Nurses that don't work holidays?

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I'm a sophomore at a university and will be starting the BSN program next semester. I am very interested in nursing, but I feel like I should be more excited than I am. One of the things that's really holding me back is that I just know I am going to hate working holidays (I'm religious, my family is very close, and I plan on having children). I know that there are some jobs out there that don't require holidays, but I am aware that nursing is a 24/7 profession, and I don't want to be naive. Should I find a different career to pursue? Or should I stick with it and hope to find my niche?

Specializes in ED, trauma.
Aren't nurses paid more on holidays and weekends? I'm more concerned as a new grad that I'll get stuck with plain ol' weekdays.

Amen.

And many religious hospitals continue working in holidays because HEALING is considered the greatest service to our community. In all honesty, every day with your family is special and these Hallmark "holidays" are only made for cashing in not for family.

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I don't think anyone particularly enjoys working holidays...its not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Unless you work at a doctors office or something your entire career its pretty inevitable. Sick people wont magically get better on the weekends and Christmas.

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Specializes in Medical Oncology, Alzheimer/dementia.

When I worked in urgent care we had short hours on the major holidays. If I can recall, we'd be open until 3 or 5 pm. So maybe even in a clinic a nurse can get stuck working some part of a holiday.

For years I worked in LTC. That was one of the hardest places to staff on holidays. We'd have staff that had no problems calling in for their shift, especially if they tried but couldn't get the day off.

There was a nurse I worked with that had her big family celebration on New Years, kind of how most people do for Christmas. I never really did anything special for New Years. We just balanced each other out. It was a good arrangement.

OP, try not to go into this already dreading what may lie ahead. You might be surprised how flexible scheduling may be, or how flexible restructuring your family plans can be.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

Or you make friends with people like me that dont care about holidays and offer to work them for people like you

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Or you can, as monkeybug did, realize that you're going to be working for a really, really long time, may not be in hospitals for all of your working life, and can be mature enough to see that many things come to him/her who waits.

In my case, I worked for five years as a staff nurse bedside before I got promoted to charge, at which point I only had to work 1/4 weekends instead of 1/2, and every other holiday shift instead of 2/3. A few years and a graduate degree later I was a clinical specialist with no weekends, holidays, or off shifts unless I wanted to do them (and I did, now and then, to keep some semblance of credibility with my staff). Two double shifts on a holiday weekend can pay your mortgage for the month if your kids are with their dad, you know. :)

Six years later I went into a totally different kind of nursing, working as a case manager in the insurance/legal milieu, and I haven't worked a shift or weekend or holiday since. Now I have my own business and there are a lot of times I wish I had a little more work :) but I can turn the phones off on holidays and at night with no qualms.

I guess the thing to remember is that you will not always be a hospital nurse unless you want to be, holidays aren't the big deal you think they'll be, your family will be proud of you working in such a profession and be happy to see you when you get home, and it's years and years too early to be worrying about this anyway.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
When I worked in urgent care we had short hours on the major holidays. If I can recall we'd be open until 3 or 5 pm. So maybe even in a clinic a nurse can get stuck working some part of a holiday. For years I worked in LTC. That was one of the hardest places to staff on holidays. We'd have staff that had no problems calling in for their shift, especially if they tried but couldn't get the day off. There was a nurse I worked with that had her big family celebration on New Years, kind of how most people do for Christmas. I never really did anything special for New Years. We just balanced each other out. It was a good arrangement. OP, try not to go into this already dreading what may lie ahead. You might be surprised how flexible scheduling may be, or how flexible restructuring your family plans can be.[/quote']

^THIS.

I have worked in healthcare since I was 19; so I spent those formative "high party" years working on holidays in a hospital.

There have been holidays I have to work, including birthdays that fell on holidays because I am a Memorial Day baby; I either worked or switched, and made plans around those particular holidays and found ways to celebrate either off hours or having a gathering before the holiday.

I enjoy spending holidays with coworkers; nothing better than commiserating with coworkers and patients who would rather be at home in bed. :)

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Or you make friends with people like me that dont care about holidays and offer to work them for people like you

Haha don't you love those mid 20s years where you might have moved from family or single and are just trying to break into the career field. You can work all those glorious weekend and holiday hours and rack up the $$$

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Specializes in Pedi.
I don't think anyone particularly enjoys working holidays...its not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Unless you work at a doctors office or something your entire career its pretty inevitable. Sick people wont magically get better on the weekends and Christmas.

I enjoyed it a lot when I worked in the hospital. In fact, if I had to consider all the Thanksgivings I've experienced in the past 30 years, the best ones- BY FAR- were the years that I was working in the hospital. I worked every Thanksgiving for my 5 years in the hospital- by choice. We had a huge potluck every year, there were always relatively few patients and no management. Last year I had to spend the day with my family since I now have a non-holiday working job and by 2pm I was ready to jump out the window. I always worked Thanksgiving and part of Christmas when I worked in the hospital that way I only had to spend one of the 3 winter holidays with my family. Last year I had to do all 3- ugh. Dreading having to do it again.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Now that my kids are older I always volunteer to work Christmas Day. It's awesome and my family gathers at supper time on that day so I don't miss dinner with them either.

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I work in the OR. No holidays or weekends at my facility :)

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Occupational health... ;)

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Specializes in CICU.

I am not religious, but I love Jesus. I find Christmas and Easter time a special time to be at work - I could try harder to be Christ-like all year round, but caring for the sick is a great way to celebrate.

Double time and a half helps too.

My family has a few of us with challenging schedules - we find a day to get together and exchange gifts.

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