Double income as a nurse

[ChrisB718]

Would it be possible to get two separate positions at different hospitals to double your income? or even work two nursing positions at the same in one hospital? would this result in burn out you think? I am still a nursing student but I was thinking of starting a family 2 years after graduating and figured doubling my income for one year to save up for a house and a child wouldn't be too bad? a year goes by pretty quick!

[GenSurgRNFA, BSN]

U want to do 2 full time jobs? A more realistic option i would think would be 1 full time and 1 part time maxing at 60 hrs a week.

[Trjl]

Theoretically, you could do 3-12 hour shifts in one place, and then 3-12 hour another place. That is 6-12 hour shifts a week. Burn out? Absolutely. Especially as a new nurse. Nursing is always stressful, and your first few years can be the most stressed because you are still learning how to be a nurse. And working that type of stress could lead to making mistakes, which could cause you to lose a job. Most hospitals have spots for their own staff to work PRN, either on their current unit, or on other units. The only downfall of that, is that your extra hours will be paid at your current salary. You may want to consider doing per diem at another hospital. Since you would not need benefits at 2 hospitals, you could maximize your pay with the per diem pay. Also you could schedule yourself for 2 weeks straight if you wanted, but you could also not schedule extra Per diem for a few weeks, just to give yourself a break.

Even though this sounds like a wonderful goal, and you want to start a family without debt, remember if are constantly working, your relationships away from work may suffer. So while working hard to save up money, don't forget to take some time to nurture your relationships at home. Best of luck to you. Nursing offers a lot of opportunities, we just have to look to find them.

[sailornurse]

I know an RN that works 2 jobs, one is m-f, 40 hours, then on weekends she works 16 hour shifts on Sat/Sun.

[LM NY]

As a brand spanking new nurse it would be difficult. What you are doing in clinical is nothing compared to the real nursing world. I agree about the full time and part time which can be doable.

[Barkow]

You might be better off doing overtime shifts paying time and a half at your current job, if available, rather than doing straight pay shifts at a second job. More efficient that way, and you can always do it when you want to, as opposed to the stress of fulfilling staff requirements at two facilities.