Shift Hours

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I have seen other posts on shift hours. Like I said in another thread, I would like to someday work in a hospital, and I understand that full time would be 3-12hr shifts a week. I can sort of see me doing that at night, but not in the day. I mean how would I drop my 4 kids off at school and then be able to pick them up? If I was working at night, and leave at 7, that would be fine, my husband will be off by then to care for the children. But he leaves at like 5:30-6:00am! I wouldnt be home in time. It just seems like nothing really works out for us moms sometimes. See, Iv been a stay at home mom all my teen and adult life, so I have been trying to figure out how I would be able to work after nursing school. Now it would be perfect if I could work from 8-2 everyday at least!

How do some of you moms figure this out?

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Hospital shifts are not always conducive to family life, especially if you've got school-age children. Hopefully they will be independent enough to get themselves to school by the time you complete a nursing program.

If you want working hours that coincide better with the needs of your kids, try working in a clinic, doctors' office, school, or nursing home. You can work from 7am to 3pm, 8am to 4pm, and so forth. If you worked for a home health agency or hospice company, your hours could be even more flexible.

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well that sucks! I had my heart on working in a hospital. You cant choose the hours of your shift? And what I mean by that is, full time is 36 hrs, can I work from 7pm to 5 am three times a week and work the remaining 6 hrs on another day? just an example. I thought nursing hrs would be that flexible.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

not usually.....some hospitals do 10 hour shifts, but most do 12 hour shifts, continuity of care is better.

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Ok, well thanks for all your replies. I do appreciate it! Maybe I can figure some way of doing it. How do some ofyou like working the 12 hr night shifts? Im a night owl myself and I think I wouldnt mind doing the night shift.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Ok, well thanks for all your replies. I do appreciate it! Maybe I can figure some way of doing it. How do some ofyou like working the 12 hr night shifts? Im a night owl myself and I think I wouldnt mind doing the night shift.
I hate 8-hour shifts, but I love working 12-hour shifts. After having worked 12-hour shifts, I don't think I could ever go back to working an 8-hour-per-day, 5-day work week unless I was on the verge of homelessness. Also, I prefer night shift.

I also like the 16-hour shifts because they enable me to have more days off per week. At the present time, I work two 16-hour shifts every Saturday and Sunday so I can have Monday through Friday off to attend school full-time.

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Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think I will enjoy the night shift.

Im sure it will all work out for me somehow! LOL

But right now, I got to get through the extra classes I will most likely need, the general edu. classes AND the pre-req's, just to get in the RN program. I dont think theres a waiting list at Bakersfield College, but they go off of GPA, so Im gonna do as someone else here said, "take my time and make sure I work hard on the classes and pre-reqs that way I get a good chance of getting in." I guess Im looking at 4 years total before I can call myself an RN. Hopefully those RN, new grad job postings I keep seeing will still be there! LOL

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think I will enjoy the night shift.

Im sure it will all work out for me somehow! LOL

But right now, I got to get through the extra classes I will most likely need, the general edu. classes AND the pre-req's, just to get in the RN program. I dont think theres a waiting list at Bakersfield College, but they go off of GPA, so Im gonna do as someone else here said, "take my time and make sure I work hard on the classes and pre-reqs that way I get a good chance of getting in." I guess Im looking at 4 years total before I can call myself an RN. Hopefully those RN, new grad job postings I keep seeing will still be there! LOL

The nice thing is that the remedial math classes do not count toward your grade point average. Just learn all you can while you're in these classes so that you can complete college algebra successfully.

My inability to do college algebra has been costly. I took 4 years of algebra while in high school, but I never learned it properly.

Cal State Bakersfield also has no waiting list, I believe...

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I have worked both 8 hr & 12 hr shifts. I would NEVER go back to the 5 day/wk 8 hr shifts now that my kids are grown. When my kids were younger, I worked the 11P-7A shift. I did not always get enough sleep, but I did have time to spend w/ my kids. There are some hospitals that have 12 hr Sat & Sun shifts that count as full time. I am not sure which ones. This may be something that will help you.

There are also some hospitals that have child care centers that the operate.

hope some of this helps.

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