Holy moly!
I made it out of residency alive! Let me tell you it kicked me butt. Also, for one considering loading up on classes for the post-licensure portion. Wait until you get a taste of new grad night shift life!
Chances are you will not have to do night shifts for residency, but will have to do night shifts for your new grad position. Here is how I temporarily converted to a night owl based on recommendation from night shift nurses. Here also some pros and cons to be aware of!
Converting to Nights:
How does one go from waking up at 0500/0600 to waking up at 1630? I started “training” myself a week prior. I also used amazon prime to invest in earbuds, an eye mask, melatonin, and broke out some lavender water I already had.
Step 1: I would sleep in as late as I could and stay up as late as I could. Finding a good show on netflix helps!
Step 2: Use caffeine and a midday nap to kickstart the process! Staying up past 3-5am is the hardest part.
Step 3: It is now 6-8am. Usually, I would be so exhausted from staying up so late and fighting to make it this far that I would pass out.
Step 4:
A. You sleep like a rock. Skip this step.
B. You’ve been asleep a couple hours and everyone else is starting their day. The dreaded daytime noises you never noticed are waking you up. You can apply the earbuds/eyemask now (or I like to do this when I go to bed). I also like to spray lavender water on my eye mask and pillow, but a diffuser works great too!
Step 5 (optional): Sleeping aids. Sometimes my morning-loving brain would restart and think we were just beginning the day and not want to sleep. Other times, I would wake up at noon and could not go back to sleep. My go to? Melatonin. I usually stick with 2.5mg and it will put me right to sleep. Occasionally, I will need to take an additional 2.5mg. I ONLY USE THIS WHEN NEEDED! Taking this every day on will make you rely on it to fall asleep and build a tolerance. Some people recommend Benadryl. I am not a fan because of studies linking it to an increased risk of dementia.
I am creature of habit so this was necessary. For some, they can be awake and sleep on command. Once you have your first night shift, you’ll be so exhausted you should go right to sleep when you’re off and then you’ll fall into a rhythm for the rest of the shifts.
Pros:
It is much easier to learn the ropes on nights. The beginning is still busy, but once the patient/families go to sleep the care is primarily what I would like to call “maintenance”. You’re getting them through the night. That doesn’t mean doing the bare minimum until day shift comes. Actually, it is quite the opposite. You should be doing your very best to set up day shift for success (see cons). After the initial rush, you typically have much more time to sit down and really get to know your patient. You also have time to look up an topics related to your patient you are unfamiliar with, and your preceptor has more time to sit down and explain things to you. Night shift is very conducive to learning and I actually think it will be beneficial for me to start on nights until I find my groove.
Cons:
Let’s get through the obvious first. You are awake and working while normal people sleep. If you are a night person, you won’t have any problems. If you are a morning person like me, this will be a huge lifestyle shift. I completely converted to nights. For my mental health, I need routine. Some people can flipflop easily and work nights then be a normal person on their days off. Figure out what works best for you. For me even going full night owl, I was chronically tired…. MAJOR CON! Another con… like normal people… most attending work during the day. This means you may need to call and wake up a physician. This is never fun so be sure to have your SBAR and reason for calling down before you call. Remember how I said you are setting up day shift for success? Depending on your hospital, this may mean doing hygiene and some tidying during your shift per protocol. Patients need to sleep to so you have to get their hygiene done before they go to sleep. Depending on your patient load, this leaves a lot to be done by midnight (LATEST).
Night Shift Recipe for Success:
- Figure out a schedule!
- If you need to go full night owl or can flipflop between night shift and being a normal person on your days off.
- Once you have a schedule/strategy, stick to it!
- Group your shifts together if you can!
- GET ENOUGH SLEEP!
- Do not try to stay awake for 24 hours.
- This unsafe and will lead to exhaustion, mistakes, and depression.
- Caffeine… nuff’ said.
- Eat healthy and bring foods that are easy on the tummy.
- You are more likely to gain weight on night shifts. Being tired can make it tempting to go for the brownies. Bring healthy foods!
- Also, I would get nauseous because my body would be hungry but I wouldn’t be perceiving the hunger. I knew I needed to eat come my “lunch” but being up at 2am when your body isn’t used to eating is hard. I brought foods that I knew I could eat and were easy on my stomach.
