Anyone work weekend DOUBLES? Feedback NEEDED!!

To be honest, I've never done it. I've seen many others do it only briefly and without success. They always say it burns them out and they can't handle it.

By all means, if you're the type that doesn't need much sleep and has bundles of energy after being in school all week, and can turn around and go to class Monday morning and do it all again, then please try it.

Good luck!

never ...and i never would. that is tooooo long and tooo hard on a body.

Hey amy

just saw your message and thought I'd give you my two cents.

I have been a CNA now for four years and have worked in hospitals, nursing homes and specialty hospitals and have worked 12 -13 hour shifts regularly.

If you're a "MIND OVER MATTER" person you can do it. You will become exhausted. But, once you've done enough of those shifts, you'll stop counting the hours until quitting time.

It also depends on where you work. If you really hate your job--don't do it. It will reflect in your care of patients, your school work, or home life (from personal experience)

I have started yet another new job. I thought I'd get an inside edge by staying a CNA, which in many ways I have, but I regret it a lot of times, because I no longer look forward to clinicals. It's just like working to me now, except I'm paying them for free labor!!!

but, MIND OVER MATTER, it's not their fault, I'll be done with school soon, etc etc.

If working doubles will give you more days off, then it may work for you. I can't stand work 8 hour shifts, because I can't do an hour or two of reading everyday. I'd rather work my 2-3 days and then have 4-5 days of studying and school.

But, you will make the right decision, no matter what you do.

Good luck

Morgan

:roll

I did it for the first year of nursing school. I worked from 3pm on Friday until 7am on Saturday, and 3pm Saturday to 7am sunday. I only got about 5 hours sleep in between, and by the time I got home Sunday I was totally exhausted, and slept most of the day. I only lasted a year doing it, but for that year I got all my bennies because I worked 32 hours, and I got 5 days off in a row. Worked well for me, but no way could I do if for TWO years!!! LOL Good luck with your decision!

I have not worked more than 12 hours shifts as a NA (before certification mandations) but I did work a 24 hour shift as a paramedic while I was going to nursing school. That was a weekend Sat-Sun 7am to 7am and during that shift I was the only Paramedic for 2 'for profit' services that were owned by the same person.

The contracts the services had usually kept me awake most of the 24 hour period (VA - 3 facilities, large rehab facility, very large psych facility, a federal pennitentiary).

Just as the other posters have offered; Weekends are for work and weekdays are for school. I did it and got divorced after but that is another story,... The reason I went to nursing school was to have an income to support 3 kids

Good luck with your studies.

This falls in the catagory of, "Ya gotta do what Ya gotta do" If this is what ya gotta do to acheive your goal then do it. Will it be easy? No. If you do not have early classes on Monday then I would suggest working 3p to 7am, the work loads are not as bad and you may be able to get a little school work done. I worked my way through nursing school by working 16 hour weekends and working as many shifts as I could get during the summer and breaks. You can get through it. Good luck.

I worked 2 16hour shifts Fridays, and Saturdays while going to school. Hard, but do-able. If you're used to working 12's, its not too much worse. Got paid for 36 hours, so was still making a good wage. When Monday rolled around, I was so glad to be going back to school, and when Friday rolled around, I was so glad I didn't have to go to school, lol. One really hard time, we had a code at the end of the shift, and by the time I finished there, and caught up my other tasks, and documented it all, I only got 3 hours sleep between the two shifts. That was murder!

Good luck however you work it out! (btw, I was in a lpn to rn program).

I really appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm lucky in some ways I guess..I have no kids, I'm not married, and I don't have a BF. My focus is school and work ONLY. I think I will go ahead with the weekend doubles. I'd be so much better off finacially and have more study time for school. I just didn't want to kill myself doing it. Again, thanks to everyone who posted a reply. :kiss

Hi,

I'm a CNA going to school to become a RN and I am considering a job offer to work weekend doubles as a CNA. I have never worked even a 12 hour shift job as a CNA and am not sure what the weekend double would be like. I'm wanting feedback from anyone who has worked weekend doubles. I'd just like to know what things are like and if it's very, very difficult for a CNA to do this.

I can tell you that I worked Baylor shift as an LPN for 7 yrs in a ltc. There were quite a few cna's who also did the baylor. It is very tough, the 16 hours would be even more so. It will leave you no "you" time at all, if you have school all week, full time. Good luck! Its do-able, but it will be tough.

Hi amy,

Not sure if you mean back-to-back 12 hour shifts, but i worked 2 12s (often turning into 2 14s) on saturday/sunday in nursing school, went to classes and clinicals full time mon-fri, worked a half-shift at the hospital one night during the week (depending on my class schedule) and drove 100 miles round-trip every day that i had to go to school. I did this for a little more than a year, during which time i also went through a divorce, moved out of my house into a tiny apartment to live alone for the first time ever, and had abdominal surgery twice.

it was hard. i was usually bone-tired, and thinking 'why me?' (though i knew the answer- needed insurance for the surgeries and $$ for the move!). but, at the end of the day/week/month, i had to do it, so i did. i think we have the ability to handle a *lot* more than we think we're capable of. I always looked at my fellow students who had kids and were working and going to school, and thought, 'wow, I could *never* do it if i had kids!' but they were thinking the same thing about some aspect of my situation.

i guess what i'm saying is that it can be done- it may not be fun (i missed out on a lot of my friends' lives during that year, and my dogs got fat from never being walked), but it can be done. Personally, i couldn't have kept up that pace if it weren't financially imperative- if it had been something i just did for extra cash, i would've quit. I needed the urgency to have the self-discipline.

One piece of advice, if you decide to do this: if you get sick, STAY HOME! Since you don't have any recovery time factored in to your week, an illness can hang on forever. I ended up with pneumonia because i stubbornly refused to stay home from work or school (which also had to do with the archaic school policy of allowing for no clinical absences, as if people don't get sick! pfft!). I ended up sick in bed for a week, which could've probably been avoided.

Another bit of advice- find rewards for yourself. I never got a chance to watch tv on a normal schedule, but i loved the show 24....so I recorded it on tivo every week, and chose (very carefully) a 40-minute period when i could watch it- no studying, no laundry-folding...just something pleasurable. Some days, knowing i was going to see 24 that night was the one thing that got me through it all. May sound silly to some, but it was important to me.

I wish you the best of luck- you can do this, and succeed, if you set your mind to it!!