Nursing conditions

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Are there any types of nurses that have decent working conditions (as in working hours/day work, allowing for breaks, not continually standing etc.)?

How do you cope with your working conditions if this is not the case?

Also, if you do have night/afternoon work, how regularly would this be?

Thanks

KelRn215:

So does that mean that it would be half doing nursing in a hospital for instance and half teaching at a uni?

Well I actually thought that 'accident and emergency' was its full term and 'emergency' was just an abbreviated version. I thought it meant accidents like needing stitches and less traumatic things, whereas emergency was if someone is having a heart attack etc. I could be wrong though. Ok so basically there's no such thing as part time nursing paediatrics and part time tutoring them.

If it was 50% days and 50% nights then I'd probably work half the month night and then the other half morning just to have a bit of a routine. Though I doubt you could do that anyway. So all weekend?

So basically if you have experience you get more of the hours you want? (So less night shifts). Did you also work in a clinic to have Mon-Frid work?

So am I correct to say that you can only go between wards like to the ER and paediatrics for instance if you are trained in both areas and they are desperate for help?

Thank you so much!!!

It honestly depends on the job. When I was a clinic nurse, I sat on my butt. Med Surg and LTC I've run my butt off. Luckily i get to to take lunch breaks 70% of the time.

Nature-Walker: I suppose nurses have their specialisation/s like a doctor does. Is the medical unit for general things? That would have been different to hear!! Thank you!

Hello wish: oh wow I had no idea!!! So what is it that nurses do that doctors are portrayed as doing like you say?

So what work do you do now? Thank you!

TruvyNurse: what sort of tasks did you do as a clinic nurse in comparison to med surgery and LTC? Thank you!!

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
So basically you could be having night/afternoon shift every day in the week.

I suppose the body is trying to get rid of the toxins - that makes sense.

That sounds good! So does that mean you could also work in emergency? Like can any nurse jump from one ward to the next e.g from paediatrics to accident and emergency for instance or can they only have similarities e.g dealing with children with paediatrics to maternity or neonatal (in a way they are connected).

I work psych as well Day shift 7 am to 3pm 1 regular day off a week (Thursdays) and every other weekend off. I have my own unit assigned to me and I love it - I work with female adolescents - a population most nurses wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole but I love my girls. Most are self harmers, some substance abuse and lots of suicidal ideation. The parents are tough though because most kids don't get screwed up without a little help from their parents. I've been working at the same facility for over 15 years and have earned my day shifts.

Hppy

Specializes in Pedi.
KelRn215:

So does that mean that it would be half doing nursing in a hospital for instance and half teaching at a uni?

Does what mean that? I'm not really sure what part of my post you're referencing. In my area, teaching at a university level requires a PhD or some other form of doctorate degree. The vast majority of my nursing professors no longer did any kind of inpatient nursing care. The only one I remember who did was my maternity/women's health professor who worked as an NP in the women's prison in our state. Teaching clinical generally required a master's degree though some schools allowed BSN nurses to do it. Many clinical instructors do that part time and then have another job that they work part-time. My own pediatric clinical instructor from 12 years ago is an NP. She still teaches clinical 2-3 days/week, works per diem RN shifts in the float pool and then works somewhere else as an NP.

Well I actually thought that 'accident and emergency' was its full term and 'emergency' was just an abbreviated version. I thought it meant accidents like needing stitches and less traumatic things, whereas emergency was if someone is having a heart attack etc. I could be wrong though. Ok so basically there's no such thing as part time nursing paediatrics and part time tutoring them.

Accident and Emergency just isn't a term used in the US. I know that's what they call it in other countries though. In the US, it's just the ER or the ED. If you were separately trained to be a teacher, you could work 20 hrs/week as a nurse and 20 hrs/week as a tutor for hospitalized children provided that you could A) find part-time employment in both positions and B) that neither position felt the other created any sort of conflict of interest.

If it was 50% days and 50% nights then I'd probably work half the month night and then the other half morning just to have a bit of a routine. Though I doubt you could do that anyway. So all weekend?

I usually tried to do 3 weeks of days/3 weeks of nights when I worked in the hospital but it didn't always work out that way. Final schedule discretion was up to our manager and she played favorites so, if you were on her good side, you might get all days and, if you were on her bad side, you could end up with a whole bunch of 8 hr evening shifts (my favorite shift when I was an aide, least favorite as an RN).

So basically if you have experience you get more of the hours you want? (So less night shifts). Did you also work in a clinic to have Mon-Frid work?

Yes, the more experience you have, the more marketable you are for positions with desirable hours. I have never worked in a clinic. I have done home nursing/clinical management, clinical liaison work in home infusion and currently am a community based case manager for medically complex children in foster care.

So am I correct to say that you can only go between wards like to the ER and paediatrics for instance if you are trained in both areas and they are desperate for help?

Thank you so much!!!

You can work in a pediatric hospital in the ER if your goal is emergency medicine and pediatrics. But I can't think of any scenario where a general peds nurse would be floated to the ER. Like I said, even in the pediatric hospital in which I worked, there were no units that floated to the ER. Only float pool staff who had been cross trained for the ER but the ER had their own on-call staff for situations where they needed extra staff anyway.

Keep in mind that a lot of this stuff is highly employer specific.

Hppygr8ful:

Thank you for your comment!! So do you work 6 days a week? (You said you have 1 regular day off a week). That sounds really good!!! How long did it take you to earn better shifts? You sound like you are pretty high up in nursing to have your own unit!!

KelRN215:

Thank you, I think you might have answered my question (sorry for the confusion). I was just referring to if you were to be teaching nursing at a university, would you also still be practicing nursing in a hospital, clinic etc (so you are a nurse + teach people nursing) but you said that some can/do. Have you ever come across any type of nurses who worked part-time nursing and part-time tutoring hospitalised children?

Wow your manager played favourites in giving good shifts to those she liked. That's no fair!! Hopefully she was good to you though!! I feel like this is something that might be common in nursing. Why are evening shifts less favourable as an RN in comparison to an aide?

That sounds interesting in looking after foster children. Does that mean that you are in charge of other nurses because you are the manager?

So am I correct to say that it would never be general nurses that float to another ward such as emergency. Only those who are trained in both areas, but on-call staff get preference anyway? Thank you!!!

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