9 to 5
blessedandhopeful
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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Talk to me about being a nurse
in 9 to 5
There are pros and cons to every job. If you are a nurse, I'd love to hear specifics about what you like and dislike about your job. I know there are different kinds/areas, so if you can include that information I'd appreciate it. In the next year or two I want to make a decision on whether to stay in my current profession and obtain my master's, or move in a different direction, which would likely mean going back to school as well. Nursing is an option I'm considering.
Thanks!
Re: Talk to me about being a nurse
Before you commit yourself to any change in jobs/fields:
Investigate the availability of full time nursing jobs jobs with benefits and perks that are in your area. Also find out what the starting pay is.
Your first job will prob. be 11 pm to 7 am shift, day time shifts are very hard to come by.
The night shift is not for everyone. Nor is the 3-11/4-12 shift. Keep that in mind.
If the jobs are plentiful and available and there's no trouble finding a full time job --- most hospitals like to hire per diems, which means there's no benefits and the job is not full time, I strongly suggest you volunteer.
Volunteer in a hospital, preferably a teaching hospital -- and volunteer on a med/surgical floor and do it for all 3 shifts. Commit yourself to volunteering for a good long period of time; I suggest several months.
You'll find out what the job actually entails and what happens on a nursing floor during each shift.
If you're still okay with all of this, then go for it.
Also consider the financial aspect of changing fields --- you may have to take out a student loan; colleges and professional schools are not cheap.
I am in NJ; a local nursing school wants $25 grand per year and the local community college that offers a 2 year nursing program charges $125 per credit hour.
Good luck.
I can give you a quick summary from the perspective of my mom, who went into nursing as a 2nd career when my little sister started school.
She started as a NICU nurse and loved it. She had an "in" there bc she had taught childbirth ed for years- I don't know if that is an area a new nurse can typically get into right away. She liked it but hated night shift.
We moved and she had to take what she could get- worked ICU. Again hated the night shift.
Left ICU and became a home hospice nurse. Loved that (days finally!) but she is a winter-driving wimp so when she had a chance to not travel to homes anymore, she took a different Hospice job that was based in the hosp.
Moved again and again had to take whatever. Became a nursing director at a nursing home. They were doing illegal stuff so she quit and reported them.
Got a job in the student health center at a University. Basically like working in a Dr.'s office. Worse pay than a hospital but better hours.
Returned to Hospice (due to true love of it) in new town, and quickly moved up to nursing supervisor at Hospice. She could easily become the director of the Hospice if she sticks with it.
During all of that, she went back and got her MSN, and that has helped her move up.
I've worked in healthcare and also have family members who are RNs.Here is what I have observed:
Definitely get the BSN. That is becoming the minimum for training for an RN in my area (large city).
At the same time... you may find it difficult to get into nursing school. This goes for allied health occupations as well. There are only so many clinical rotation slots available in a given community, so there can only be so many training opportunities available. Many programs are highly competitive. My local techincal college radiology tech program, for instance, usually has over 500 applicants for 28 positions. And, you have to have high grades in your science and math classes.
Volunteering--not only to see if you're a good fit for a hospital/skilled nursing facility/hospice environment, but also to improve your chances of acceptance into your school of choice--is a necessity.
As other posters have said, you will get the graveyard shift. You will have to work weekends. This is all as you build up seniority. This is primarily at hospitals although smaller facilities will also operate this way, too. The only exceptions I can think of are physician practices or surgical centers where patients are not seen on the weekends or after hours. It's also very common for freshly graduated nurses to work the least desirable, "boring" or least interesting floors. It is really hard to graduate and go straight to NICU since experience is needed to care for these patients.
It is really common for nurses to work at 2 different hospitals. Since shifts are either 8 hours or 12 hours, you can usually get hired as per diem and work at both places. Per diem positions typically have limited or no fringe benefits like health insurance, disability insurance, etc.
You can also get hired as a travel nurse, where you are assigned jobs in different locales, through an employment agency.
I'm an L&D nurse. I LOVE my job. I work 3 12 hour shifts a week. I used to work on a cardiac telemetry unit. It was great for experience, but L&D is where I wanted to be. I was ready to be done with the cardiac unit after 2.5 years of being there. I was also a community nurse for 3 years. I really liked that as well. I got very good at working independently, decision making, and using skills. I recommend nursing as a career, it has so many opportunities and different paths you can take.
School is tough...I do recommend getting your BSN. I have my associated degree, but am going back to school for my BSN. So many hospitals are requiring it now, or they want more nurses with a BSN as opposed to an ADN. You will probably work nights as others have mentioned, but on some units it may not take long to get a day position.
Thanks for the laughs.
Most hospitals, and other businesses, operate as an "at will" employment.
That means you can be fired at any time, no warning and no reason.
It's also meaningless if you get to work in a unionized hospital -- I've been a union employee and I've seen coworkers get fired. No warning, gone -- and the union did nothing to save their job.
More ugly news:
Hospitals rely on visaed employees. Very very few American trained allied health professionals and nurses are being hired.
The time for the visaed employee needs to END.
Hi! I currently work day shift on a high acuity Oncology floor. I have a Comminications/Marketing bachelors degree and decided to return to Nursing school for my BSN. Here are a few random thoughts about Nursing:
If you already have a bachelors degree (in anything), then I would definitely check out an accelerated, 2nd degree Nursing program. Most of these are found at uninversities instead of a communinity college. In 2 years, I was able to earn a BSN. It is fast paced, and you typically cant work another job while in school, but it can get you in and out quick! Also, my hospital is no longer hiring non-BSN prepared RN's (unless you are currently employed there). And there is indeed more senority if you are a BSN prepared RN. At our hospital, only BSN-RN's can be Charge Nurses, Nurse Managers, etc.
As a nurse on an Oncology floor, I LOVE my patients. You develop relationships with them. They are (unfortunately) in and out of the hospital alot, and their stays tend to be a little longer than a typical hospital floor. You get to know them, their families, their favorite color, etc. It is indeed a very special floor.
However, our patients are SICK. Very sick. Sometimes just one small step away from the ICU. Do you work well under pressure? Taking care of 5 VERY sick patients (and their families) can be very stressful. However, the reward of taking care of such fighters is something I can never describe. My patients (for the majority) are VERY appreciative and thankful for your care. They are an inspiration.
Nurses wear MANY hats. You are expected to be everywhere, at the same time. In one given minute, one patient needs pain meds, the other is vomiting all over the place and has chest pain, another patient has transport waiting on you b/c you need to get them prepped for surgery, the other is having a reaction to chemo, and you just got a new patient that you need to get checked in. This randomness happens all day, every day.
Unlike most new grads, I started out on day shift. I was originally hired for night shift, but at the time of my orientation, my hospital had just opened a new unit and several of our day shifters went over there to help get it started. One night shifter moved to days, but all the others wanted to stay put (preferred the schedule, pay, etc.) I was super nervous being a new grad on dayshift, but no better way to learn than to just throw me out there!
Our shifts, for the majority, are 3 days a week, from 7a-7p, or 7p-7a, and we work every 3rd weekend and many holidays. This worked well for me for a while, but now that I am raising a family, these weekends come up WAY too often for me, and I go 3 days week without seeing DS hardly at all. And working holidays is one thing, but missing Christmas morning or Easter with my family is starting to be really, really hard to digest. I am currently in the search for a M-F RN position (just had a 2nd interview for one!).
Good luck with whatever you decide!
This makes me sad, and needs to change. I just went to orientation and at a hospital. All of the new hire RN's were visaed. It's sad when so many, locally trained RN's can't find a job.
No. I have worked in hospitals for 15 years and none of this is true.