Our new ward obviously needed staffing 24 hours a day, so the roster was drawn up to cover the shifts. I’d first ‘done nights’ towards the end of my first year of training. That experience was notable for dealing with my first cardiac arrest early one morning. It also brought home the way bird song heralded the new day.
As a student the nights never seemed too bad as there was a camaraderie reinforced by the canteen that was open providing hot food, in a place with lights on where we could be noisy if we felt like it. I needed plenty of food to keep my energy up. And daytime sleeping was pretty easy too. Some colleagues found that difficult but I have no recollection of having trouble about getting sleep.
On ward 2 the rota gave us seven nights on followed by days off. Then returning to day shifts of lates and early’s. I’d had a gap of a couple of years since doing nights so had to readjust. With just the two of us at home sleep wasn’t too hard to come by. I still needed 4 meals in each 24 hours as I’d wake at lunchtime hungry. The night shift was a time when one was having to take decisions without much back up. It certainly helped develop one’s critical thinking and person centred care.
No comments:
Post a Comment