night duty at work

I have honestly never been so bored at work, well, night shifts anyways. Since working nights here at the Darwin hosital, I have become one of the laziest nurses, ever!! We work 10 hour nights, starting at 2100, getting hand over from the previous shift, and hitting the floor at about 2130. The first few hours are pretty busy, doing our 2200 vital sign checks, most people have 2200 meds due, going through the charts, updating care plans and making sure everything is up to date. At about 1130 - midnightish, things really start to slow down. Most people are asleep by this point, and because its a medical ward, most people aren't in pain, so they sleep most of the night. (Unlike the surgical wards i have worked on and most people require attention throughout the night as well as analgesia) Some patients require 0200 checks such as vital signs and blood sugar levels, however, most don't. SO, between 0000 and about 0500, there is nothing to do. I do go through my patients notes, get an idea of whats happened, lab work, ect, but that doesn't take long for 6, sometimes only 5 patients if we have empty beds. The first few sets of night shifts I did (we do them in blocks of 4) I was grande, awake all night, read my book, chatted with other staff. However this set, and tonight is my last night, thank goodness, has been horrendous. It doesn't help that I missed a day of sleep after my last set of nights last week as we went camping and was awake the whole day on my first set of nights this stretch, so needless to say, I think I am a little sleep deprived!!! Last night after finishing my 0200 things to do (which consisted of one set of VS, and one set of medications, which she didn't even want), I headed into the doctors room for a couple of zzz's. I slept for an hour, came back out all groggy and sleepy, asked if everyone was alright, and they where, and went back into the doctors room for another 30 minutes.....45 minutes later I came back out, and guess what, everyone was fine!! I had my 'station' set up outside the main desk area, and sat on my chair, and half slept for the next hour - I just couldn't stay away, and there was no point in drinking a red bull...they no longer work for me! It also doesn't help that most people I work with are not white, and speak there own language....... and this group of people right now are SOO antisocial, except one girl who is super nice, but the other three, are pretty quiet and you have to pull arms and legs to get them to help you.....but, if they need help.......(venting done now)...

Finally at about 0500 it was time to start on my notes for the night, and then it was time for all my 0600 jobs, which are the busiest, and kept me awake till we left at 0730.

AND, to make matters worse, on my ride home, about half way, I discovered that my back tire was flat. Lovely. Thank goodness I was fairly close to a petrol station, so I filled up with air and booked her' home before she became flat again. What a night! (and day!) I was able to sleep for about 6 1/2 hours, not nearly enough, but it was just too hot and muggy to sleep any longer, so I got up. Only one more night shift (can I say YYYYYAAAAAHHHHH!!!) and then 4 days off.......where I will have no where to sleep. Oh how this week keeps getting better and better :)

The only brightside, things are getting slightly better in the housemate situation, and a girl from work is going to pick me up so I don't have to worry about riding in with a flat:)