ShannonC83

Yah, this was more the issue. I think if I was on a steady schedule it may not be so bad, just having to adjust my sleeping habits daily or halfway through the week would be really difficult. I'm not a very good sleeper so it helps for me to keep a regular schedule. I have considered Occupational Therapy and Physical therapy before however those programs are even more competitive than nursing in my area I believe so I'm not sure if I would get in. I'm really thinking right now though about possibly taking the schooling to be a dietician. Nutrition is a huge interest of mine and that would be a position I would think would offer me more of a set type of schedule. I'm a little worried with that one though, it's very VERY competitive apparently to get an Internship which you need to register. I'm not entirely sure what opportunities for jobs there are for people who just have the degree in Nutrition and Food science.

Thanks for that information. I had heard that that was the case. Is it extremely competitive to get into GM? I'm also sort of wondering about psychiatric nursing. GM offers a 2 year program in that, so is that going to certify you anymore either? I wonder where it's easiest to get into nursing (in terms of which school). My GPA from my last year of phys ed wasn't overly high (worked way to much during school) so I have that sort of working against me.

So I'm thinking about trying to go back to school to become a nurse but am a little worried how well I'd handle shift work (particularly night shifts). Are there any jobs in nursing where you don't work shift work and it's more like a normal 8-5 type of job (or along those hours)?

Thanks for your reply. That isn't a problem at all though, actually I prefer the work to be changing daily. It's more the schedule that I'm concerned with. I don't need routine in the work, just in how the work fits my daily life...if that makes sense. I love the fact that with nursing you are facing new challenges every day and that it requires you to keep learning new things and furthering your knowledge - definitely one of the things that's appealing to me about the profession.

So I've really struggled with what I want to do for a career in the past few years. I already have a degree in Physical Education however the job prospects are not all that great in that field. I've considered teaching however I'm not sure that's going to suite me the best. I really want to be in a profession where I can help people though and am not stuck behind a computer all day. Nursing seems like it would be a good fit for me however there are a few things I'm nervous about. Mostly my biggest concern is the shift work and long hours. I am a very routine person by nature (like to get up the same time every morning and know when I am supposed to be at work - keep the same schedule all the time, etc). With nursing, is it possible to find positions where you are always working the same schedule? Night shifts do scare me and I'd definitely prefer days but I suppose if I was always working nights I could learn to handle it, it's more going from nights to days then to nights that I would really struggle with I think. Also, are shifts always going to be 11 hours or longer or are there a lot of positions where you can work normal 8 hours shifts? Are there any types of nursing jobs where you work standard 'working' hours (8-5 or something of that nature). Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not a nursing student yet (am thinking about doing the degree), but I took a physical education transfer program at the Grant MacEwan and then then U of A (2 years at each). Just from my experience in that program - may not be completely applicable to nursing - but I can definitely say that if I had a choice of schools I would choose Grant MacEwan WAY over the U of A. I found the classes to be much better, the profs were more personable, and the whole college is just a lot nicer. To me it seemed a lot like the U of A just wanted their money and then you were left to fend for yourself. There are some advantages to the U of A though (more student groups, bigger campus if you want the whole 'university' feel and so on). If you are doing high school by correspondance though, I would likely think you'd be more suited to Grant Mac because the class sizes are a lot smaller. I came from Beaumont (small town on the south side) so I was used to a really small high school. I think that made the transition to university a lot easier - since Grant Mac was a lot more like my high school was compared with the U of A.