Pardon the bad math, but I noticed something about nursing jobs!

[Burlshoe114]

After a short stint with a very BAD SNF job, I found myself unemployed and looking for a new nursing position. (Long story!)

While there was a lot of different positions listed in my area, the majority all seemed to involve night shift work. This is not really a bad thing for me - Looking back on my career, the majority of the time I have been a nurse, I have been working at some time during the night hours.

One of my friends is great with statistics and numbers, and I was sharing this observation with him. He said that this was not a coincidence, but was a logical fact that the majority of nurses were going to work night shift.

Here is his reasoning (as best as I can remember it):

If you have 8 hour shifts, your odds of finding yourself working at midnight are 66%.

Why? Because nurses working 3p-11:30p will still find themselves leaving late or being asked to stay late, and nurses working 11p-6:30p will see midnight as part of their workday routine.

If you have 12-hour shifts, your odds of finding yourself working at midnight are >50%.

Why? Because half the shift is scheduled to work nights, and the other 50% will be offered overtime options at some point.

So even without factoring in the natural tendancy of night nurses to drift into day shift openings on their floors - leaving only night shift positions available for new hires - your best odds of not working at midnight at some point in your nursing career are less than 49%.

The majority of nurses will be burning the midnight oil!

They never mentioned that little tidbit in Nursing School!

[Sparrowhawk]

....ok. Point?

[Burlshoe114]

I guess the point is that with the majority of RNs being women, and most having children, this may be something to consider seriously before getting into a nursing career path.

I think that we are quick to sell the nursing profession, and while we tell potential cadidates that yes, there is a chance you will work nights, we don't say "You will more than likely be working at midnight during most of your nursing career" if you are a bedside RN.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I guess the point is that with the majority of RNs being women, and most having children, this may be something to consider seriously before getting into a nursing career path.

Yep. The students who do not want to work nights, evenings, weekends, or holidays might be in for a rude awakening when they start their job search. Day shift slots are absolutely coveted in the area where I live, and they are not easy to get.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

it is totally unreasonable to expect to work as a nurse in a hospital and NEVER work a night shift. Just have to look for work elsewhere if this is an issue.

On the other hand, his math is a little faulty. The 12-hour shift nurse who works days will not be asked to work till midnight. Overtime might be an hour or two. There are situations where nurses work 16 hours but these are not common and not safe and not justifiable in my opinion, unless there is a tsunami at the door.

Something else the student must accept in a hospital environment is that the job you really want may not be available when you graduate. You may have to work in another position till the position is available. It is called "life"

[Asystole RN]

Where are his correlation coefficients and n numbers?

His math is faulty, he did not factor in that a majority of positions are during the day-shift, Monday Through Friday.

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

When I had children, working nights was appealing to me. I could put the kids to bed, go to work, come home and get them up and send them off to school, then go to bed. I'd wake up just about the time they were getting home from school, and be there to help with homework, have dinner, and hang out for the evening, then rinse, lather, and repeat.

For me, I never had the expectation that nursing would be a Monday through Friday nine to five job. Quite the opposite. And that was, and still is, attractive to me.

I'm not sure where a prospective nursing student might get the impression that it would be otherwise. It was pretty well apparent when I made the decision to go to nursing school. Do people who do their homework on what a nursing career entails really get the impression that they'll be able to easily find a "traditional" schedule?

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

innumeracy strikes again.

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

Yep. The students who do not want to work nights, evenings, weekends, or holidays might be in for a rude awakening when they start their job search. Day shift slots are absolutely coveted in the area where I live, and they are not easy to get.

And they usually go by seniority; nurses that have been there longer will be on days. The newbies will be on nights. Though we have some older nurses who have worked nights their entire lives!

[NurseSara0214]

From the get go I have told newer nurses that if they're offered a day position they better run with it! :)

[acerbia]

I have no problem working nights, weekends or holidays. I don't have children or much of a family, so working those shifts doesn't bother me at all. I know that it's important for others to be with their families, so I'm more than willing to help them do just that.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

The other thing nobody mentions is that ALL the cool people work nights. It's a fact! :)