Nurses: How far is your commute?

[Cola89]

And what's the length of your shifts? How long of a commute is reasonable for you? What do you think of the coworkers who drive from farther away?

[Alex_RN, BSN]

30 miles, which translates to 35 minutes one way on the weekend or 70 minutes on weekdays, on Southern California freeways.

[RobtheORNurse]

When I worked in a hospital it was about 15 minutes.

[Greenclip]

4 miles. From opening my car door to clocking in, I allow 20 minutes. It usually takes less. Ten minutes of that time is parking my car and walking to the time clock. Because I'm close to work, although my standard is a 12 hour shift I am happy to pick up 8 hours or even 4. It's easy. I agree with other posters who have said that after 12 hours, especially at night, it would be difficult to have a long drive home.

[la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN]

Then I'm nuts. But there are such few jobs in my area I'm lucky to have a job period.

Same here. When you find a place that's right for you, it makes the drive infinitely worth it.

[la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN]

74 miles one way. In the AM, it takes about 2 hours to get in (LA traffic, y'all). When I leave, it usually takes about 85 minutes to get back home. As others said, it gives me time to get ready for the day mentally and I get to enjoy my favorite AM talk station (huge talk radio nerd over here) and to unwind before I get home (sometimes the hour and a half still isn't enough time depending on the type of day I've had, though). Yeah, my coworkers think I'm nuts but it's ok. I love my hospital and the work I get to do makes all of this completely worthwhile. I hope to eventually relocate if I happen to get into the RN residency program, however. It comes to a point where I question whether putting gas in 3 times a week and whether or not my car can last a few good years longer. So....in the immediate future it's fine. Eventually, I know things have to change.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

34 miles each way, but I work 11am-11pm, so zero traffic. I like to drive, and it's a super mellow one — about 45 minutes. After a decade+ of commuting around the DC area, this is a breeze! I used to drive 89 miles each way, which was at least 1.5 hours each way, 2+ on a bad traffic day. Ugh. That made me a very unhappy person.

[yginay]

!0 blocks for me! I am so grateful for this chance to work so close to home :) Some of my coworkers commute for hours....

[gleanns, ASN, MSN, RN]

I drive 42 miles each way....5 days a week.

I also pass at least 5 hospitals on my commute but I love the people I work with, the patient population and I would not want to switch to a hospital closer to home. I work for a county owned hospital and the private non profit hospitals are not management or staff friendly in my opinion.

[sugar12]

My old hospital job was 7 minutes away but a crappy place to work. I just accepted a job at a top notch hospital 3 nights a week 45 mins of highway driving away

[melizerd, ASN, RN]

3 miles to the hospital. I work three 12.5 hour shifts a week. I can't imagine commuting an hour each way....or even 35 min. I'm spoiled.

[ShalimarAmtower]

I work 8 - 12 hour shifts and I drive 2 hours each way.

[WoosahRN, MSN, RN]

Current commute is 37 miles, 1 hour, for 3-12 hour night shifts. For night shift it goes smoothly. I would say the worst part is carpooling here and there. I like the time in the car myself to listen to music, podcasts, get ready for work or unwind after a shift, make stops if I want, etc.

I never had to commute before at my other job in a different state and never wanted to commute. 7 miles, 15 minutes. But moved out of state and now have the much longer commute. When I used to rotate, the day shift traffic is insane. I had one morning when I was on orientation where my commute took 2.5 hours. Thankfully no one was waiting for me. The reason? It was lightly raining. Sigh. It's been a year with this commute and it's doable but I do look for other closer jobs, but it would require a pretty significant change in specialities.

My husband (not healthcare) commutes 75 miles one way. His time is about 1 hr 20 min each way, 5 days a week. We work in opposite directions so it's not an option to move closer to either job and we both are pretty limited on where we can work in our current jobs. Mine is the job that would have to change. His is location dependent. He never complains though believe it or not.