Commuting to work

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Specializes in Med/Surg; Critical Care/ ED.

I started a new job last Monday and was in orientation M-F 8-4. I live about 62 miles from my new place of employment, and the facility is in a highly populated area with terrible rush hour traffic. All week I left at 6 am. My trip varied from 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours, and there was no way to tell. Once I start my 12 hour shifts (next week) I'm hoping this won't be such a big deal. After orientation, I'll be on nights which should help even more.

I would just like to hear from others who commute as well, how long have you been doing it, how far do you drive, do you have any tricks for dealing with it, is there anyway to save gas when you are constantly stopping and starting? I thought I had been dealing with it well, but by Friday evening I was SO tired and just wanted to get home, and it seemed the trip got longer every mile I drove. I'm hoping some of that was just exhaustion from sitting in orientation all week (which was LONG and BORING) coupled with the drive.

This new job will give me lots of experience and I am very excited about it. I don't want the commute to affect how I feel about my job.

Thanks.

PH

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Sattelite radio. and some special car only snackkies...

And I hate to say it, but I used to do that. I had a lot of trouble staying awake on the drive home, and had many many near misses. Be Careful in driving that far.....especially in the am when traffic is light, but not non-existent....

I eventually moved to be closer to the job, it was the only thing that was going to prevent an actual MVA.....

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i absolutely hate commuting, and i have less of an issue with it than the op - i am 30 minutes from work. even so, i'm looking at buying a home closer to work for many reasons, including the commute. i listen to npr, my ipod, have plenty of java by my side - but as for the time, i have to leave the house at 6:20 every morning. in addition to the actual drive time, i have to park 7-8 minute's walk away from the front door, plus i have to change into scrubs when i get there...add to that finding equipment in the morning, etc. i work 10 hour days...the other bad part of the commute: paying for gas..ugh.:o

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

I remember you from your last post where you were wondering whether to leave your last job or not. I'm glad to hear you finally made a decision and it sounds like you like this new hospital.

I used to live in the desert and had to drive only 30 miles one way to work, but it still was quite a drive through areas of nothingness. I always worried about what I would do if my car broke down in the middle of this nowhere. My biggest problem driving home in the morning was the fatigue. Tedium when you are driving makes it very easy to drop off to sleep if you are real drowsy. I fell asleep one time while waiting at a stop light. It's a miracle that my foot didn't come off the brake and allow the car to roll into the intersection! After that I changed my sleep times. I decided in my mind that I was going to treat going to my job like someone who was getting up in the morning and going to work. So, I started going to sleep at around 1pm in the afternoon and getting up at 9pm, getting ready and going to work. I found that I wasn't as tired in the morning coming home. I also learned that it was real important to try to get the 7 or 8 hours of sleep in at one block of time, if possible, to help avoid the fatigue later.

Eating in the car is usually a good way to stay alert. Sometimes I would stop and get a breakfast sandwich and OJ and eat it on the drive home. My mother used to keep potato chips in the car. She said that the crunching of the chips kept her awake. That never worked for me. Sing along with the radio. Find a talk station with really outgoing personalities on it that you can either yell at while you're driving or are so entertaining that they really capture your interest and take your mind off being tired. We have a couple of morning stations here in L.A. where you either want to hit the talk host, or they keep you listening with all kinds of interesting phone calls, polls and a donut guy that goes to an office of the day and serenades the workers with his guitar! The Rushbo and Dr. Laura would keep me awake! I used to also rent from Books On Tape (also on CD). I'd get a good murder mystery and had that going in the car while I was driving. I often stopped and did my errands on the way home, if I could. That included grocery shopping and stopping at pharmacies. If you feel real drowsy like you are about to fall asleep at any moment, pull over and get out of the car. Put your face to the wind for a few minutes. Take one of the off ramps on the freeway and explore what is there for a few minutes. You might find an interesting place to shop in for a few minutes just to get you back awake and alert.

