Night Shift: The Full Moon Haunting

What it is

It is a full moon and the monsters are sick. You are the night nurse on a haunted unit with 4 rooms, and the shift clock races from sunset to sunrise. Werewolves, ghosts, witches, gargoyles, and more roll in by ambulance all night, and extra patients wait in the hallway until a bed opens.

Every patient has a stability bar that drains over time. Answer their NCLEX-style questions in order: what is wrong, what to do first, and how you know it worked. Right answers add stability. Finish all three and the patient is cured and discharged.

Meanwhile Dr. Grimshaw, the zombie attending, writes dangerous orders you have to catch. The Vampire Lab Team rounds at 9 PM and 3 AM, so you pick the right labs and read the results. Rhythm crises and elopement attempts pop up too. At 7 AM you get your shift grade.

What you'll learn

• Prioritize several unstable patients at once
• Name the problem, the first action, and the expected outcome
• Catch unsafe provider orders before they reach the patient
• Pick the right labs for a condition and interpret WBC, Hgb and Hct, AST and ALT, lipase, BNP, troponin, and ABGs
• Respond to rhythm changes and elopement risk

How it helps you

NCLEX tests clinical judgment, using NCSBN's Clinical Judgment Measurement Model. Every NURSYN game is built on the nursing process. Night Shift: The Full Moon Haunting works these ADPIE steps: Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation, Evaluation.

• Each patient walks you through Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation in order
• The three-question flow mirrors the NCJMM: analyze cues, take action, evaluate outcomes
• Catching Dr. Grimshaw builds the habit of questioning an unsafe order, a core safety skill
• Time pressure trains triage thinking for real night shifts

How to play

1. Pick Short, Full, or Double shift and clock in
2. Tap a patient or Give care to open their chart
3. Answer the three questions in order to cure and discharge them
4. Catch bad orders, draw the right labs, and handle crises before the timer runs out
5. Make it to sunrise for your shift grade

Clinical topics covered

Sources

The clinical content and the teaching approach behind this game line up with these references.

1. NCSBN Clinical Judgment Measurement ModelNCSBN. The framework NCSBN uses to measure clinical judgment and decision making on the NCLEX.
2. 2026 NCLEX-RN Test PlanNational Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). The official blueprint for what the NCLEX-RN covers, organized by Client Needs.
3. How to Understand Your Lab ResultsMedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. What reference ranges are and why they vary from lab to lab.
4. Game-thinking: utilizing serious games and gamification in nursing education, a systematic review and meta-analysis (Nylén-Eriksen et al., 2025). BMC Medical EducationBMC Medical Education. Pooled studies show serious games and gamification work in nursing education, with the strongest benefit for knowledge and a more modest effect on skills.