Another Sleepless Night On Duty

I've always prided myself on being able to handle long shifts and late nights. I mean, that's what you sign up for as a nurse, right? But lately, the sleep deprivation is really starting to hit hard. Last night, I was so exhausted from my shift that when I checked in on Mr. Thompson down the hall, I mistook him for his roommate, Mrs. Garcia. It took me a full minute of staring at him to realize what had happened, I'd been looking right at this patient and not seeing him because of pure lack of sleep. And here's the kicker, after that whole debacle, I walked into my colleague's shift handoff meeting with coffee breath and no notes on Mr. Thompson’s vital signs or care updates. My supervisor gave me a look that was somewhere between 'this is unacceptable' and 'is everyone just falling asleep at their desks now?' But hey, next time maybe we can have the hospital stocked up with napping pods instead of coffee pots.