Possibly offered 3-11 med/surg in hospital; HELP!

SCRN1 · May 7, 2008

Congratulations on getting your life back!! :yeah:

Good luck working your new shift! I've worked all shifts and think that has got to be the busiest shift of all because it's usually when we get the most admissions in any of the hospitals I've worked in. Positive side of that is that is that it seems to make the shift go by faster.

Now that my kids are old enough to drive themselves to school and anywhere else they need to be, I wouldn't mind working that shift since my body clock would like it more. But where I work, we only do 12-hr shifts. So, I guess you could say I do work half of that 2nd shift, lol.

Ms Kylee · May 7, 2008

I LOVE 3-11. True, you might get slammed with admissions, but the staff doesn't seem to be so harried and hurried as they are on daylight. If you start the shift in utter chaos, things generally settle down by 7PM. My only gripe is the telemetry unit who insists on transferring patients at shift change. :banghead:

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · May 7, 2008

disclaimer: this is my experience...my floor might be completely different!

my problem when i worked 3-11 was lack of help. on my floor, the more helpful nurses and techs tended to work day shift or midnight shift. on those shifts, staff helped each other with admissions, post-ops, that kind of thing.

i think evening shift is just as busy as day shift, but more unpredictably so. things just seem to happen on evening shift that are completely out of the ordinary, and at the worst times.

also, the evening shift crew wasn't a "team" like day and midnight shifts. i think it's because about one quarter of those who were doing evenings were on rotating schedules and hated their evening shifts, and half were twelve hour people. so the nurse next to you may be a great 7a-7p'r then for the second half of the shift you may have a lazy 7p-7a'r...but either way, it's nicer to have the same person next to you the entire shift.

and it may sound like it, but i'm not knocking evening shift, just letting you know how my experience was. i started off as 7p-7a, did evenings, then went back to 7p-7a for the reasons i've described. but you know what? when i went back to 7p-7a i was sooo awesome with admissions!

jess

CHATSDALE · May 7, 2008

i am not a morning person so i liked a shift that i could sleep as late as i liked and then go to work, usually went to bed late anyway, still do

when my son was in school i had to work 3/11 for a while but it was really rough because i didn't see him at all during the day and i had to make arrangements to get him from school to babysitter and then pick him up after 11p and take him home AAAGGGHHH

i like the orientaton that you are getting, sounds like everything will be coming up roses

Drysolong · May 7, 2008

When I read the original post, I focused more on the return to work and the med surg unit, rather than the 3-11 shift. I would say just build up your physical stamina. I work on Med Surg and I rarely STOP!!!!

RNperdiem, RN · May 7, 2008

Start breaking in a pair of shoes for work.

If you are not physically fit, start getting some activity in now.

Talk to your family about how their daily schedule is going to change; they might need to pick up new responsibilities.

Work out back-up plans in case of staying late, coming in early, family emergencies, etc.

mama_bird · May 7, 2008

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I hope more respond!

I have been volunteering 12 hours a week at my local historical society on top of my regular activities. Tomorrow I am going to wear my nursing shoes and go there for 8 hours. It is raining right now, so if I can be on my feet from 10-6 tomorrow after it rained tonight, I can do this.

I do get daily activity from walking my 3 dogs a mile and a half, and I am very anal about housework, but despite my stamina, I have gone from a size 10 to a size 14 (THANKS ARTHRITIS AND PREDNISONE!!! :lol2: ) and one of the reasons I want to work on a floor is because I WANT to be physically busy. I am the type of person that always did my work and went and helped everyone else when it was slow. I even did things we would never have to do; jobs the secretaries did, just because I was that energetic. I want that back so bad.

As for my family, my husband is 42 and my daughter is 17 and I have created a situation where they have taken me for granted working from home and I am tired of it, so they know I intend on working 3-11. Other than dinner, they are usually doing their own thing at that time of day anyways. 3-11 will give me plenty of time in the morning to do household things, take care of and exercise the dogs, and get in a hot shower and get ready for work. I will need the hot water in the winter. I told hubby he will need to feed the dogs dinner, take them potty, and heat up his dinner or cook for himself. I will NOT be eating the crap he has been buying all these years. I will have more money and since I won't need to eat dinner with him, I am going to go back to eating the way I did before I met him which was healthier.

