CNA shift for fulltime student and wife

kaliRN · Mar 1, 2011

Disclaimer: I have never worked as a CNA - I am merely speaking from what I experienced in nursing school/as an RN. As a general rule: Acute care setting would offer a full time position with 12-hour shifts 3x a week. Long-term care would offer 8 hour shifts 5x a week. As far as working only weekends Friday/Saturday/Sunday, that would be up to the facility. The nature of 12-hour shifts usually comes with alternating days throughout the week (i.e. a different 3 days every week). There were students in my programs that were CNA's/LPN's that worked nights or had relationships with their employers that allowed them to choose the days they worked to match our program requirements. In the latter situation, these were long standing employment situations, no one walked into a job with that kind of flexibility. As an alternative, there are also CNA "float pools" at some hospitals and if you were lucky enough to gain employment at more than one facility, you may get three shifts that way. More likely, since you are wanting to work the (less desirable to most) weekends. But there's no "guarantee" here - so I mention this more as a "last resort"

Please know whatever route you take. Working full-time - especially nights - requires a level of commitment I hope you are prepared for. Please seek advice from someone you trust on this. I hope you also consider the wages you will be making as a CNA and you and your fiance are able to budget accordingly.

tokyoROSE, BSN, RN · Mar 1, 2011

Yes absolutely you can get weekend shifts and work full time. 36 hours is full time at the local hospitals where I live... however, nursing homes or other facilities may consider 40 hours full time. One question, why can't your fiance work during his undergrad? Both of you having part time jobs would be better than having all the burden on you.

backatit2 · Mar 1, 2011

i think it's funny when people add "wife" to their list of "jobs." being a wife isn't like being a mother - if anything, having a husband should be a HELP, not a hinderance. people go to school full time, work, and live on their own while taking care of children - so you situation sounds pretty sweet IMO.

you can work full time on weekends (three 12 hour shifts) if you find the right manager. i interviewed with one lady who was like, "what would you do when school starts," and immediately knew that wasn't the job/manager to fit my needs. i interviewed with another lady and said, "i just want you to know upfront school is my #1 priority" and she was like "oh, absolutely." it's usually not hard to find a weekend only schedule bc most ppl who are out of school don't WANT to work weekends.

eriksoln, BSN, RN · Mar 1, 2011

I did exactly what you are proposing for three semesters, got away from it during our senior/final semester. It was hard. Things you will run into:

1. Routine daily "chores" become too much of a bother, you don't have time for them. Just spending time to get laundry done becomes too much of a burden on the schedule. My apt. was chronically dirty and I did things like dishes/laundry at odd hours. Often, had to choose between a good nights rest or clothes to wear for the next day.

2. You social life will suffer. This occurred to me for two reasons: A. No time to socialize hence people found other things to do. When I did have time (that one time per month I could spend a couple hours), it was impossible to make plans. B. I was a chronic grouch, working too much. Didn't really want to do much of anything.

3. Other responsibilities will get ignored. I often had the money to pay my bills, but couldn't find the time to sit down and fill them out. Didn't get my car registration done until just before I became illegal. Doctor visits were not going to happen, I was in the middle of getting a lot of dental work done and never finished it.

4. My grades were not what they could have been. A lot of my worked reflected a "thrown together at the last possible moment" style to it. My test grades were average at best because, I was too tired to recall things upon being prompted to. I understood everything, just couldn't bounce around from one idea to the other upon being prompted to by a test. I was getting high C's when I should have been getting solid B's or low A's.

I don't mean to paint a bleak picture, but this lifestyle is not for everyone. It had a simplicity/return to basics feel to it that I needed at the time. I am not sure I could do this again. You learn to love those fifteen minute breaks between classes, you start to look forward to that one hour at night where all your schoolwork is done and you can sit in quiet...............it really refocuses you.

During my final semester, I worked part time because life allowed me too. My grades went up, clinical instructors no longer considered me "the one that needs watching" (IDK why, it just happened) and I started getting along with people better.

