Nurse Schedules?

[playbanjogood]

Hello, Im a nursing student and I wanted to inquire about obtaining a good schedule when getting out of nursing school. I understand that my main job as a nurse is to revitalize patients in a dignified manner no matter what hour of the day it is; however, what specialty areas have good schedules? is it possible to get sundays off? is it possible to obtain a day time job when getting out of school?

[PAKrisRN]

In my opinion, as a new to practice nurse I lucked out and got day shift- 3 12's. But at my hospital (and basically every hospital) its pretty impossible to have sundays off-especially when you're new. I dont have to work every Sunday, but I have to put in 3 weekend days in a 6 week period, not counting Fridays (We need to put in 3 of them too).

[Riseupandnurse]

At my hospital, unless it's a holiday, only the week-end option people work week-ends. Therefore most of the nurses have almost every saturday and sunday off.

[nursemary9, BSN, RN]

We work every other week-end. If you can find someone to trade with that's fine--however the other person must not have this as an overtime shift.

It's usually pretty rare that you can find anyone to work for you.

[brunclex129]

I will work 2 12's and 2 8's, rotating two weeks day shift and two weeks night shift, and every other weekend. My unit does have custom scheduling where you can fill out the days you want to work, but you still generally have to stick to the schedule you were hired on for. There are some that have matched up with each other...one taking nights, the other taking days, so they don't have to rotate. That is a good idea once you are hired on to try and arrange. But, in my expereince you have to work for some time unless you get lucky, before you get a 3 12's shift, or work day shift only with no weekends. The first goal is getting hired, if you can prearrange a schedule all the better.

[Otessa, BSN, RN]

Daytime schedules can be obtained by working in a clinic or ambulatory surgery center. There is much competition for these jobs and normally the nurse with the most experience will be chosen for these types of jobs. Most new grads work the night shift with rotating weekends. I am sure if you wanted to work 2 saturdays in a row (for example) you could have sundays off. This is something you would have to negotiate with an employer prior to starting a job.

otessa

[emnicams]

I've been an RN for 6 months now and got 3 days per week, 12-hour dayshift schedule. We have Baylor people that work the weekends. And we do self-scheduling to choose which weekdays we want. We've had a couple times where a few Baylors were out due to maternity leave and everyone had to put in one weekend day in the 6 week schedule, but other than that, it's a pretty nice set-up. I guess I lucked out.

[Wendy_RN]

A schedule that one person may deem as "good" would be a horrible schedule to someone else. Don't get too caught up in the scheduling at this point. I made myself miserable worrying about what schedule I would be working, weekends, holidays, etc. In my previous job I worked 3 12's, 7A-7, no weekends. I was not happy there. I now work 11A-11P and every 3rd weekend. I love it. The big difference is I am where I want to be and I love my coworkers. The schedule was simply not worth it for me. I would rather be happy with my unit and coworkers. That makes all the difference in the world.