PCT tired of 12 hour shifts

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I'm a PCT in a extremely busy mother baby unit. 12 1/2 hour shift, three days a week. Daily I am told by visitors to unit that I have the best job in the world because I work with babies. Well I absolutely love that part of job. But what I don't like is how this unit has 25 rooms, one tech per shift, three sets of vitals on mom and baby each shift. It's so repetitive and takes 2 hours just to get them done while pulling trash, putting ice in cups etc. afterwards I'm constantly being told to give newborn their first bath, average 20 to 30 minutes each bath. With a average of 4-10 per shift. To bath. I have no personal desk so my whole day is spent walking those hard cement floors except for total of forty five minutes total on breaks on 12 1/2 shifts. For those that say we'll get another job, that's exactly what I'm going to do. To work so hard all day as I watch coworkers sit around laughing and playing on cell phones. I've decided I would rather work a job 8 hours a day, five days a week with out 6 people giving me orders of stuff to do for them. To think I spent all that time to get PCT certificate just to be that busy for such little pay, what was I thinking lol.

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Sorry that things are so rough on you. Hope that you can find a better job. Have you considered a Home Health Aide job? One client at a time would probably be a welcome change.

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Sorry that things are so rough on you. Hope that you can find a better job. Have you considered a Home Health Aide job? One client at a time would probably be a welcome change.

Thanks for advise. Where I work its not so much the busy day that bothers me, in fact any job I have ever worked has been high volume workload. It's lack of teamwork on the part of some coworkers. And after two years of 12 1/2 hour shifts my knees and legs have had enough. No job is worth me eventually having to get knee surgery because of long standing hours on hard floors. I wear support hose, proper shoes, but still it takes my legs a day or two to feel normal again when off work. Add that to the lack of teamwork of some coworkers and I'm just ready to say I want out of there.

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I would then suggest that you look for sitter jobs, where you literally do little more than sit and observe the patient. Only problem there is that the jobs themselves may have sporadic hours depending upon the setup, and sitters normally earn less than CNA, HHA, and PCT, but the sitting should be better on your knees and you would not have much, if any, interaction with other staff.

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I don't know if you found anything different yet but I would say go for a Medical Assistant position. I am a CNA and a CMA in Maryland. Here I know PCT's are CNA's who can do everything that Medical Assistants are trained to do (EKG's, vitals, phlebotomy) and technically you don't have to be certified as a Medical Assistant but a lot places want you to get it. My last MA interview I went for a big obgyn practice and there were both MA's and techs and aside from me and the lady who allowed me to shadow her the MA's all used to be techs. I worked at a Family Practice/ walk in clinic and the physician I worked for loved her MA's to have any kind of healthcare experience prior to working as MA's. I had to precept a girl that was a CNA and another girl who was an EMT. You could probably get in great with a family practice, ob/gyn or pediatric practice with your experience. And your duties wouldnt go beyond setting up exam rooms, taking vital signs and maybe giving injections if they're willing to train you. The hours are usually a Monday thru Friday, 9 - 5 type deal. I wish you the best of luck. Me personally, I'm walking right into what you're trying to get out of. I have a share day/interview with Davita on Monday as a PCT and I'm nervous because I see all over AllNurses that the PCT's and nurses work 16 hour shifts 3 times a week there...

Anyways I digress lol Again, I wish you luck in your endeavours!!!

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Sorry I reposted what I already said accidentally

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Sorry I reposted what I already said accidentally

Thanks for advise. And I 100 percent agree. Years ago I worked as Tech in Ophthalmology office for 8 years, and although it was high volume patient load, I loved it. I look foreward to finding another medical office job. But working at a hospital as a PCT the workload is way over demanding with to many people telling what you need to do for them, NOW is when they want it. Maybe I'm just working for the wrong unit, hospital, or whatever. But I'm sure not applying for anymore 12 1/2 shifts (30 minutes is lunch included) at a hospital unless they have more then one tech.

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