I hope I am offered the opportunity to come in early or stay late. I want to make myself unavailable to them so they learn how to get along without the nurse/secretary/chauffeur/cook/maid/veterinarian/etc. that I have become because I was never respected for working from home. The only people in this house who should be dependent is the dogs because they are helpless. My daughter "needs" me to be her personal alarm clock but she can be on time for her friends. She "needs" me to find her shoes but she can find her cell phone. Enough is enough. I have been taken advantage of. My husband also never took my disease seriously and thought RA was just aches and pains or all in my head. Like I willingly gave up a $36K job after four years of college!!! I lost my self-respect somewhere along the way and now I am going to get it back. For years he has said "You could work if you put your mind to it!" I told him over and over I couldn't. Everything changed when the Enbrel kicked in. I used to be content to have moderate pain/stiffness relief. I never knew how ill I was until this drug started working.

I have been in a sick cycle of rescuing and enabling them because he is a recovering alcoholic/addict who always had his family to do everything for him (and I picked up where they left off) and my daughter has ADHD and needed constant micromanagement to get anything done. Well, now I'm done. Believe me, he was ****** for over a week that I "threw it at him" that I wanted to return to work, and my daughter actually said "Do you hate us?"

LOLLOLOLO

iwanna · May 8, 2008

Mamabird,

Congratulations! You are my hero! I can relate to much of your story. I have a chronic illness, sarcoidosis. I know what you mean about the joint pains. I believe Rituxin infusions have helped me.

I have been out of nursing for four yrs. Also, I am 51. I did not start nursing until I was 40. Unfortunately, my illness began to surface while I was in nursing school. I started out to be RN, but ended up being LPN because I failed a med-surg class due to my illness. I could not keep up the pace. I was exhausted. I had gotten to a point where I was able to get into LPN program as advanced placement. I completed the LPN course in 12 weeks. I got my LPN in 1997. I tried working in a nursing home two months after I passed the boards. And, two months is about all I lasted working PT. I was in bed on my days off recuperating from the days that I worked. Then, I found a job that I could handle in summer of 98. It was in a drug rehab. But, that only lasted 18 months, as the unit closed. Then, I found a job in psych hospital and worked there for 4 yrs. before resigning due to exacerbation of my illness.

Now, I feel stabilized on my meds. I joined a gym, and feel that I have energy. I am no longer overweight. In fact, everyone tells me that I am too skinny. So, I promised not to lose more weight. But, I still want to work out because I love the way it feels. It is such a good feeling to be at this point. I can empathize with you about the prednisone. I put on a lot of weight when I was on it. As my dosage came down, so did my weight. I am prednisone-free now and lovin it!

Currently, I am in the process of job searching. I have gone on three interviews since Feb. One position was for county jail, one was for quality improvement in hospital, and my last one was for nursing home. I decided to try nursing home for the experience. I know that a hospital would not hire an LPN without the skills or experience. And, honestly, I am petrified of working a nursing home that will probably give me a mere two day orientation. So, I think it is awesome that you are getting 90 days with preceptor.

Also, I have an OVR counselor. I get to meet with placement rep. next week. They may have found a job suitable for me working at American Red Cross. So, now I am wondering, what if Nursing home offers me the job, meanwhile. I am so confused as to what road to take.

Aft. shift is my favorite. I am not much of a morning person. I loved aft. because I got to sleep late. When I worked dayshift, I would not do much when I got home. I just dreaded getting up early for work the next morning. When, I worked FT, I never cooked, either. And, my husband was a sweetie in helping out around the house. He was just appreciative that I was "able" to work.

I am happy for you. :yeah: I know the feeling of "feeling good" after you have been so sick. And, it is great that you are getting into bedside nursing while you are still young. Again, congratulations!!!