Spouses in healthcare

KThurmond · Dec 31, 2015

I'm not in the situation but I have an opinion. I wouldn't want my spouse having the same career as me. At first it might be fun having somebody who understands what others don't about your job, but then I think it'd lose it's appeal. Average nurses work 12 hour shifts if not longer. When I come home from the hospital/etc the last thing I'd probably want to hear is more nurse stuff.

I'd like being able to talk about something different when I'm not at work.

StillRN · Dec 31, 2015

I used to turn my nose up at the thought of dating another nurse.. but now I think I would. A lot of em look sexy in scrubs and it's nice to have that person get what u do... and they are better equipped to care for u when sick. Plus I find a highly skilled smart man very sexy!

calivianya, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2015

If my current SO and I don't work out, I'm hunting down a nurse.

You can have as much or as little time together as you want, you can work the exact same shifts or you can work opposite days if you like your space. If you both work 12s, you can both work the first three days of one week and the last three days of the next and have an eight-day vacation without missing a single shift of work or taking any time off. You want to take some PTO? You just bumped that up to 15 days off with only taking one week of PTO each. You can also be travel nurses together and change cities every 12 weeks and visit just about the whole country on your company's dime.

I can't really imagine not wanting to date someone with a flexible schedule like mine. What's the use of a super flexible schedule if your SO is stuck in 9-5s and can't do anything with you, anyway?

I imagine it would be also extremely useful for people interested in having children. Both partners could work full time and there would always be someone home with the kids. Absolutely zero daycare costs if the scheduling works out right.

ixchel · Dec 31, 2015

I think I'd love it. Right now my LEO hubs doesn't understand at all why I'm tired two days after a stretch of nights of why some shifts take so much more from me emotionally, etc. I'm sure he feels the same about his job and me not getting it as well. I'd love to be able to "talk shop" with him when something wild happens, too. Instead I come here for that.

klone, MSN, RN · Dec 31, 2015

My husband is also a nurse. We work in very different fields - he's in hospice and I'm in OB/women's health. It's nice because while we both have an understanding of human physiology and medicine/healthcare, our areas of expertise are quite different, so it prevents a lot of the "shop talk". He's always worked 8-5 with a lot of flexibility in his day, which complements the more rigid schedule I've typically had.

And between the two of us, we make a pretty comfortable living.

Davey Do · Dec 31, 2015

My wife Belinda has been a Med/Surg RN for about 11 years at the same Medical center where I work in Psych. Belinda ran Labs for a Medical Group for about 17 years previously.

I absolutely love it! We talk both Medical and Psych Nursing regularly. Talking with Belinda helps to keep my head in the Medical Side of Nursing and I've learned a lot from her. I believe she could say the same about me and Psych Nursing.

I have no dislikes about the situation.

Thanks for asking, CCupcake!

sissiesmama, ASN, RN · Dec 31, 2015

Hubby and I have been married a little over 11 years - we are both RNs. Before we married we worked on a specialty - type unit together. He got a promotion to our unit manager aAnd I transferred to the ER/Trauma unit at the same facility.

I retired not too long ago due to health reasons and hubby is working as a house supervisor at the same hospital - we love being able to come home at night and talk about a crazy trauma case or something that happened that day.

We were both married to non-nurses before and it works out great for us having nursing in common.

Trauma_drama14, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Dec 31, 2015

I am loving these responses so far! Davey, that is pretty cool, being able to talk about two different specialties. I feel as if its nice because you can learn or re-learn from each other what you have learned in the real world and in nursing school. My husband and I met outside of the hospital when I was an LPN a year and a half before starting nursing school again and he was already an RN on telemetry. I thought it was really helpful because once we started dating and I started school, he was able to assist with anything that I needed further explanation on. I find it kind of funny now though, since I'm actually working as a nurse in the hospital setting. We work in the same hospital but different fields. I started on the surgical unit and we would tease each other about how we hated each other's specialty.The crazier thing now is that we both started ICU jobs in September (of course, him cardiac and myself surgical/trauma) a week apart. I find it refreshing now because even though we may be in different spots, we both are learning as new ICU nurses. In addition, we get to teach each other information and what we learn about our specialties too! I really like the fact that we can understand each other on the struggles but also rewards in nursing.

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Dec 31, 2015

My girlfriend is a medical transcriptionist. Although she is not "hands on" in the healthcare field, it is so much easier talking about my day using medical terms when the other person knows exactly what you are talking about.

Ruger8mm · Dec 31, 2015

Just curious out there...
Anyone else out there who is married to a husband or a wife who is also in the medical field? My husband and I both are RNs working in the same hospital and have not met many other married couples or couples in serious relationships who are both in the medical field. I find that slightly surprising.
For those who are: what do you like about it? dislike about it? Are you both in the same field or different ones? If you are, are you in the same specialty?
I'm looking forward to hearing responses.

Both the wife and I are RNs. Still trying to figure out a schedule we like. My new Mon-Fri 8-5 schedule will help significantly with the kids/family life.

Dranger · Dec 31, 2015

My girlfriend is a L&D nurse, different hospitals but same system.