The HIT Insider Blog entry "Fatigued RNs Worry About Drowsy Driving" asked what nurses can do to avoid drowsy driving. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has a few tips, although some may be difficult or impossible to follow given individual circumstances:

     • Get enough sleep. AASM recommends that adults get seven-to-eight hours of sleep each night in order to maintain good health and optimum performance.
     • Take breaks while driving. If you become drowsy while driving, pull off to a rest area and take a short nap, preferably 15-20 minutes in length.
     • Consume caffeine. Caffeine improves alertness in people who are fatigued.
     • Do not drink alcohol. Alcohol can further impair a person's ability to stay awake and make good decisions. Taking the wheel after having just one glass of alcohol can affect your level of fatigue while driving.
     • Do not drive late at night. Avoid driving after midnight, which is a natural period of sleepiness.

What other practical solutions should be added to the list?

I'd love to never have to drive drowsy again; it is no fun task... however it seems to be a part of nursing that we all tend to deal with.

Get enough sleep. For most nurses this is no easy task; working different shifts; family obligations, too much caffeine and messed up sleep cycle from all of the above make getting any sleep a daunting task. And lets not forget all the 'did I remember to do this' thinking you do as you try to drift off...

     • Take breaks while driving. Impossible for most; either we'll fall asleep and miss picking the kids up or taking them to school, or we'll have a cop come tap at the window who'll accuse us of having been drinking and driving...

     • Consume caffeine. We've probably already had 2 pots of coffee on our shift... if we drink anymore, we'll never sleep! See # 1

     • Do not drink alcohol. Nurses don't drink on the job (although it might improve our humor and friendliness on those long shifts!)

     • Do not drive late at night. Huh? How am I going to get home after my 3-11 shift that I'm leaving from at 1am after finishing all the paperwork I didn't have time to do because we were short staffed? And lets not forget those night nurses... I remember the days of windows down, music up and biting my lip just to stay awake on the drive home...

I guess it's a tough job, and somebody has to do it!

I say that the healthcare industry gets an overhaul... it's long overdue that nurses were compensated properly for the difficult job that they do.

Instead, we continue to see staff cuts, and the hospitals bellies getting bigger and bigger. When I entered the nursing field in 1996, there was no shortage, yet they still worked us understaffed....

If we had better pay for what we do, there would be more people getting into the profession. Why would anyone enter a profession where you are overworked, underpaid and have people's lives in your hands and don't even get paid as much as a plumber?

 Beats me...

drive with window's open some

audio book

move close to work

 vary your route so you need to stay awake vs driving on autopilot

can you tell i've been in a crash, driving and falling asleep, and crossing the center line hitting a car head on, and ending up with a fx femur, 8 broken ribs 4 on each side, fx elbow, dislocated big toe.

icu for a week, deep suctioning

skeletal tx for 4 weeks

12 screw compression plate in left femur,

crutches non wt bearing for 3 mths, partial for 3 mths, 1 crutch for 3 mths, then eventually work on walking on 2 legs.....

out of work for 18 mths.....