How much do you work on your days "off"?

[Haijun]

For those of you who work 3 12's (or a similar non-traditional non-m-f scedule), roughly, how many hours per week do you spend of your 'off' days doing work-related activities? I'm thinking things like attending meetings, attending employer-mandated training, getting required certifications/recertifications, studying/researching a work case, etc.

I'm still waiting to get into nursing school (should know in the next week or two!) but want to get a better idea of what it's really like. I've worked 12's before (which are really 13-15), but not in any nursing capacity, and found I was at work about half of my days off for at least 2 hours - sometimes 8 or more. It wasn't unusual to get off work at 0630 & then have a meeting at 1000 & a required training at 1500. Can I expect similar things when (if?!) I start working as an RN?

[INN_777, BSN, RN]

I work 3 12s at a major hospital and this is not an issue. Yes, as new nurses we had to attend one day a month of nurse residency training for a year. We were paid for that time. Meetings are not mandatory of if you are off that day. We have mandatory online trainings, but you could theoretically do them during your shift little by little. They offered us a prep class for a certification I was interested in free and I was happy to join those on my days off.

So, in other words, in my experience, it has not been a problem. Unlike the corporate world where I used to work where you theoretically were hired to work a 40 hr week but, in reality, worked more like 60-80 hrs and were expected to respond to emails on your time off and work on "firedrills" on weekends. Nursing is much better in that regard. If you are off, you are off.

[momof3lv]

I don't hardly do any work stuff on my days off. Occasionally I will have to go in for an hour or two for training stuff or meetings but that is very rare. I work nights so I usually have enough downtime to do my computer training classes.

[Haijun]

Thanks for the replies! It's good to see that working on your time off seems to be the exception more than the norm.

[MPKH, BSN, RN]

If I have to attend an education thing on my day off, I get paid. I am not require to attend staff meetings on my days off. When I am off, I generally do 0% work related things.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Don't make it a habit and it won't be an issue. I no longer work 3 12's but don't check work email at home, don't EVER put it on your personal phone, and do all stuff like mandatory online trainings or working on your annual review during working hours.