Yesterday I ran into a neighbor/friend I hadn't seen in awhile - she graduated from Nursing School last year and has been working since then at the same hospital my husband has been at for the last 18 years.
She's a very nice person, knows I'm going back to school for Nursing and had loads of advice for me. I asked how she liked the hospital - she loves her job but has a HUGE problem with how certain shifts are paid (she never complains about anything, so I was interested to hear what she thought about all of this). This hospital usually gives the new Nurses the "worst shifts" - so she was very lucky to get the day-shift working 3 "12's" a week (no weekends, no nights, no rotating shifts" - she said it works out fantastic for her family.
She said she was totally "ticked off" that the hospital just upped the "night shift diff for RN's" to $6.00 an hour and claims that the "night shift" has it easy compared to the day shift. This sort of made my hair stand on end because my husband is one of those people that she's saying has it "easier". For the last 18 years he's worked the most disgusting shift - 4 "12's" in a row -Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon - 7p - 7a. Not only is he absolutely "dead" at the end of it - but he misses out on all sorts of family things by working literally every weekend and most Holidays during the year.
I tried to explain to her that He is constantly complaining that the day shift is over-staffed, have easy access to the Docs., Specialists, Admin., etc. and the Night Shift gets by on a "skeleton crew" and get just as many traumas at night, if not more in the (ER) where he works as they do during the day - and have to handle it all with fewer staff members.
I think just the fact that so few people are willing to work weekends and nights (being away from family, friends, etc. at those odd hours) is the reason they have to offer more money for those shifts to get people to work them. With 3 kids, him trying to sleep during the day on the weekends in almost impossible and if the hospital is willing to pay the "zombies" a little extra money per hour for all they give up - I'm glad. I told her if it was the extra money she was after, I know there were plenty of night shift openings - she quickly said - no thanks, I want a life. So there you go - she's not willing to give up her nights and weekends, so can't see how she can complain about them getting paid a little better for the sacrifice.
Being the wife of a night/weekend worker - I've spent all these years basically "sleeping alone" (hey, I think I deserve some compensation for that) :chuckle Those of you who work "nights" know that your body is used to sleeping during the day - so even when you have a "day/night off" - it's incredibly hard to re-adjust your little time clock to do things with the family during the day. When the hubby has a few days off, he can't sleep at night and is usually puttering around the house all night while the kids and I are asleep and then he nods off when we're getting up - it's a horrible shift for people with families.
Sorry this was so long - any opinions about the shift-diffs?? Just from my many years living through this and all I've seen my husband and our family sacrifice for him to work these wacky hours - they certainly do deserve the little bit of extra income they get. If they had tons of people willing to work those hours they would be paid the same as the day shift. Thanks for listening and letting me vent.. Susan
