New... Need some good advice!

[smilesdello]

Hey everyone!

I am new to this site... And I bet there's a lot of topics such as these on here.

I went to school for medical assisting to get my foot in the door. I work for a great clinic, I have learned a lot in family practice/pediatrics. I do want to go back to school for nursing. My thing is, is it true that your hours are absolutely crazy? I've heard so many back and forth things about this. I don't mind working nights, or 12 hour shifts. My specialties I am looking at are pediatrics (Children's hospital, things like that), labor and delivery, and NICU/Infant care.

From some nurses I've heard it depends on what specialty you choose, others say the hours are great depending on what company/hospital/clinic you go with. This is a concern to me because my religion is very important to me, and I want to make sure I have enough time for it. I don't go out much or anything... I mainly study and watch movies and work. What are some tips/advice you guys can give me? I'd appreciate any feedback! I'm going to enroll in school soon!!!

Thanks a bunch, hope your day is going well!!!

xoxo

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

It depends on where you work. When I worked in the hospital, we worked a combination of 8s/12s, everyone but those with many years seniority rotated and we worked every 3rd weekend. You could be on days, evenings and nights in the same week and might be expected to work Sunday night and flip back and work Tuesday day. (Note this is unreasonable and doesn't happen everywhere but I've known nurses at other hospitals who were also expected to do it.) If you wanted a certain day guaranteed off every week because of religion, you'd have to make some other concession. For example, I worked with someone who was a very religious Jewish person. She observed the Sabbath and was off every Friday/Saturday. In return, she worked every Sunday.

ETA, with interest in very competitive specialties, I wouldn't go in asking for special treatment because you'll most certainly find yourself jobless.

[rockinitfreshawaii]

I agree with KelRN215. It depends on where you work. I have nurse friends that work in Telemetry, Oncology and Pediatrics who all have different schedules. The tele guy works at a local hospital and does 3 12's in a row then has 4 days off. The Peds girl and Onco guy work at Kaiser and have to work 2 12's then 3 off.

I wouldn't worry about specialty just yet because your interest might change when you're doing the different rotations in nursing school. Pediatrics might be interesting now, but in the future your interest might shift to telemetry or oncology. Anyways, good luck in the future. Keep the faith, do good in your studies and welcome to allnurses :)