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Discussion

Need RN's Advice...

Hi everyone, I'm a college student taking pre-reqs now for the nursing program (RN) at my school. I currently work at a nursing home in therapy as a rehab tech. i have an interest in nursing and occupational therapy and am unsure what to decide on in terms of my major. i absolutely love the patient care in nursing and helping people in need, some other advantages are the flexibility, salary, and job security in nursing. however, i'm not too fond of working holidays. i come from a big family and am used to spending every holiday with those close to me, and this is something thats very important to me (especially when i have kids of my own one day). however, with occupational therapy, at times you need to really be pushy with your patients to help them do ADL's independently. the problem i have with this, for example, if i have a 105 y/o patient that can barely move...i am certainly not going to want to ask her to put her own clothes on, i would rather help her and do it FOR her. however with occupational therapy, i wouldnt be working holidays (i could spend with my family like i would like). I also need to make enough money to support myself and someday get my own house and things like that. With a lot of the Occupational Therapy Assistant's I meet, they are usually working 6 days/wk to make ends meet. I want to work 4 days/wk at the most. So, I'm in quite the dilemma and am really unsure of what direction to take. I'm asking RN's or any other health care provider to advise me on what they think would be best, or if they could recommend another career to be able to do patient care but not work holidays? THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR ADVICE AND SUPPORT!!!!

:heartbeat

God Bless

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    part of being a adult is realizing that holiday coverage is REQUIRED for any field where you can't put work on hold. No requirement that you work every holiday...if you work thanksgiving, you probably won't work christmas, and you find your own ways to have family celebrations. good luck whatever you decide.

    But having the money, and not working holidays are pretty poor reasons for choosing a career, you gotta have something to get you through the crap days.

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    Nursing especially is something where you are expected to work a lot of holidays unless you are fortunate to find a job that doesn't work the holidays and I am sure the demand for them type of jobs are high and hard to get into.

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    I came from a big family as well. My mom is one of 5. She had 5. I had 5 and married 4 more (my husbands). My sister has 3, my hetero brother has 3, my gay brother's partner has 2 (and they live with them). I have aunts and uncles with 3 kids each....

    When we get together it is one serious party!

    It doesn't always happen....

    My mom was a nurse for 35 yrs and my dad was AD USAF for 28.

    My sister is a nurse. Her hubby was US Army for 4 yrs.

    My gay brother is a nurse.

    One of my hetero brothers is a restaurant manager (guess how many holidays they get?)

    My other hetero brother is an OTR truck driver.

    My husband is in the USArmy (and in Afghanistan). I am a MF Computer programmer (yes, we work OT and on-call)....and I am also term3 in NS.

    My oldest daughter spent 4 yrs in the USArmy as a combat medic. 3 of 4 Thanksgivings - NewYears ++ were spent in the sandbox along with her 21st birthday. She is now in the Reserves and studying for NS.

    This country's freedom is more important than a family party.

    This country's ill are also more important (well, we believe that). They don't want to miss the holiday any more than you do....but, you CAN make a difference. You care for them and you celebrate the holiday with them and give them a good memory that they never will forget. THAT is something you can never replace with a holiday! :D

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    • Expert
    I'm asking RN's or any other health care provider to advise me on what they think would be best, or if they could recommend another career to be able to do patient care but not work holidays? THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR ADVICE AND SUPPORT!!!!

    Forget working in a hospital--in almost any facility, you will have to make yourself available for some holidays (which ones may involve a little give-or-take on your part), or they will schedule you for holidays based on what your regular schedule is (if you are scheduled for Thursdays, and Christmas happens to fall on a Thursday this year, then they'd have you working Christmas since you are scheduled for Thursdays). Also keep in mind that working in a hospital usually means working weekends every so often--in most places, that's every other weekend.

    You could consider working in a doctor's office, clinic or school--almost all of those are closed for holidays and weekends . The downside is that in these facilities, the level of patient care you'll be providing and the skills involved will come nowhere near what you'd be doing in a hospital. Also, the pay in offices or schools would be a lot less than at the hospital...but if you don't want to work holidays, you have to expect to make some tradeoffs.

    You could work 4 days a week: in a lot of places, 4 8s is considered full-time...however, some facilities consider 32 hours part-time, and this may not make you eligible for benefits. You could work 4 10s, or even 3 12s--that's almost always considered working full-time.

    You can't have it all...at least not as a new grad nurse. Granted, there's a 1% chance that you may find that dream job that lets you have it all, but don't count on it: those jobs are very rare and competition is fierce for them. The reality is that you will need to pick and choose what is most important to you. Is it the scheduling and time off, or is it the money and financial freedom? Nursing can give you either...but you have to set your priorities.

    Best of luck in what you decide!

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    There is no job security in nursing, the pay and benefits are lacking, and its a rare job in which you can have holidays and weekends off.

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    You know, I don't think knowing what you want is a bad thing. If spending time with your family is important then you make it a priority. You are wondering if this is possible in nursing...it is possible. You can get holidays and weekends off, it is possible to get decent pay and you will still get to use "skills" to care for your patients. All jobs (in and outside of nursing have trade offs...you just have to know what is going to make you most happy and be willing to fight for them).

    Nursing is a very large field and with networking, research, etc you can find your niche. It won't be perfect but it could be perfect for you.

    That being said the first few years might not be "heaven on earth" as there is a very big leap the first few years from novice to expert. I'd like to encourage you to check around with local nurses, read the forums about different areas of nursing and even check out some nursing journals. Good luck!

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    School nurse for a private day school if you can handle that fifth day.

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