mind for bedtime. Extreme mental or physical stimulation just before bedtime may take away drowsiness.
  4. Avoid reliance on stimulants such as coffee while on duty. Chemicals found in stimulants like caffeine can help you with occasional slump but can disrupt circadian rhythm and can be addictive. Why not stir up the group with some laughs or ask for a few minutes break for a fast walk instead?
  5. Make sure to sleep on a comfortable bed in a quiet, dark, and relatively cold bedroom. There are scrubs uniforms which are very comfortable to use as pajamas. If you live in a considerably noisy place or with noisy people, prepare some sleep rituals like putting earplugs or playing a soft music or something with monotonous hum. Set your phone in silent so that daytime people don’t bother your sleep.
  6. Avoid sleep-inducing medications. They alter normal sleep architecture and are habit-forming. Others even came to a point wherein their body required higher dosage.
  7. Make use of some time during the day to run errands and attend to other businesses just like daytime people do during the nighttime. Making transactions early lets you get the freshest level of service.
  8. Live with your daytime salary. Being dependent on night differential pay to make ends meet can possibly harm your budget. Major or basic needs must fall in the budget allocated from the basic pay, while other things such as vacation fund and budget for hang outs with fellow nurses must come from the night shift differential.
  9. Treat yourself with something you really love at least twice in a month or once a week. It can be a visit to your favorite place, a spa, popular book, movie or a savory menu.
  10. Most importantly, spend quality time for your family. In time, you will have to leave nursing but never your family.  Drive your kid to school and visit your mate in his or her work from time to time.

Image Source: Time Healthland

Post Tagged with , ,


About Mecheil Lewis