Hate my schedule...office or hospital

[hunnigrl]

I am a new grad. working in ICU. I hate my schedule, I work nights (3 12's), I feel like such a zombie. I am going to be married soon and hope to begin a family, I just can't imagine functioning much longer on this schedule. I was thinking about looking into an office job. If I work in a doc. office, at least it will be mon-fri. no weekend or holidays, but then I would be working more hours and making less money. Also...does anyone work 2 prn jobs or part time jobs instead of one full time job? How does that work out for you. Help...I dont know what to do.

[veroskydr]

Wow

so sorry to hear you are struggling so much with your schedule. But is it the shifts you are so unhappy with or the work??

I could not work nites either, it just does not work with my body cycle. Before you leave the ICU, if you like the work, look around for other scheudling options and see what can be done. The first rule of thumb is to have a talk with your manager to make sure they know you are struggling. Nursing is a 24 hour profession and someone needs to work nites, but surely they can give you a bit of a break.

An MD office is mundane and low pay, but as always there are trades for everything. I am not sure at my age if I could work the 12 hours either, the shifts are pretty long and when there are 3 in a row, I can imagine why you feel like a zombie.

Please talk to your manager, talk with yourself, and then decide what would work the best for you

Good Luck

[Zee_RN, BSN, RN]

Where do you people find these "day shift" jobs to switch to?! In this area, there is no such thing. You either work steady nights or you rotate days/nights for 12 hour shifts. I don't know anyone that has a steady "day shift" job in an ICU. If there was, I'd be doing it! I hate rotating shifts--but I hate steady nights even more. Can't do part-time PRN 'cause I'm the healthcare benefit supplier for my family.

Maybe you could look into the PACU where you'd take on-call time but you wouldn't be steady nights or even many nights at all. That's what I'm thinking of doing, eventually at least. Or you could try getting into the O.R. These are still critical care areas but have less need for night work.