By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

by patchy patch, via flickr

Just about every nurse I know has been “asked” (or “guilted” or “mandated”) to work an additional shift on top of a grueling one. The worst such experience I ever had was having to work from midnight to 8 am after working a straight week of 4 pm to midnight shifts. I was exhausted, but someone had called in sick, leaving only two RNs and one aide for the 11-bed ED trauma unit.

I was so tired that at one point I found myself falling asleep while I was standing by a patient’s bed charting vital signs. I couldn’t remember the blood pressure reading I had obtained just moments before. It was good luck that I didn’t make an error—and had the good sense to have a colleague double-check medications I was readying (these were the old days, before unit dosing). […]