polock4life

No guilt trip, your interpretation was just not correct. One can handle it, it's a matter of getting accustomed to the schedule and rigors of the job. As stated being more comfortable is going to make the task easier and less draining. To the OP just keep on with the hard work. It will eventually become second nature. I mentioned the armed forces because anyone can be trained to handle the long hours, but it takes training and it doesn't happen overnight. If you truly can not adjust, you may look for something with less 12's back to back, or an 8hr job. Your hard work will be rewarded and it will become easier to work those hours.

you can work a lot more than 3 twelves in a row...but as stated you need to feel comfortable. Some people aren't built to handle the rigors of long shifts, but don't tell that to our men and women in the armed services. You could easily handle weeks in a row and be fine although your home life may not be so fine

I know this is a general nursing forum, but I figure many of you work closely with some people in this career field, and I am looking for information/advice. Is there a site like allnurses.com for radiology tech's? I am looking at applying to both nursing and radiology programs and have found a ton of info on nursing but not a whole lot in this career field. I know starting pay is around 40k on avg for a Rad. Tech, but I'm curious what career progression is like. What kind of options do you have to better yourself than just a general technician. I understand you can get certs like nuclear, sonography, etc but I am also curious how this will effect your career? What are you hours like? Are there ways to increase your pay decently over the first 10 years? I'm by no means pursuing health care for the money, but I do not want my family to struggle either. I am separating from AD military in a few months and trying to get myself on track early. Thanks for all of your help in advance, and I apologize if this is not the correct place to ask such questions.

H1N1 vaccine is now mandatory for the USAF... just saying it may be safer than you think, but then again we are test mules!

There are programs in the Air Force where they will take you off of Active Duty to go to Nursing School. They also offer programs to become a Nurse Practitioner if you so chose. We just had a guy accepted out of my unit (VERY COMPETITIVE) and he leaves this spring for school... If you don't pass the school, you are placed back into active duty at your last rank held and your last career field (AFSC) Get your degree and then join the military, use the repayment loans that branches offer. You may decide not to join the military after all. I'm leaving the military to go to nursing school with aspirations to become a CRNA. There are plenty of pro-s and con's to each... and you seem to have a decent understanding. Be careful what you believe from the recruiters... contact your nearest AF base and make an appt to meet w/ a nurse practitioner or RN... eventually they'll have time to sit down and give you the true low down. Everything else is just hearsay!

First I want to send a HUGE Thank You to everyone that has taken time to respond. It is obviously clear that I have a lot to learn about being an RN, as I won't even get started until this coming fall semester at the earliest. I appreciate every bit of information and advice I received. HAHA, Thanks, I know what you mean about the money, but I just came off very shallow and dependent on a large income for my first post. That is not the primary reason I want to become an RN, but it doesn't hurt either. I only know 2 nurses, and one makes $45k (brand new at a non-profit, Missouri), and the other has been an ICU RN for about 5-6 years and she puts in overtime , but is making over $100k a year(Kansas City, Ks). Thank you! I'm sure there is going to be plenty to learn from experience. I was picturing overtime to be in the exact same area where you normally practice... I was not aware of the "outsourcing" for overtime. Because of this my mind was the more hours of experience, the faster I could learn/apply. I should have made it clear that by early in my career, I meant the first 3-4 years, and including overtime. If you were working closer to 50 hours... your income would be substantially higher than $70k... I think maybe you didn't realize I was including overtime. I however was not clear about "how soon" in my career I was talking about. I had come up w/ very similar calculations for a new nurse at 36 and 48 hours... so it's good to know I was close. I suppose I also should have been more clear and stated I'm looking to make this income Gross and not net. Thanks for your input. I've pulled OT in the past and too have found out that those extra hours truly do get taxed harder. I wouldn't mind the extra hours not being worth time and a half after taxes... I did mention it... but it was pretty quick! Thanks again for all your input, I know my family is number one here. To me 36 hours is no where near a "real" work week, so I know I'll be looking for more. Eventually when we have kids I'm sure my mindset will change a little! Thank You, it means a lot when we get thanks from our countrymen/women. The VA is definitely something I'm going to consider, I would love to give back to my fellow/former servicemembers. I'll have to research the benefits that have been mentioned! This is an awesome suggestion and something I'm definitely going to remember. I like this idea a whole lot more than working OT, but I know I'm going to have to pay my dues and effectively learn my job before I try and accomplish something like this. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this option to me! What city do you work in? I'm looking at the KCK area, where pay is in the low-mid 20/hr(22-24). Again, Thank you for your input and I appreciate the reality check with my family. Money is clearly not everything for us, but it came across that way in the first post. I tried to recover w/ the last paragraph, but clearly it wasn't effective, lol! We are going to live in Lawrence, KS... which where a 2-2500sq/ft home in a decent area is not cheap (High 200k and even into the $300K) considering the pay for most jobs in KS is very low...That is a lot of money for a home condsidering how Kansans are paid! Money is going to be necessary, but it is not the driving force for my pursuit of BSN. I have many other reasons, but I appreciate your concern. Working with RN's who don't really care about their work is probably frustrating beyond belief. THANK YOU so incredibly much for everyone's advice and support. It's amazing to find a good forum on the internet these days. Typically everyone wants to be condiscending but that is not the case here. I look forward to soaking up as much info as possible!

I'm curious what the typical work week for an RN is? I believe most who work in a hospital setting are working 3, 12 hour shifts a week. Is it often that you have the ability to pick up more shifts to work some overtime? If so how are you paid in regards to the overtime? I'm currently enlisted in the USAF so working 12 hours shifts every day for months at a time is not un-common for myself. I have a strong feeling that 3, 12 hour shifts will only leave me wanting more. My wife will be a dental hygienist, and I will be an RN so obviously money will not be overflowing. I am curious if I put in extra hours in the ICU/ER, if I will be able to make some extra money. (Kansas RN, hoping to make near $70k, early in my career) I know this post almost seems shallow, and may not be the best first post, but I am curious. I love serving for my country and being able to give back to those in need. I'm tired of being away from my wife, and want to be around to raise my children, when we eventually have them. This is why I want to become a RN, and I know my first post got off to a rocky start!