Nursing hours

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Ive always wanted to become a RN and eventually work my way up in the chain. Ive been going to the college and have completed quite a few of the pre reqs for the RN program. But now, I am actually thinking about the long work hours and the hours away from my children and my husband. I really cant see myself working 12+ hour shifts. I know people say you work 3 12 hr shifts and get 4 days off but my son is in BMX racing and my daughter wants to be in gymnastics, so I feel like Im going to miss out on so much of their lives. Ive even actually started thinking about going into teaching. I dont know if Im just talking myself out of nursing to see if this is what I really want. I dont want to work in any other area in nursing except peds and I know, what are my chances of getting hired in a peds dept right out of school?

Please girls, any advice. Do any nurses work 8-5 jobs or is it the long work hours?

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there are some 8-5 jobs, but if you work in a doctors office. There really aren't any hospital jobs, especially peds with those hours. It is doable to land a peds job after graduation. I actually think I'm the only one out of all my friends who DIDN'T wind up working peds out of school. My advice, go the teaching route, it's far less stress and much better hours, especially if you really want to focus on your kids right now. I couldn't even imagine being a new grad with kids at this point.

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Specializes in Quality Control,Long Term Care, Psych, UM, CM.

Be a teacher, not a nurse. I wish I did. You will have better working conditions and more respect as a teacher.

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Be a teacher, not a nurse. I wish I did. You will have better working conditions and more respect as a teacher.

I don't know if I should agree.. But I do respect teachers as much as I respect nurses. ;)

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I don't know if I will help you or not. I was a teacher, went to college right out of highschool, had trouble with studying vs socializing so I switched majors from health sciences (at that school is was the prereq for nursing or pt/ot) to teaching which was much easier. My heart was never in it. I liked the kids, parents and administration were fine, but it didn't excite me.

I got married and left teaching after having my kids (other stuff between the two but it doesn't matter). I knew I didn't want to go back to teaching and when considering what to I really had a hard time with nursing because of the negatives that you mentioned. I have 2 kids both in sports and I'm used to being with them.

I finished school this past december. I won't lie, it's not easy missing out on things. I've been sad this week because I work Thanksgiving. I LOVE what I do though. I feel passion about my career choice and though yes I'm still a fairly new grad I NEVER felt this way about teaching.

I work 2nd shift, which is definately not idea for family life. I work 7 shifts per 2 weeks. I ask for days off when there is something important that I want to go to and usually I get them off. When I am home I make sure I am here with my kids, meaning the kids are #1.

My advise... the other stuff can be worked out, but do what you think you will love. It won't always be easy, but it's important to really love what you do.

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Specializes in ICU.

i prefer the 12's. 4 days off a week? hard to beat that for me. Pay is better than teaching too. You could always work part time, like 2 days a week. You can work per diem at a few different hospitals and make up your hours as you want to. (although with the recession not sure how easy it is any more, I know like 5 years ago it was super easy to just work per diem and pick up when you wanted. Theres benefits to both depending on what your lifestyle is I guess. I just think nursing is more flexible with scheduling for the most part. Lets say you want a week off, work 6 in a row and you can have 8 days off and not use vacation time. I could honestly never work 8-5 5 days a week. I think it would kill me.

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The hospital I work at hires part-time and some full-time RN positions either 7-3, 3-11, or 11-7. You'd be working 5 days a week and have weekend and holiday requirements still. The majority of nurses work 12's but like I said it's definitely an option to work 8hr shifts instead. Best of luck!

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I forgot... Teaching is NOT a low stress job. Teachers are under lots of pressure to make sure kids preform well on standardized tests, keeping parents happy, keeping administration happy, and you think you have paperwork as a nurse? I had hours of checking papers, record keeping, and planning each night.

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Thanks girls for all the replies. Im not looking into a job for the pay. If youre in it for the pay, youll never be happy either. I just know I want to do something with kids. I cant see myself working 12+ hr shifts and I do like the work hours of a teacher plus all the holidays and vacations. Ive always said my heart was in nursing so I dont want to make the wrong decision. And I know there is alot of paperwork for teachers. Theres pressure and stress for every job. No matter what profession, Im going to have to deal with either patients or parents so that doesnt bother me. What bothers me the most is definately not wanting to work the 12+ hr shifts. Im so undecisive right now and next semester is right around the corner. Ive heard of nurses quitting to become teachers and vice versa. Im stuck right now.

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After 15 years of teaching, I'm back in school to become a nurse. From my perspective, teaching is every bit as stressful as nursing, plus no matter how hard you work, people do not appreciate you. Of course I hear these things about nursing as well, but nurses do get paid better, and from what I understand, do not have to bring home loads of paperwork. Job outlook for teachers is not good in my state (Florida). Budget cuts and layoffs are making it difficult for new grads to get jobs as teachers. Plus your pay or your job security will be dependent on how well your students' perform on state assessments. You will constantly have administrators come in your classroom for brief visits and judge your performance as a teacher on silly things like what is hanging on your bulletin boards (I was actually told my word wall was too orderly and should be more random) and on how you write your agenda on the board (I'm sure students will perform better if I write down the learning objective before the date, right?) Don't get me wrong, I have loved my career working with students, however, the climate in education is changing and teacher innovation and creativity is being thrown out the window. Good luck with your decision, but really research things before deciding.

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

Typically in a hospital environment nurses work 12 hour shifts. A friend of mine interviewed for a psych position in a hospital and it was 11pm-7am, BUT it was 5 days/week. I would personally rather work three 12-hour shifts than five 8-hour shifts. You will still have weekend and holiday requirements. And also keep in mind that a lot of new grads start out on night shift but a dayshift position for a new grad is not unheard of, either.

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Specializes in LTC, Med-Surge, Ortho.
I don't know if I should agree.. But I do respect teachers as much as I respect nurses. ;)

Nurses in general are still highly respected but sometimes we don't feel it from the people we expect it from the most.:nurse:

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