Hello, im quite new here and i have been reading a lot of posts regarding Canadian nurses. Im currently studying BScN at York University (Toronto area) and i have few questions.
Are nurses really destined to accept the terrible hours of working nights and weekends? I mean, im not expecting 9-5 working hours but i dont expect to work at inconsistent hours every week for the rest of my carrier (hopefully i will start working when im 23-24). In your experience, is it hard to land a steady job with some consistency in your working hours? How many years or months did it take for you to find a steady job?
Also, this question is regarding legal issues. I have heard numerous accounts where nurses are getting sued or being laid off for their mistakes. Is this true and frequent in your environment? Should this be a significant concern?
Im sorry if im asking useless questions but i always found both to be a major issue when i started nursing, and i wanted to know from first hand...
Ohh but we get double time on Xmas and time and a half on Boxing Day. I might just pick up New Years Day if I don't have a date for New Years Eve I gotta save for that trip to Mexico on my scheduled 11 days off.
Graduated in 1996. Had a brief stint in public health which I hated. Also had to be on call and work some weekends. Switched to hospital nursing in 1999. Have never had the same day off each week, have never been able to sign up for a class or commit to anything since then, if it requires regular attendance. The phone rings daily from staffing office. I am burnt out. Run as fast as you can.
I'm currently in school as well. My mom is an OR nurse who mainly works 8-4 and holidays/weekends off, but she did her fair share of shifts when she first started. I've heard it should be expected to works shifts, and if you are lucky later down the road getting better hours. If you are willing to take less pay, there are some other day type work. Sometimes to have a good stable career, it takes some sacrifice
Generally in order to get those jobs with the stable predictable full time hours with no weekends and nights you have to pay your dues first. Walking into one right out of school is highly unlikely. I do know a couple of girls with straight days and no weekends (in a hospital) but they have both worked shifts for over 20 years.
When I wanted days, I got days straight out of school. I finished school in 1996, did the OR course and got straight days. Later on I went to Case Management-again Mon-Fri 0830-1630.
For a while, I chose nights because I had small kids and I did only 2 nights a week.
I have turned away other mon-Fri jobs such as plactic surgery centres, dental surgery, endoscopy.
The jobs are out there if you look and are willing to do courses. My work hired Case Managers who have 1-2 years experience. It's not that hard to find.
Right. The point is, they had 1-2 years experience. Of course, after 1-2 years, there are many more options. And the OR is also an option, but you need the course first. It isn't realistic straight out of school to think you won't work nights, holidays, weekends. I have friends at this time holding out for these kind of hours. Guess what? A year + later, they aren't working.
I think she's taking more about future, rather than right out of school, "for the rest of my carrier." It should be expected to have all shifts right out of school, and if you are lucky and apply to a lot of jobs consistently, she should be able to find something down the line.
It would help if you lived in a big city as well. I live in a rural area and my only options are the one and only hospital, or the health unit or home care. I have no desire to hold babies down all day and stab them with needles, nor do I want to spend the day driving to rural areas to provide homecare. Nothing wrong with it, but it isn't for me. GP's sometimes hire RN's but don't pay well. There are no private facilities here or drug companies looking for reps. If you don't want to work shift work or weekends, do not move to a rural area.
Right. The point is, they had 1-2 years experience. Of course, after 1-2 years, there are many more options. And the OR is also an option, but you need the course first. It isn't realistic straight out of school to think you won't work nights, holidays, weekends. I have friends at this time holding out for these kind of hours. Guess what? A year + later, they aren't working.
Well, 1-2 years is not bad for getting a mon-fri day job.
I had one straight out of school.
The way some people post here, you would think it's impossible to find after 20 years. IT'S NOT.
Yes, you may have to do extra courses but if you want days, then you should be prepared to do so.
I see Case Managers get hired 1 year out of school and they do NO hands on care at all. It's a desk job and it pays well.
I think new grads should take what they can get initially, but there are SO many options. If you dont want shifts, weekends then you dont have to take such a job.
You DON'T actually have to work nights, weekends, holidays, etc. just because you want to become a nurse. There are definitely jobs out there that have more stable/consistent shifts.
- Clinic Settings (with that comes a variety of areas)
- Public Health
- Day surgery/endoscopy
- Most OR (of course this has an on-call aspect but not regularly scheduled nights and weekends),
- Dialysis (hours vary from place to place but two of my local hospitals have dialysis units in the hospital and are straight days/evenings with no nights)
- Teaching (would come with a lot of "at home" work so arguably could spill into nights/weekends)
I gotta save for that trip to Mexico on my scheduled 11 days off.
loriangel14, RN
6,933 Posts
Yeah it's the same in my area. They want plenty of experience for those jobs and they are hard to get even with experience.