diff --git a/backends/postgres/postgres_backend.go b/backends/postgres/postgres_backend.go
index 8d2b465..048e1a5 100644
--- a/backends/postgres/postgres_backend.go
+++ b/backends/postgres/postgres_backend.go
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ func (p *PgBackend) announceJob(ctx context.Context, queue, jobID string) {
 	defer func(ctx context.Context) { _ = tx.Rollback(ctx) }(ctx)
 
 	// notify listeners that a job is ready to run
-	_, err = tx.Exec(ctx, fmt.Sprintf("NOTIFY %s, '%s'", queue, jobID))
+	_, err = tx.Exec(ctx, fmt.Sprintf(`SELECT pg_notify('%s', '%s')`, queue, jobID))
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
@@ -761,13 +761,13 @@ func (p *PgBackend) listen(ctx context.Context, queue string) (c chan string, re
 	go func(ctx context.Context) {
 		conn, err := p.pool.Acquire(ctx)
 		if err != nil {
-			p.logger.Error("unable to acquire new listener connnection", "queue", queue, "error", err)
+			p.logger.Error("unable to acquire new listener connection", "queue", queue, "error", err)
 			return
 		}
 		defer p.release(ctx, conn, queue)
 
 		// set this connection's idle in transaction timeout to infinite so it is not intermittently disconnected
-		_, err = conn.Exec(ctx, fmt.Sprintf("SET idle_in_transaction_session_timeout = '0'; LISTEN %s", queue))
+		_, err = conn.Exec(ctx, fmt.Sprintf(`SET idle_in_transaction_session_timeout = '0'; LISTEN %q`, queue))
 		if err != nil {
 			err = fmt.Errorf("unable to configure listener connection: %w", err)
 			p.logger.Error("unable to configure listener connection", "queue", queue, "error", err)
@@ -779,7 +779,7 @@ func (p *PgBackend) listen(ctx context.Context, queue string) (c chan string, re
 
 		for {
 			notification, waitErr := conn.Conn().WaitForNotification(ctx)
-			p.logger.Debug("job notification for queue", "queue", queue, "notification", notification)
+			p.logger.Debug("job notification for queue", "queue", queue, "notification", notification, "err", err)
 			if waitErr != nil {
 				if errors.Is(waitErr, context.Canceled) {
 					return
@@ -802,7 +802,7 @@ func (p *PgBackend) listen(ctx context.Context, queue string) (c chan string, re
 }
 
 func (p *PgBackend) release(ctx context.Context, conn *pgxpool.Conn, queue string) {
-	query := fmt.Sprintf("SET idle_in_transaction_session_timeout = '%d'; UNLISTEN %s", p.config.IdleTransactionTimeout, queue)
+	query := fmt.Sprintf("SET idle_in_transaction_session_timeout = '%d'; UNLISTEN %q", p.config.IdleTransactionTimeout, queue)
 	_, err := conn.Exec(ctx, query)
 	if err != nil {
 		if errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) {
diff --git a/backends/postgres/postgres_backend_test.go b/backends/postgres/postgres_backend_test.go
index bf8b50e..df5c8a2 100644
--- a/backends/postgres/postgres_backend_test.go
+++ b/backends/postgres/postgres_backend_test.go
@@ -577,13 +577,13 @@ func Test_MoveJobsToDeadQueue(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestJobEnqueuedSeparately(t *testing.T) {
-	connString, conn := prepareAndCleanupDB(t)
+	connString, _ := prepareAndCleanupDB(t)
 	const queue = "SyncThing"
 	maxRetries := 5
 	done := make(chan bool)
 	defer close(done)
 
-	timeoutTimer := time.After(30 * time.Second)
+	timeoutTimer := time.After(5 * time.Second)
 
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	defer cancel()
@@ -613,22 +613,17 @@ func TestJobEnqueuedSeparately(t *testing.T) {
 		return
 	})
 
-	go func() {
-		err = consumer.Start(ctx, h)
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Error(err)
-		}
-	}()
+	err = consumer.Start(ctx, h)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
 
 	// Wait a bit more before enqueueing
-	time.Sleep(10 * time.Second)
-	deadline := time.Now().UTC().Add(5 * time.Second)
 	jid, e := enqueuer.Enqueue(ctx, &jobs.Job{
 		Queue: queue,
 		Payload: map[string]interface{}{
 			"message": "hello world",
 		},
-		Deadline:   &deadline,
 		MaxRetries: &maxRetries,
 	})
 	if e != nil || jid == jobs.DuplicateJobID {
@@ -643,26 +638,4 @@ func TestJobEnqueuedSeparately(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
-
-	// ensure job has fields set correctly
-	var jdl time.Time
-	var jmxrt int
-
-	err = conn.
-		QueryRow(context.Background(), "SELECT deadline,max_retries FROM neoq_jobs WHERE id = $1", jid).
-		Scan(&jdl, &jmxrt)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Error(err)
-	}
-
-	jdl = jdl.In(time.UTC)
-	// dates from postgres come out with only 6 decimal places of millisecond precision, naively format dates as
-	// strings for comparison reasons. Ref https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/datatype-datetime.html
-	if jdl.Format(time.RFC3339) != deadline.Format(time.RFC3339) {
-		t.Error(fmt.Errorf("job deadline does not match its expected value: %v != %v", jdl, deadline)) // nolint: goerr113
-	}
-
-	if jmxrt != maxRetries {
-		t.Error(fmt.Errorf("job MaxRetries does not match its expected value: %v != %v", jmxrt, maxRetries)) // nolint: goerr113
-	}
 }