Any advice is much appreciated

[raindrop]

I'm in a rut and a lil depressed about it. I have been a nurse for 3 years and I"m pretty burned out already. I've only worked Medical and I know there are other areas to work in, but I am scared to death of places like ICU, ED, etc. And I'm so sick of Med/Surg, having so many patients and running around like crazy all day, lucky to get a lunch break. I'm also sick of working every other Friday....and then every other weekend. Since I work the night shift, and since we are mandated to work every other Friday if we are off that weekend, I don't get off until MY Saturday morning ....and then I go home and sleep most of the day and never get to enjoy my Saturday to myself. Uggh.

I'm also a lil depressed because the older I get, the more I realize I want to spend weekends with my family and not work. I also want normal working hours M-F. I treid getting 8-hour shift at my job, but they said no. I also would like to settle down and get married/find a boyfriend/have a baby (I'm alsmost 31), but it seems like I don't have much ttime to tend to a personnal life with my long hours. I don't know very many people here (Chicago) and that makes it hard to meet ppl. I moved here for a guy last summer. It didn't work out. Now he wants to give it another go, and I do too b/c I love him, but I also miss my family and would like to be closer to them. But I do love him. So here are my options:

Pro/Con - stay in Chicago and look for another job and work it out with the boy. Ideally a MD office. Con- I know I can't support myself here on a office job wage. Uggh.

OR

Move back to my hometown where cost of living is very cheap, get a job at a MD office, enjoy life. CON- I will have regrets and always wonder what if about the boy. Also, sometimes the idea of living in my small town makes me shudder. Boring. But here in Chi, I don't do anything anyway, so what's the difference?

[Melinurse]

What about endoscopy,clinic part-time and LTC per diem. I am in the same area as you are. I was also burnt out with med-surg. I never really wanted LTC but, working per diem at 2 facilities guarantees me hours I need to pay the bills and then some. I also work agency per diem so I get various experiences there too. I pretty much set my own hours at the begining of each week and still get multiple calls to work extra hours. Pros are, you set your own schedule, pay rate is higher, and you don't have to deal with the drama. Cons, no benefits, no holiday extra pay ( so you get holidays off ), and my private pay health insurance is the same as I was paying at my old job. Anyhow, just a thought.

[sunray12]

frankly, you sound more than a little depressed.

if you are working 12's that means you have four days a week off, and should only be working every THIRD w/e.

plenty of time to find the "right" guy. If you truly want to marry and have children this should be on your "front burner". try some counselling or at least what is called a life coach. contrary to fairy tales, prince charming is not going to ride in on a white horse! you need to work for it, now and after.....good luck

^^ I agree with this. Keep in mind that working m-f, 8ish to 5ish means that you'll have a lot less free time rather than more time. I've worked this schedule most of my life so I would know. With a long commute you're out the door before sun up and get home after dark in the winters and if you need to catch up on sleep on Saturday mornings then your time off per week is short. I was able to negotiate one extra day off per week from my employer in order to accommodate my prenursing classes which is invaluable, but this was given to me only reluctantly. There is only one shift in my line of work so I look forward to being a nurse and having other schedule options. Bottom line your work schedule should not be ruling your life. You have to be creative about making your life fit with your work schedule.