New Jersey Nursing Insights
The New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing (NJCCN)—the nursing workforce center for NJ—presents the New Jersey Nursing Insights Podcast. Now hosted by Drs. Susan Weaver and Daria Waszak, the program features conversations with nurses from a wide range of professional and personal backgrounds, each discussing the nature of their profession. Nursing Insights was originally hosted by Stephanie Olaso, MHCI, BSN, RN, who led the program through its first 30 episodes.
New Jersey Nursing Insights
32 | Making Night Shift Safer: How One Hospital Successfully Implemented Napping for Nurses
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Nurse fatigue isn’t just uncomfortable – it’s dangerous. In this episode, Dr. Pamela Hinds and crisis nurse Brett Bagshaw from Children’s National Hospital explain how their organization became a national leader in implementing sanctioned night-shift napping. From alarming survey data to cultural barriers, space challenges, HR policy changes, and real nurse stories, this conversation offers a practical roadmap for any hospital looking to prioritize safety and wellness for its night-shift staff.
Key Takeaways
- Night-shift fatigue has real safety consequences, including drowsy driving and impaired clinical performance.
- A small, well-designed pilot project helped Children’s National gain leadership buy-in before expanding napping hospital-wide.
- Clear guidelines, protected spaces, and strong collaboration with security and HR were essential to implementation.
- Not all units adopt napping the same way – autonomy and unit-level decision-making improved success and acceptance.
- Survey data revealed high rates of near-miss incidents related to fatigue, strengthening the case for change.
- Napping is one part of a broader wellness approach that includes sleep hygiene, nutrition, and night-shift–specific support systems.
- A strong safety message helped shift culture: nurses must come to work rested, and naps are not guaranteed.
- Implementing napping can support recruitment, retention, and a perception of organizational care for night-shift workers.
Additional Reading
- Geiger-Brown, Harlow, Bagshaw, Sagherian & Hinds: “One Hospital’s Successful Initiative to Implement Napping for Night Shift Nurses.”https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34528852/
- Napping on the Night Shift: A Two-Hospital Implementation Project (Am J Nurs, 2016) https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/39786
