Do nurses get holidays off?

Nurses General Nursing

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Some have kids, some don't. Some value Thanksgiving and Christmas over the New Years holidays. How often do you find yourselves working important holidays? I have a 2 YO and am looking forward to a nursing career, but if that means missing out on my daughters thanksgivings and christmases growing up it does make me think twice.

You don't want to miss the kids opening presents? Santa can come early on Dec. 23. Really, he can. Santa is actually quite flexible. You're nurses. You make it work in the hospital with crap staffing, no supplies and PIA patients. It doesn't seem that a little thing like emailing Santa and asking if he can stop by a day or two early should be THAT difficult.

1 Votes
Specializes in geriatrics.

Before I was a nurse, I worked in hotel management. Same deal. Weekends, holidays, 24 hours. We all shared the work. I'd get new hires occasionally who complained about working shifts.

I'd tell them straight, "I need to be fair to everyone. If you can't work all the shifts, I can't schedule you in."

End of story. Everyone wants some flexibility. When seniority is involved, you have to accept the shifts available. The other solution is to work PRN.

1 Votes
Specializes in LTC.
joanna73 said:
i'm really tired of this mentality. we all make our choices in life. just because i'm single, that does not mean i am less entitled to my time off. you had the children, you are responsible for them.

Yes! I can't stand when other people get 400 days off, call in 2 seconds before their shift, and generally act a fool just because they decided to pop some kids out. You aren't special. Plan ahead, I don't want to deal with your issues.

Personally, I have to work xmas day, xmas eve, and new years... It's ok though, it's easier to reschedule christmas for me, than it would be thanksgiving, when all of the random family members are present.

1 Votes

Usually, I'm all for working holidays if someone wants to be off with their kids. Just know you'll be the first I'll ask to swap shifts when I want some days off in the summer! Lol. But that doesn't mean I should work every holiday. Most nursing jobs work holidays/weekends. Hospitals never close. And like someone else posted, it's not just nursing jobs, Mickey D's are even open during most holidays. So either get a job in a MD's office (unless they are like the ones in my area, are also open during holidays) or go to another profession (such as gov't) if holidays are REALLY important to you. The job that I'm currently at rotates holidays and every year, so if you work Christmas this year, you'll be off for Christmas next year, off Thanksgiving this year, work it next year, etc. It works but I still won't mind swapping for the co-worker whose son is coming home from overseas that she hasn't see in a year.

1 Votes

My spouse is in the military. Two out of the last four Christmas Days's he was in Kandahar. Guess what? I wound up working Christmas Evening on one of those days because none of my coworkers thought that I might want it off to spend with my teenagers. They had small children at home.

The years that I had Christmas off, I wound up working New Years.

I worked Christmas when he was in Bosnia, again the attitude was my kids were "old enough to be alone".

It sucked. Sure I had the option of calling in sick but yup that would have gone over real well! Sarcasm intended.

The attitude of the nurses I worked with that had young children over those years has changed my attitude. I now take Mothers Day off, well I am a mother too. I don't volunteer to cover any of their holidays anymore. Before, I'd do Easter, so they could do the egg hunt, Valentine's so they could go on that "hot date". I worked a few Christmas schedules that I didn't have to because they had family coming in from back east or it was their first "married" christmas.

Not anymore. If I could leave my children when their father was in a warzone to work Christmas and New Years, they can miss a Christmas at home.

1 Votes
Jmiami said:
Some have kids, some don't. Some value Thanksgiving and Christmas over the New Years holidays. How often do you find yourselves working important holidays? I have a 2 YO and am looking forward to a nursing career, but if that means missing out on my daughters thanksgivings and christmases growing up it does make me think twice.

Ha. Some people i work with are working both thanksgiving and christmas. not by choice. as thanksgiving is their holiday to work and christmas is their weekend to work. so either way they have to work both. get used to working AT LEAST everyother holiday in almsot all nursing jobs. if they are on your weekend to work but not holiday you still have to work, the opposite is also true, at least where i work. i am sure other places have different rules/sets. You will miss out as a nurse. and even if you have the "holiday off" working 12 hours the day before and after won't mean most people have the energy to be up and about the whole day. also if you work nights your holiday off may be the night before or the night of the holiday. some places you have to do both the eve and the night of the holiday. it all depends i guess .

1 Votes

i am so tired after all these shifts i don't care about the holidays. never cared much to being with and as a i find myself getting older, (not even that old), i care less and less. I especially have no desire to go about planning a repeat of celebrating thanksgiving or christmas or 4th of july on another of my days off. That does not mean i rather be at work than at home watching tv or sleeping!!!!

1 Votes
Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.
SuesquatchRN said:
I work on-call for hospice. This week, in a wicked thunderstorm, I got called to the home of a dying person. The first words out of the caregiver's mouth were, "I'm so sorry to get you out on a night like this!" My immediate answer was, "As a nurse, I've noticed that people don't only get sick during the day when the weather's nice. It's okay."

And how heartwarming was the fact that the caregiver was upset that you were inconvenienced!!!..and they have someone dying....that brought tears to my eyes...and that's what it's all about;)

1 Votes
Specializes in CMSRN.

I am so with RubyVee.

I do not want to think that the only time I can celebrate with my family is on the holidays. I want to be able to that anytime of year. And that is what I do.

I end up having 2-3 Christmas's (due to divorced parents and in-laws) and none of them fall on christmas if I am working. I almost prefer it. It reminds me that family and celebration have nothing to do with the calendar.

(except Halloween, you can't really go trick or treat on the 30th, so I do ask off for that day)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

1 Votes
Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
Been there,done that said:
The OP states she is looking FORWARD to her career. Give her a break... she is trying to find out the scoop.

See..." Nurses eat their young" posts, OP..

She asked for the scoop and she's getting it. Being bluntly honest is not the same as eating one's young. It's telling her how it is when she's a nurse and what to expect.

She said she was having second thoughts. Better she know now about what she will encounter with scheduling and holidays so she can make an informed decision about nursing, than for her to go into nursing thinking that she'll get to dictate her schedule because she has a child and then regretting it when she finds she can not.

2 Votes

all those who "celebrate" on other days. well not everyone even has that option. because their other family memebers have to work etc. and it very hard to coordinate days off to celebrate. the majority(or not) can get off for 4th of july or christmas etc and use that day to celebrate. by the next day or so etc they are back to the office or preoccupied with their own lives in which celebrating christmas part 2-6t just so you can partake in seeing family might not be their priority or preferance. (with your husband/wife/kids this will most likely not be the case) i mean with extended family and friends etc. i think this is something you get used to. possibly. i have worked many holidays since i started working as a young teenager. restaurants/retail are open on holidays and the days before and after.

1 Votes

I'm not a nurse yet, but both my parents were. My mom (ultra catholic) always had Christmas off but at the expense of working Thanksgiving. My dad always worked Christmas by choice because he got holiday pay for it. You'll probably have to sacrifice a Christmas or Thanksgiving every other year; just because you have kids doesn't make up immune to working one of the two and just because people don't have children doesn't mean they don't have families they want to spend the holidays with. We always did Christmas eve or the day after Christmas. It really wasn't a big deal, but then again about 60% of my family members are either nurses or doctors...

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