Need help from mom nurses please

Sorry when I say I don't want to just drop off kids with people I don't know all the time, I mean like teenagers I can find at the last minute. Literally people I have no idea about. I would be fine if they were in a certified daycare or in the care of a friend I trust. I am just scared with the varied shifts nurse need to work sometimes I would have to call someone I don't know and they wouldn't be trustworthy? Did that ever happen to you? Did it always work out that you could find child care you trusted really well. (I know some parents have moms or family that help out but that can't be the case for us..).

That is a lot anxious questions, it's good that you are thinking about your future, but trying to control your future by anticipating everything that can go wrong, may impair your ability to acheive your goals. Suggest you try to focus on the present and determine which goal has the highest priority for you and take a step by step approach to acheive the desired goal.

Just focus on one thing at a time. Am not a nurse but a senior in nursing school. You are just worrying yourself for nothing. Sorry if am harsh, you're just building castles in the air.

I am a mom. You are leaving out your husband in all of this as if he won't be there. Lean on him. Daycare should be your first thought. It is expensive for the good ones, but worth it to me. As for the rotating schedule, again, your husband. If you're getting called in or get off too late to pick up/drop off your child, then he should be able to if he works "normal" hours.

If not, I work with some nurses who in home nanny's for their child care but pay a bit more due to having the flexibility to get home later than standard daycare hours would provide.

Yes, employers can call you on your days off, but they can't force you to come in. You could always just not answer your phone or say no.

Many facilities hire for 12 hour shifts. 8s are not as common anymore. Wanting nightshift is easier than wanting day shift, but there is no guarantee.

Once you accept your patient assignment and receive report, you legally are responsible for their nursing care. Leaving early without reporting off to another nurse is patient abandonment and you can lose your license. This is where the husband will play a major role. If a child is sick or injured, you would content your charge. A good employer will find coverage to relieve you so you can leave if you have to. Especially for sever injuries or illnesses since your lack of focus could harm a patient.

If you become ill at work, you again let the charge know you are ill and not safe to practice patient care. They will need to take report from you at that point.

I I could go on with answering your questions, but honestly none of this matter right now and may not matter later. It is important the research and your concerns are very valid. Everything you talk about happens all the time in nursing. So you will need to have a somewhat flexible schedule and ability to not be there for every bump and scrape. If your kid has a fever from some minor illness, you're going to have to miss out on comforting them, because other much sicker people are relying on you. But at the same time, becoming a nurse doesn't make you a salve to the system that had to answer to every beck and call. It's about finding your happy medium and havin a good work life balance.

I answer call and work overtime. I work nights but don't rotate. I miss some of my kids activities and do not get to be there for all the bumps and bruises. I make up for it by being present when I am home with the kids. My employer is family friendly and my husband brings my kids to work sometimes to have dinner with me. I don't let it take away from patient care and my employer is understanding of since I work more than my required shifts, them saying his and eating dinner is part of my work life balance. Not all employers are this understanding and accommodating.

You have to really want it and be willing to sacrifice a little. At least to start until you get enough experience to be more in demand.

Oh, and many new grad positions are for full time. There are probably some new grads out there who got PRN or part time out the gate, but it is very useful common.

It it is very expensive to train a new grad. The facility does not make their money back fast enough if you work call or PT.

Also, school does not adequately prepare a new grad for working per se. You get the book knowledge and learn some skills, but you don't really learn how to be a nurse until you start working. Because of this a consistent schedule is needed to really home your nursing knowledge and learn to think like a nurse. PT and PRN aren't stable enough for many people to really catch on very fast.

Expect to to probably only find FT available to new grads initially.

1. ADN is very marketable in some areas, but BSN is highly preferred in others. Make sure you're well aware of the job market in your area before you invest in nursing school. On some markets, ADN and BSN graduates have difficulty finding employment.

2. Due to the prerequisites most ADN programs require, the "2 year degrees" turn out to be 3-4 year degrees for many people. Many programs also have waiting lists or are competitive entry ...so applicants may not get in as soon as they're hoping to (or in some cases, at all).

3. There are plenty of Per Diem jobs out there, but many are not available to new graduates. It may also be harder to "work your way up" to an administrative position over time if you're working part time.

4. Scheduling and on-call requirements vary from facility to facility. Although an employee can occasionally leave during a shift for illness or emergency, this is not common. Most hospitals have 12 hours shifts as opposed to eight hour shifts.

5. Babies don't always come when you decide to have them, although is a good idea to plan and think about the future.

6. Make sure that you're not romanticizing nursing. Yes, you will help people, but healthcare is a business and run like a business. Some people have difficulty when the reality of nursing doesn't live up to their idealized notions.

My husband and I have a baby. He works full time four days a week and I work per diem 1-2 days a week. We work on different days, so one of us is always home to take care of the baby.

It can be done, but not right away.

I work per diem part of each weekend. Per diem rates are higher(especially nights and weekends), my husband's job covers the health insurance, I pay my own retirement fund and my husband watches the kids.

To get where I am, I worked full-time for a year in a med-surg job I didn't really like, but worked because not many places were hiring new grads in a slow job market. I worked for 2 more full-time years in a specialty I did love, then when I had kids, I went per diem. A new grad is not in a position to go part-time or per diem right away. I also have benefits covered by my husband's job. Without that, I would be working full time.

