For those of you who are new to being an RN, can you tell me what your shifts are like? Do you initially get stuck with all the crappy shifts, working weekends, nights and/or a lot of holidays? I'd imagine senior nurses choose the day shifts and all the new people get stuck working 6 PM to 6 AM, and working holidays and weekends.
For the senior RNs, do you find yourself working weekends or holidays a lot anyway, or does it generally stick to the 3 / 12's week in, week out?
Also, a final question - how is vacation time as a nurse? Do you get a lot of weeks off in the year? Paid vacation? One week? Two? Is it like a typical business, where you get 3 weeks after 5 years or what?
A traditional D/N schedule? Is it the case, then, that most nurses work both days and nights? You said it's rare to have someone with strictly day shifts?
Yup....thats what i've seen--most people here are D/N. There are a few people who are strictly days (FEW) and a few people who are strictly nights, but almost everyone is D/N. I dont work the traditional schedule, so I'm not familiar with it, but its always the same number of hours per pay period, every other weekend to work.
Mon-Thurs 8:30am-whenever usually 7-9 pm. Off every Fri, Sat, Sun. No holidays, but paid holidays, PTO for sick, personal and vacation, paid dental/medical average pay $23/hr. I am in a Dr Office for a busy surgery/bariatric practice.
I also spend some time on the med/surg floor with discharge instructions for post op. teaching.
My responsibilities are pretty much anything and everything from doing patient education classes to pre and post op care. charting, prescription management, draw blood routinly for labs, prior authorizations for Rx and also surgery, setting up referral appointments.
Also we have a practice in the non-surgical weight-loss management and support which includes medical management for their weight loss including diabeties and HTN medication as they lose the wt we have to (GET TO) discontinue these medications usually rather quickly. These days I see very little post op sutures or staples as everything is is pretty much laproscopy and internal sutures its pretty amazing that so much can be done lap. In addition to the bariatrics and NSWL we have other procedures like the panniculactomy, hernia, lap chole, sm bowel obstructions and other procedures.
I feel like I have it pretty good and my Docs are fabulous to work for.
A traditional D/N schedule? Is it the case, then, that most nurses work both days and nights? You said it's rare to have someone with strictly day shifts?
Most places I've worked will not guarantee straight days--- but they get around that by working 7A shifts (which includes a portion of evenings).
I want to clarify my earlier post. I didn't mean to imply you felt entitled. Just mentioned that it isn't appreciated by the staff--- I've seen some come in with that attitude and they've ended up pretty miserable in the job.
I work as a traveler now, and I love it. Not only the travel and varied experience, but I never have to stay anywhere long enough to get sick of it
(hell, I can tolerate most anything for 13 weeks lol)
Most places I've worked will not guarantee straight days--- but they get around that by working 7A shifts (which includes a portion of evenings).
I want to clarify my earlier post. I didn't mean to imply you felt entitled. Just mentioned that it isn't appreciated by the staff--- I've seen some come in with that attitude and they've ended up pretty miserable in the job.
I work as a traveler now, and I love it. Not only the travel and varied experience, but I never have to stay anywhere long enough to get sick of it
(hell, I can tolerate most anything for 13 weeks lol)
Alright, thanks for the info.
I wish it was straight days, and I wish you could choose all day or all evening shifts though. Having alternating shifts means your sleep schedule is fairly erratic, no?
I wish it was straight days, and I wish you could choose all day or all evening shifts though. Having alternating shifts means your sleep schedule is fairly erratic, no?
That's one thing I wouldn't like much.
I am a new nurse and I do 3 12's 7p-7a. We get to do a draft schedule so you pretty much get to choose when you want to work. I try to take 6-7 stretches. i have been a nurse for 5 months. Orientation was mostly days. I did a 8 hour nights for a few weeks. Then I did 2 8'2 & 2 12's for 8 weeks. We dont have to do weekends since we have weekend nurses. From year 1-4 you accumulate about 200 hours for vacation time which equals about 5 weeks along with 48 hours holidday. They are very flexible with the schedule They allow you to switch if needed without a hassle.
For those of you who are new to being an RN, can you tell me what your shifts are like? Do you initially get stuck with all the crappy shifts, working weekends, nights and/or a lot of holidays? I'd imagine senior nurses choose the day shifts and all the new people get stuck working 6 PM to 6 AM, and working holidays and weekends.
For the senior RNs, do you find yourself working weekends or holidays a lot anyway, or does it generally stick to the 3 / 12's week in, week out?
Also, a final question - how is vacation time as a nurse? Do you get a lot of weeks off in the year? Paid vacation? One week? Two? Is it like a typical business, where you get 3 weeks after 5 years or what?