It's also a good idea to know where the motels are that are close to the hospital where you are working. I always kept $100 in cash in my car in case of an emergency. If the weather is really bad, it's much better to just get a motel room and stay put if you can. The hospital will be so thrilled to have someone who is able to get in to work that they will usually let you wear a pair of their scrubs the next day. I used to always put out dry food for my cats in case I might not get home to feed them on schedule. Another tip my truck driver brothers told me years ago was to learn the routes that the public busses take. Those routes are designed so the busses keep on their schedules. They tend to be routed onto main roads that are going to get the first attention after some weather disasters (i.e., plowed first during snowstorms). Bus routes are going to avoid as much rush hour traffic as possible and yet still be convenient to their users. A bus route may be the fastest way to get though town before getting on the freeway during rush hour.

Hope you can get some ideas from that. Congratulations on your new job. I hope it turns out to be everything you hoped.

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Specializes in Med/Surg; Critical Care/ ED.

Thanks to you all for your replies. And thanks for remembering me Daytonite! Yes, just about 8 days ago I finally made the choice to go to the new hospital. I tried to stay at my old facility, but the unit they put us in after closing MY unit just wasn't what I wanted. And I am so bitter about how things went down in my old unit that I was concerned my feelings would affect my attitude and performance, no matter how hard I tried. I needed a fresh start I guess.

Plus, it was always in the back of my mind, what would happen if I DID try it? The only thing that kept me from going in the first place was the commute. Well, that and the fear of something new. LOL So I just decided, after a particularly bad night at work, to just go for it. And once I made the true and final decision to go, all the worry about it just left, and I knew I had made the right decision.

Moving closer is not an option for me right now, but I'm hoping that only 3 nights a week will be doable. I don't know HOW those poor people commute every day 5 days a week! All I could do after that was go home and fall into a chair where I stayed until it was time to go to bed! Ugh!!

PH

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Specializes in Case Mgmt; Mat/Child, Critical Care.

An old trick I heard long distance drivers use a lot is keeping ice cold, sliced lemons w/you....in a baggie w/ice for instance. When you feel like you're geting into that "zone", take a bite of the lemon slice. Also turn on the A/C full blast....These are short term fixes, but may help.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I lived 116 miles from my job at one time, so I was driving 232 miles roundtrip on a daily basis.

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

I will NOT do long commutes, or commute on roads that have dangerous traffic. Been there...done that...enuff is enuff already. :uhoh3:

I look for work close to home. I used to love working nightshift until my body stayed sick all the time. Last Spring was the last season for me to work nightshift. I'll miss it, but my health and my life come first. If it takes more than 20 minutes to get to work, the job is too far as far as I'm concerned. The drivers on the road are enough to stress me out before I get to work, so like to at least keep the drive short. :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg; Critical Care/ ED.
I lived 116 miles from my job at one time, so I was driving 232 miles roundtrip on a daily basis.

All I can say to that is WOW:eek: How long did you keep that up? Did you stay in the area when you worked a few days in a row? Wow. I'm speechless (and that takes a LOT!).

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Specializes in Med/Surg; Critical Care/ ED.

I guess one thing I do have going for me is that I LOVE to drive. Hopefully this won't change that. lol

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I thin the move will be a good one for you.

if the drive bothers you , you might even find someone who lives in your area to drive with, then again, I did that and found the other person was more annoying than anything else...but I did stay awake.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
All I can say to that is WOW:eek: How long did you keep that up? Did you stay in the area when you worked a few days in a row? Wow. I'm speechless (and that takes a LOT!).
I drove 232 miles daily roundtrip for 2 years. That's why my screen name is 'TheCommuter'. I went home nightly, so I did not stay in the area where I worked. Worst of all, I drove into the traffic-congested Los Angeles area daily. I love driving on the interstate, so commutes are no big deal to me. All I needed was coffee or caffeinated cola and a 90-minute music cassette tape.
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