Published
OK please send me some encouraging words to get me through the next 2 weeks! I am grumpy and tired and just feel like whining or laying my head on my desk. I don't want field day or moving up day or summer birthday celebration day I just want it to be summer vacation!!! The adults in and outside of the building are driving me more nuts than the kids at this point and I just need parole!
No, never had holidays, weekends and summers off. Worked a lot of midnight shifts though.. you should try THEM.
Yeah, I "tried them" for 25 years solid. Night shift. In charge. Yes, I now have weekends and holidays off. But guess what? I make less than HALF of what I did at the hospital. So I guess it is a trade off. Some day after putting in 1/4 century in the "trenches" on night shift, come back and talk to me then. I hope for your sake if you decide to be done with that rat race that nobody faults nor judges you for it.
Side note: I am working this summer. Don't assume.
Yeah, I "tried them" for 25 years solid. Night shift. In charge. Yes, I now have weekends and holidays off. But guess what? I make less than HALF of what I did at the hospital. So I guess it is a trade off. Some day after putting in 1/4 century in the "trenches" on night shift, come back and talk to me then. I hope for your sake if you decide to be done with that rat race that nobody faults nor judges you for it.Side note: I am working this summer. Don't assume.
Kuddos to you. I lasted 1 year, 2 months in bedside nursing before applying to school nurse jobs. I doubt I'd be able to walk if I went 20+ years. These patients are killing my back and knees, even with all the lift equipment.
I never picked up OT, too exhausted. If one works 180 days/year, would there not be lots of time to make some big bucks?
Exhausted from this as well and still pick up 2-3 shifts a month in LTC as well as working (extra) at school events, and then pretty much full time all summer. again, my choices have led me to this and for that I am ever grateful.
No, never had holidays, weekends and summers off. Worked a lot of midnight shifts though.. you should try THEM.
Been there, done that (see what I did there?) 2.5 years full time nights with a toddler, including weekends and holidays. 8 years in Home health including weekends nights and holidays ( as a single mom with a young child-widowed when he was almost 5) and still working (per diem) weekends nights and holidays in LTC, again my choice and to have this flexibility is part of my master plan!. I am able to travel and do what I like.
No, never had holidays, weekends and summers off. Worked a lot of midnight shifts though.. you should try THEM.
Another school nurse here, who has worked (what seems like) ALL of the shifts prior to transitioning into my school nurse role. I worked 6p-6a, 12p-12a, 11a-11p, then 7a-7p. Now I get snow days off. And summers off, which by the way, I spend working at a summer camp to make up the difference in salary I lost when I accepted the school nurse position. Wanna know how much time I get off after I finish my school nurse job and start my camp job? About 20 minutes, while I drive from school to camp.
My point is most of us here on the School Nurse forum have put in our time working various shifts in an in-patient/hospital setting. We get it. Not very many people get what it's like to work as a school nurse though, which is why we all come here and vent, complain, support each other, etc.
No, never had holidays, weekends and summers off. Worked a lot of midnight shifts though.. you should try THEM.
Wow! Why so harsh? You know - i did work my fair share of nights, weekends, and holidays when I worked in a hospital setting - lots of us did. Sure, occasionally a nurse will come straight out of nursing school and become a school nurse. As a whole, we advise against it. It's got nothing to do with paying dues and everything to do with polishing skills before being released to hundreds of students as their sole medical professional in the building.
My point is that no place is Shangri-La and there are days that we all think that we look elsewhere and wonder why the grass is so green over there. But in reality, where we are may not be so bad - or we wouldn't have stayed so long, right?
Speaking for the vast majority of nurses that do NOT get an entire summer off, I am having trouble arousing sympathy in this case.
Wow, BTDT. No one asked for your sympathy.
Yes, I do get an entire summer off as well as Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays, spring break, winter break. It's amazing. As a trade-off, I get paid a whopping $20,000 annual salary.
I have 17 years of RN experience under my belt so I spent many a year taking on-call nights, working 12-16 hours shift on med-surg units, etc.
Yes, I could use my "extra time" to take shifts and make lots of money but then I wouldn't really be getting my summers off, would I?
This school nursing gig isn't as easy as everyone would like to think. So, perhaps, if you haven't lived it, you should pipe down.
Been there,done that, ASN, RN
7,241 Posts
No, never had holidays, weekends and summers off. Worked a lot of midnight shifts though.. you should try THEM.