Long shift then class?

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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Has anyone worked a 12hr night shift and then go to class? I am thinking about do this. I just was offered a 12hr shift 36hrs a week at the local hospital as a patient representative(checking in). I really want to get my CNA while finishing my bachelors then apply to Accelerated BSN programs. Do you think it will be too hard? Most classes/clinicals are listed as 4 hrs long. BTW, my schedule is 7-7

I dont have my CNA yet. I am working on finishing my BS in Psych.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

Maybe maybe it would work if you made sure you didn't have to do anything that required brain power in class. Eg...listening to a lecture may be doable. But taking an exam...probably not.

The truth is, your body can adjust to a lot of hardship with will power and especially if it's only for a short time, like 1 semester.

That being said, I've been in school and worked at the same time for several years and I've only gone to school after (noc) work a handful of times. The anxiety and stress I feel isn't worth it to me.

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I'm doing this now. Work 6p-6a then either have class for 4 hours or clinicals for 8. Since I work blocked schedules, 2on 2off 3 on 2off etc, some weeks I have 8hr of clinical then 12hrs of work, back to clinicals ..then back to work. The longest I've had to stay up has been 40 hrs. Is it doable? Yes..I've been doing it for the past 9 mos. Is it worth it? No! I find that I'm constantly tired, live off of caffeine, and feel that I'm wearing my body down. Most of all I feel that my learning experiences in school have been limited. Sometimes I miss class due to being too fatigued to attend. I haven't missed clinicals because I've found that if I stay standing I won't fall asleep, but by the end of the day my back is extremely sore! My grades have been great because I'm motivated to do well, but I don't feel that I have applied as much of myself as I could have, if I hadn't worked so much. So it's doable if u are determined to do it... it would be much more beneficial to start each day off well rested thou.

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I do something similar and it's running me to the ground. It isn't just class, it's homework and studying. I don't have any personal time or study time. I barely get things done for my classes. Don't stretch yourself too thin.

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