If working AND going to school full time is truly the only way, don't let anyone talk you out of it. But if there are other/more realistic options............take that road instead.

nep1980 · Mar 1, 2011

i think it's funny when people add "wife" to their list of "jobs." being a wife isn't like being a mother - if anything, having a husband should be a HELP, not a hinderance. people go to school full time, work, and live on their own while taking care of children - so you situation sounds pretty sweet IMO.
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Having a husband.....especially a husband who is as the OP stated also a college student, is absolutely a FULL time job. They make everything harder for you. From my experience with my husband he thinks that his schooling is so much harder than mine and that it is a priority for him to get his school work done and it is my responsibility to take care of our daughter, more so than it is his. So I am sure that this is the reason that the OP and others that you see listing "WIFE" as a "job" is why it is....It would be much easier for me to be a single parent because my mom would help me with my daughter more then, but since my husband is in the picture one would assume that he would be helping......So for me being a wife is a job, where as being single would be easier....I know crazy right

Thirdwatch · Mar 1, 2011

I did exactly what you are proposing for three semesters, got away from it during our senior/final semester. It was hard. Things you will run into:
1. Routine daily "chores" become too much of a bother, you don't have time for them. Just spending time to get laundry done becomes too much of a burden on the schedule. My apt. was chronically dirty and I did things like dishes/laundry at odd hours. Often, had to choose between a good nights rest or clothes to wear for the next day.
2. You social life will suffer. This occurred to me for two reasons: A. No time to socialize hence people found other things to do. When I did have time (that one time per month I could spend a couple hours), it was impossible to make plans. B. I was a chronic grouch, working too much. Didn't really want to do much of anything.
3. Other responsibilities will get ignored. I often had the money to pay my bills, but couldn't find the time to sit down and fill them out. Didn't get my car registration done until just before I became illegal. Doctor visits were not going to happen, I was in the middle of getting a lot of dental work done and never finished it.
4. My grades were not what they could have been. A lot of my worked reflected a "thrown together at the last possible moment" style to it. My test grades were average at best because, I was too tired to recall things upon being prompted to. I understood everything, just couldn't bounce around from one idea to the other upon being prompted to by a test. I was getting high C's when I should have been getting solid B's or low A's.
I don't mean to paint a bleak picture, but this lifestyle is not for everyone. It had a simplicity/return to basics feel to it that I needed at the time. I am not sure I could do this again. You learn to love those fifteen minute breaks between classes, you start to look forward to that one hour at night where all your schoolwork is done and you can sit in quiet...............it really refocuses you.
During my final semester, I worked part time because life allowed me too. My grades went up, clinical instructors no longer considered me "the one that needs watching" (IDK why, it just happened) and I started getting along with people better.
If working AND going to school full time is truly the only way, don't let anyone talk you out of it. But if there are other/more realistic options............take that road instead.

I sooo agree with you. I'm doing the 12-hour shift on friday-Sunday...and need the other 4 days to recover. I can't study--nothing stays. It's way too much.

lidleanjel · Mar 2, 2011

I am a full time nursing student (have until Nov till graduation) who is working 3 nights a week on 3rd shift as a CNA on the surgical specialty floor at a local hospital and married with no children. From my experience, being married in school and working even part time is a LOT of work. I do give props to all the mothers in school with me, but in its own way, the whole process is a balancing act. Its like riding a never ending roller coaster and thank god the end is finally nearing for me. no matter what, make sure you take 1 day a week to spend time with your man and relax yourself. it is easy to get burnt out fast.

My husband was in the USMC and deployed numerous times. We have agreed that life right now is worse then military deployments. just because you don't have kids does not mean its not going to be rough. (sorry i get a little offended with the whole "mothers have more to do then a married person without children." I hear this all the time by the mothers I go to school with. people without children just have different priorities. getting off my soap box now.) We believe nursing school/working is harder than military deployments because you are physically here and trying to make a living and survive, but emotionally and socially you become somewhat isolated to complete nursing school.

My schedule is very crazy and I feel I must study day and night to survive school. do not get me wrong my husband is supportive, but we feel we have drifted some because of our lives are not meshing well right now.

just my thoughts as a married person with no children while working and in school.

mediatix8 · Mar 2, 2011

I am an RN but I first had an undergrad degree in psychology. The psychology degree was EASY. The nursing degree was HARD. Same university for both. I had a LOT more free time (in fact, a little too much free time) when I was going for psychology. And I had above a 3.0 grade point average with both degrees. What will your husband be doing on the weekends? They usually tell you in nursing school to not work more than 8-16 hours a week. You have no idea how stressful nursing school is.

backatit2 · Mar 3, 2011

to each his own - but as someone who went through college and graduated while working and raising 2 very young kids alone (AND not having a free place to live) - i think it's funny when someone with a free place to live, a husband (once again, help not hinderance), and no children thinks they have a stressful situation.