Life being unpredictable, a mom needs backup childcare and emergency back up childcare. I have used both because life in unpredictable.

At my facility the job is posted with the hours you would work, so you pick the job you want to apply for. We only offer 12 hours and be careful some hospitals here in Texas only interview BSN graduates.

I attended nursing school (and am finishing the final msn portion) with a newborn, while my partner was living in another state while he was attending PA school. I also was still committed to working at my current job 1 day/week . Here's what I can tell you---my classmates really rallied around me.---they helped with anything and everything--babysitting, running out to get something at the store when I was sick....you name it! I of course did the same for them---like loaning my car to my (right out of college) classmates who were car-less and needed to do a clinical in home health, or offering tutoring for free, picking up people so we could carpool to an early class, or watching several midwife students young kids early in the am because they had to attend a delivery....it took a village, but we all made it work despite our vastly different places in life.

In addition I made sure I had awesome child care. I paid more for this, but it was worth it--it was a top notch facility with great hours and lots of support. It is normal to worry and to imagine every possible scenario--but if you allow yourself to ask for and receive help, you will be successful.

Now with regards to the other questions about nursing careers---there are flexible and inflexible options. Bedside nursing? Not so flexible in most cases..... office nursing? more flexible . Out-patient clinic? Often more flexible. As you enter and complete nursing school your children will get older and while they will still need you, you will be able to have more flexibility yourself.

My partner and I have a 1 year old. We both work full time- I work 3 12's, 7p-730a, and he works a regular Monday-Friday, 7a-330p job. I found a state licensed home daycare a few blocks from my house that my kiddo has been going to since he was 6 weeks old, and the owner has been super flexible with my erratic schedule (another thing to consider- hospitals usually won't let you have a "set" schedule, and will almost never let you start out Part-time or PRN as a new grad. Quite frankly, you wouldn't want to start out less than full time- it takes a full time schedule as a new grad to get acclimated to the fast-paced flow of a hospital position.) Search your state licensing site for something like that near you- we may have just gotten lucky, I don't know. My partner has also stepped up and takes care of our kiddo while I work- Your husband might need to let go of preconceived "breadwinner" notions and take on some child care/ housekeeping duties in order to make things work. You might also end up making more than him, and he will have to get used to that as well.

I used to do private duty nursing in pediatric home health before I was pregnant- I had set days and hours and there are some cases that only needed nurses to go to school with the kids, some cases that only needed a nurse to watch the kid when the parent worked, etc. It was a very rewarding job and the pay was great- I actually took a pay cut when I started working at a hospital. It's a bit scary to do as a new grad- since you are the only medical professional there, but usually there are stable cases you can start with , and eventually work your way up to a more challenging patient. You might also want to consider a nursing home if private duty nursing doesn't sound like your cup of tea- the ones in my area offer 8 hour shifts and they also sometimes pay more than a hospital position :) Bottom line, there are a lot of ways to use your nursing degree once you've gotten it.

As for getting your degree, make sure you research how long wait lists are or what you need to be competitive- it's hard to get into school. I agree with the poster that said don't count on your degree taking just 2 years- 3-4 is probably more accurate, once you've dealt with the prereqs and then nursing classes, clinicals, etc. I've known ladies who were pregnant or new moms in nursing school and did just fine, but it seemed really stressful.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

I have 5 kids, the first born while in nursing school--she's 14 now--and youngest just turned 3. I work 3-11 p.m. half time, including every other weekend and every other holiday. My in-laws watch the kids when neither of us is available. My husband is a CFO so works a lot and travels quite a bit, but he schedules trips during my days off. He's also the one who is able to leave work if a child needs a parent immediately. We have used daycare on very temporary bases, although now with so many kids (and their schedules!!! Oh my, their scedules!! *clutching my pearls* ) it would make more sense to have a nanny if we needed someone.

Now for your questions.

1.) How do you handle daycare? I guess I answered that already

2.) I am hoping to get part time or per diem. I think ideal would be like two shifts a week 11pm-7am This may not be possible out of the gate. Like others have said, most new grad programs hire for 0.8-0.9 FTE; and you'll still be learning when you graduate.

3.) How do nurses deal with unpredictable rotating schedules? Are you on call sometimes? Some units utilize on call; PACU and cath lab come to mind. I work in an ICU and the only nurses who take regular on call hours are the ones trained to run ECMO (you can Google those terms if you want.)

Rotating schedules are generally limited to two shifts-- either 7a-7p and 7p-7a, 11p-7a and 7a-3p, etc. I deal with those by not working them. As a new RN, you may have to. Also though, most places keep you on one or the other for a set period of time; they don't randomly assign you to a day shift here, night shift there.

Unless you are paid to be on call, you have the option to decline the extra shift they call and ask you to do.

More common is mandatory overtime, where they do require you to work a double shift (up to 16 hours, no double 12 hour shifts) if they failed to plan for staffing holes. I specifically avoid employers who do this. Yes, I ask in the interview under what circumstances they mandate OT. Only acceptable answers are natural disasters or mass casualty situations . I worked one mandatory double maybe 5 yrs ago, during a horrible snowstorm where people who tried to come in got stuck in ditches. Otherwise, I just don't have the ability to work beyond what I'm scheduled, and make no apology for it.

I'll have to get to the rest later...have to get the kids ready for swimming lessons.