Hi. I need some sound advice! I've got a BA and MA in a humanities subject. But life circumstances have changed and I've got a family to support so I've decided to make the leap to nursing. I need to get into the job market in as short a time as possible.
(1)I assume my university degrees don't count for anything much, considering they are from a non-science field; is that correct?
(2)Is becoming an RPN the best choice for me?
(3)I live in Ontario and am a permanent resident but not a citizen (American w/ Cndn hubby)
Any other advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!
I know shift work is hard, but it has advantages as well. I've watched a relative of mine(in the US) do shift work as she started her family; she works 12 hour shifts Fri-Sat-Sun night, which pays a lot better than daytime/weekdays, and though it is grueling work, it enables her to be at home with her little ones all week. That's one of the things I find attractive about it. And to tell you the truth, with two kids under the age of three, and one of them a terrible sleeper....I'm pretty adjusted to fatigue and stress and being on-call 24/7. But I take your point: nursing is not for the faint at heart!
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
I know shift work is hard, but it has advantages as well. I've watched a relative of mine(in the US) do shift work as she started her family; she works 12 hour shifts Fri-Sat-Sun night, which pays a lot better than daytime/weekdays, and though it is grueling work, it enables her to be at home with her little ones all week. That's one of the things I find attractive about it. And to tell you the truth, with two kids under the age of three, and one of them a terrible sleeper....I'm pretty adjusted to fatigue and stress and being on-call 24/7. But I take your point: nursing is not for the faint at heart!
The only problem with that theory is that in Canada most nurses don't work only nights, and weekend worker shift patterns are rare. Here most nurses, at least in the first decade or so on the job, work rotating shifts. If the unit runs on 12 hour shifts, then you'd work a day-night rotation. If it's an 8 hour shift unit, you'd work either a day-evening, day-night- or evening-night rotation. A typical 12 hour shift rotation could be 2 days, 2 nights, 4 off, as an example. I've been on my current unit 15 years; last year I finally was able to work a single shift, days only. Before that, it was days and nights, often coming off a night shift on Monday morning only to be back at work on Wednesday morning. It's exhausting.
@tornadoalley, yes nursing is not for the faint of heart, but more importantly, 24/7 care giving is high risk for burn out or compassion fatigue and very resilient people are prone to it, not just the faint of heart. If you are interested, there is some good information on compassion fatigue, resilience and balance, on tendacademy.ca
tornado alley
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I know shift work is hard, but it has advantages as well. I've watched a relative of mine(in the US) do shift work as she started her family; she works 12 hour shifts Fri-Sat-Sun night, which pays a lot better than daytime/weekdays, and though it is grueling work, it enables her to be at home with her little ones all week. That's one of the things I find attractive about it. And to tell you the truth, with two kids under the age of three, and one of them a terrible sleeper....I'm pretty adjusted to fatigue and stress and being on-call 24/7. But I take your point: nursing is not for the faint at heart!