Every other weekend & holidays??

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Hi everyone,

I will be graduating nursing school next year, and I am trying to figure out what I want to do. I was wondering what kind of positions there are out there that I do not have to work every other weekend, and a holiday. I am a huge family person, and being with my family at night and holidays is very important to me! I do not want to make a lousy salary as well.

I do not care about working one weekend a month, but the every other is something I am not interested in. What kind of jobs do you guys have and the hours? Is the pay okay as well.

Thank you!!

It's not wrong to want to work weekdays and no weekends I would love to have a job like that but currently I am putting my time in working all shifts,weekends and holidays. I have kids to support they are my priority not nursing. Even though I love to help people, I have to help my offspring first. Some of the comments are inconsiderate. Clinic jobs are nice M-F jobs.

Specializes in Ambulatory Care-Family Medicine.

I currently work the mon-fri 8-5 shift at a clinic as a LVN. The pay sucks and working 5 days straight can be draining, especially when I've the "special" patients all week. When I finish my RN next year I fully plan on going to 12 hour night shifts at the hospital my clinic is associated with. The bedside pay and shift differential are really good and one the 12s you work 3 days and are off for 3 days.

Our staff consists of 1 very experienced RN charge nurse, 3 LVNs all of us with some experience prior to clinic nursing, and 2 CMAs. RN jobs in the clinics are scarce and my charge nurse has said she makes significantly less as a clinic charge than a floor nurse at the hospital.

Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.
:) Personally I'm not arguing that it would be easy or prudent to lead a nursing student to believe certain things but I was taken aback at some of the more caustic comments and wanted to let the OP know that his/her desire for being there for the family was laudable. And that the OP [u']might[/u] be able to find something that would work.

I've been here on AN a long time - this question comes up regularly. To assume this poster is writing a "joke letter" is not being very helpful. Nor is telling her to give up nursing.

Obviously I want her to be fully knowledgeable but it would be nice to do it in a kinder way.

But I see the comments continue about what a fool the OP must be. I'm truly sorry about that. I'm talking as simply a member of AN here - not as a Guide.

I think more than anything the timing and tone has probably hurt her the most. I'm not saying it's okay to be mean but people are geting pretty tired of nursing students who don't seem to have a full grasp on what the job actually requires before deciding to become one. As in any job, and whether you like it or not, there simply are dues to be paid. Not only that but many of the "cushy" jobs actually DO require some level of nursing experience to be competent. It can be galling for those of us who work in "non-acute settings" to see people repeatedly tell new grads who don't want to work hospital hours that a clinic (or school nursing, or ambulatory surgery) would be a good choice for them. We tried hiring new grads, it was a dismal failure despite thorough and patient precepting. Now we prefer nurses with previous ICU or ED experience because while we may be in a non-acute setting our patients are far from being non-acute. As to "family time" the OP did not specify any particular need such as small children or whatnot. She voiced that spending time with family was important to her. Well it's important to ALL of us. And you have to admit, not wanting to work weekends, holidays or nights while also making a really good salary as a new nurse is pretty unreasonable. She needs to know this or she is going to have a very rude awakening. Add to this the fact that, although she's been on-line since she first posted, she has not deigned to return to this thread to thank anyone who has responded kindly or to fully explain herself. This makes people suspicious of her intent.

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Steph, I see your points, but I also see it another way. This is the world of nursing. A person may well have "to suck it up" a while, working a less than number one desired job with hours that go along with the situation.

It's not good to enter nursing all doe-eyed expecting everyone to jump because you have your preferences not to work off hours/days. The reality is, the majority of nursing jobs, particularly for new grads, require exactly that. I see nothing wrong with succinctly telling a want-to-be nurse how it is in the real world.

Truth is, in nursing we have "to suck it up"often to get by, no matter what job we enter into or choose.

If a person is entering nursing already entirely unwilling to do their time---- then perhaps nursing is a very poor choice for them. Either way, eyes wide open is best.

I work in inpatient dialysis. I was hired as a new grad. We are closed Sunday's and major holidays (thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years). I only have to work every other Saturday and I don't have to work nights. I get paid the same as a regular nurse.

So yes there are positions out there.

Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.
I work in inpatient dialysis. I was hired as a new grad. We are closed Sunday's and major holidays (thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years). I only have to work every other Saturday and I don't have to work nights. I get paid the same as a regular nurse.

So yes there are positions out there.

Yes but you have to admit your situation is not the norm and it wouldn't be fair to get the OP's hopes up.

I am pretty sure that I got extremely lucky but- I just started in surgery pre- OP & same day surgery out of a hospital. I start at 5am but the time I get off is unpredictable. It is supposed to be 5, 8 hour shifts for full time but it's more like 10 hour shifts. I'm still orientating full time but I was hired as per diem working 3 shifts/week (so probably around 30 hours).

My hourly rate is very fair I think. No nights, no weekends, no call. The actual OR nurses do our job during those times. There are drawbacks- unpredictability being the biggest. Getting up at like 315am and not knowing when you will get off was hard to get used to! We stay until the last patient goes in. There is no one to take our place & we are responsible for lots of admin things like making charts & making sure all the tests needed for pre OP are done.

Generally we have 1-3 patients at a time. It really all depends on the timing of surgery. We like to get people down early so they can be ready in case of any changes.

Honestly- I wanted to work 12s. I'm still a new nurse with a huge work gap & I wanted the experience. But my husband is gone a lot & there is no way I could do variable 12s. No way we could seem to figure out with childcare anyway.

My very first job out of school was in a big PACU, and I worked 1300-2130 M-F, with every fourth Saturday and every 6th Sunday. That lasted a year and we moved. I was in a hotshot ICU, which I loved, working 1500-2300 5 days a week, including two out of three weekends...and just for fun, Fridays didn't count as part of weekends, so I almost never had a Friday night off. Did that for a year+. A few years later that we got unionized and went to QO weekend, and it seemed like a dream. I got a day-evening rotation (one month of each) for a couple of years, and then inherited a straight day job by seniority.

Now I work for myself, which means I work pretty much every damn day at something, but I can sleep late and take a day off whenever I like, so long as I can afford to forego the billable work for it.

This is reminding me of the time I worked with a second career new grad RN. At holiday time we rank our winter holidays 1-5, one being the one you want off most. She ranked all of them 1's because she wanted all of them off. She was surprised when the schedule came out.

I wish some these people would stop bashing you and actually give some advice.

Unfortunately, at some point you're most likely going to work a job that requires a weekend and holiday rotation. I myself work every 3rd weekend and every other holiday in a critical care unit. I also one day would like a job that does not require weekends. But in nursing many of the positions that have m-f no weekends are management level. My mom is a clinical informatics specialist at a large hospital and works monday-friday, no weekends, and also makes a six figure salary. But she also has a masters degree and about 30 years of nursing experience. So it's not an unrealistic dream to have at all, it will just take some time. Hope this helps.

You're in the wrong field for those requirements, sweetheart. You want weekends and holidays off..ya might wanna switch majors into education and become a teacher.

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
I wish some these people would stop bashing you and actually give some advice.

What advice is there to give? If she doesn't want to pay her dues but wants to walk into the perfect job she is in for a rude awakening. Unless she happens to know someone that job isn't just handed over.

I'm going to go back to school & when I go back to work I know I will have to work to support my family. That means working during the week, weekends & holidays. My family understands & we will celebrate before or after the actual holiday. As long as my family is taken care of, that's all that matters to me.

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