- Stay active! Easier said then done, I know.
- For me, this meant going on walks on my days off. This is literally all I could manage because I was so tired all the time.
- When I have to go back to nights, I will probably start doing yoga and/or pilates. I just won’t have the energy to do runs and weights like I used to.
Coming Soon:
Here are some posts in the works! Be sure to comment any questions related to the below topics and I will try to answer them in my post!
- How to prepare for a PCU/ICU preceptorship and new grad position
- NCLEX tips and resources (once I pass)
- Reference letters
- Resume/Cover Letter/Portfolio Tips (Once I land a new grad position)
- My scoop on best places to apply for new grad (TBD)
- New grad apps and interviews (coming October-ish)
- Balancing new grad and post-licensure courses (this will come once I have actually mastered it and come up with some tips to survive… so around December-ish)
- My shift “flow” (once I land a new grad)
Hi Bri!! Congratulations on making it out of residency !! That’s amazing!! You made it!! =)
So what is your next step? how soon are you able to start your post licensure classes? Also, how many classes would you be taking in your MSN portion of the program? and last but not least, do you have to find your own clinical rotations for the NP portion, or the school finds it for you?
Thank you !! =)
Sabrina.
Thank you! My next step is study for the NCLEX until I receive my ATT and take it ASAP. I will traveling abroad to South Africa with the nursing program in July so I want to take it before then if I can.
You can start post licensure classes as soon as 5th semester! I am taking an online elective course towards my MSN right now. As for next semester, it depends on how soon I can land a new grad position. If I land one for fall 2018, I will take one class the next semester, and 1-2 classes the following semester until I settle into my position. After that, I should be able to make my own schedule so I will be taking two classes a semester until I finish. If I do not land a new grad position until spring 2019, I will go heavy on my course load next semester (fall 2018). Once you are in the post-licensure portion, 2 classes/6 units is considered full-time. That is the plan at least for now.
For the NP portion, I have been told both. I have heard the school finds them for you, but I have also heard that people have had trouble getting preceptors assigned to them by the time classes start. It is not uncommon to cold call and many people I know have had no problem going through the program doing that. However, I will be meeting with the MSN advisors next week so I will let you know what they say because I plan on clarifying that with them.
Thank you so much for the info!! South Africa sounds amazing!!! Have fun, and make the best of your experience there!.
Best of luck! =)
Hi! I was accepted into the ELM program at APU and begin in Spring 2019. I have so many questions!
Aside from 7 week residency, what does the 5th semester consist of?
From speaking to previous student, or from your own current experience, was it difficult to find an RN position immediately after passing the NCLEX (I plan on trying to work right away)
How long are ‘breaks’ between each semester? are there any additional breaks in the middle of semesters? (spring break, winter holidays, etc.)
At the pace you plan on going for your NP portion, considering you will be working in Fall 2018, how long do you expect to be finished with the NP portion? (I plan on taking a full time type of pace as well)
What is the turn around time between ending your 5th semester/finishing NCLEX and starting the NP semesters to come? (1 week, 2 weeks, month(s)?)
SD campus has a SIMS lab, correct? Is it advanced?
So sorry for bombarding you with all these questions, I’m mainly trying to get an idea of the time frame of the program.
For 5th semester, that is all that is required. You can also choose to take additional electives if you like. Speaking to previous students, No. APU has a really good relationship with the hospitals so you should not have trouble. I will keep you updated with how my cohort does!
Each break is different. Winter break is the longest. I believe it is around 3 weeks. Spring break is somewhere around 2 weeks. Summer break I think is only 1 week or maybe a little longer.
I estimate it will be another 2 years maybe 2.5 years tops. You begin the NP semester the following semester (unless you take time off). For me, I finished residency June 25th, but the semester does not end until 8/17. I begin my first post-licensure semester 8/27. The turn around time just depends on how long the break is (which I mentioned above).
All the campuses, including SD, have their sim labs on campus. I am not sure what you mean by advanced, but it is very effective. The equipment is pretty new (they just remodeled the sim lab and skills lab) and they try to use standardized patients as much as possible!
No worries! That is what I am here for… I remember being where you are now and I am glad to answer whatever I can!