Nursing

Hit the hay: Program helps new grads get the sleep they need

HCPro's Advisor to the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®, February 1, 2010

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The final part of the new grad support program involves sleep education, which does not sound like it fits into traditional new grad education. However, ¬Burnette says she realized this was a very important part of the transition for new nurses.

“Starting professional practice is challenging the first year,” Burnette says. She notes that hospitals are 24-hour operations, meaning many new grads were working overnight shifts or ones that end at 11 p.m. and therefore disrupt regular sleep patterns. “As I met with each new nurse in orientation, I could hear them worrying about how they would onboard to this type of shift,” she says.

The concerns were not only among 20-something new nurses for whom this was perhaps their first real job, says Burnette. “A lot of new nurse grads are not in their 20s anymore; some are starting nursing as their second career. They are juggling a lot of different things,” she says.

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