New grad. I chose to be on NOCs. However, there are many new grads on days. Everyone on my unit works 3 12's a week. We self schedule. Aka make our own and occasionally management will ask you to work a certain day and you can say no..but i usually say yes, since they dont ask that often. Scheduling is first come first serve really...we have a weekend program so those on it work Fir-sun every weekend so I rarely have to work a weekend.
We dont have vacation per se, we have PTO. We earn so much PTO (paid) for every hour that we work..I have about 40 hours righ tnow....however since I self schedule I can schedule myself to work SUN/MON/TUES of one week and THR/FR/SA the next week and end up with 8 days off or so...and i dont have to use PTO..so i end up with quite a bit of vaca time:)
Christmas time we add up the holidays 2 for thksgiving..2 for xmas and 2 for nye...we have to work three of the 6 days....then they go from there. I work on a huge floor and we have registry and travelers so we normally get what we want.
I wish it was straight days, and I wish you could choose all day or all evening shifts though. Having alternating shifts means your sleep schedule is fairly erratic, no?
That's one thing I wouldn't like much.
Alternating shifts suck. If you can't get straight days, then try to find straight evenings or nights. Switching back and forth will wear you down fast.
One of my favorite shifts was working 11A to 11P. You don't have to get up so early, and you still get to sleep at night. Some places do 11A to 7P, or 12 hour 3-3 shifts. There are a lot of choices out there. Take your time and find something that fits you :)
Alternating shifts suck. If you can't get straight days, then try to find straight evenings or nights. Switching back and forth will wear you down fast.
One of my favorite shifts was working 11A to 11P. You don't have to get up so early, and you still get to sleep at night. Some places do 11A to 7P, or 12 hour 3-3 shifts. There are a lot of choices out there. Take your time and find something that fits you :)
I work the later part of the afternoon now, getting home at 10:30 PM - I actually can't stand it. By the time I'm out of work, everyone's already drunk or at a party, or too tired to come out because the night's already over. This sucks, since all of my friends are out of their jobs earlier. I love twilight, too. It's my favorite part of the day.
I guess as an RN, it won't matter much anyway - working three days means four days a week off, no matter how you cut it - that's a nice chunk of free time, and I'm not gonna find much better.
Anyway, I figured switching back and forth would be a hassle - that's something I would never do.
hey i am entering pediatrics in september and am quite nervous. I just graduated in june. Is it a lot more different than it was in school. Can you give me a heads up on anything. Thanx.
Night shift - 7p-7a which ALWAYS means 7p-7:30a and usually means I get out at around 8 or so. I've worked every holiday so far. I work every other weekend, whereas everyone else works 1 weekend per month. This months schedule was 3 on, 1 off, 3 on, 2 off, 4 on, 7 off. Yes, I am exhausted, but I hear it gets better :)
I am a new grad coming off orientation on an IMCU floor. I work nights and every t,w,th, they have a weekend schedule for nights and you can sign upfor 12 weeks in a row for $10 more an hour on top of the $7 differential on weekends..they don't ususally need anyone on weekends. I come off orientation next thursday was supposed to be 6 months but is about 5, just finished basic arrythemia class, 12 lead ekg and phlebotomy so have been in a college classroom for 3 weeks, ready to go back to nights!!!
I work the later part of the afternoon now, getting home at 10:30 PM - I actually can't stand it. By the time I'm out of work, everyone's already drunk or at a party, or too tired to come out because the night's already over. This sucks, since all of my friends are out of their jobs earlier. I love twilight, too. It's my favorite part of the day.
I guess as an RN, it won't matter much anyway - working three days means four days a week off, no matter how you cut it - that's a nice chunk of free time, and I'm not gonna find much better.
Anyway, I figured switching back and forth would be a hassle - that's something I would never do.
Thanks everyone!
At some hospitals, everyone has to switch D/Ns (1 month days, 1 month nights, with 3 - 12's) and work every other weekend. It's horrible to switch because your time clock is constantly saying, "Huh? What time is it?".
I work the swing shift, four 8 hour shifts, 3pm to 11:30pm, every other weekend. It crimps the social schedule somewhat for evening plans. We have to rank the 5 holidays (Thxgiving, Xmas eve, Xmas, NYE and NY's) and then they decide which holidays you'll end up working. If you are a new nurse, you may not get the holidays you want, but as long as you are flexible, it's ok. As the other posters have commented, each facility has their own guidelines for work hours. I like the one poster that stated she did not have to work weekends because they had other weekend nurses! Good luck!
S.T.A.C.E.Y, LPN
562 Posts
Yup....thats what i've seen--most people here are D/N. There are a few people who are strictly days (FEW) and a few people who are strictly nights, but almost everyone is D/N. I dont work the traditional schedule, so I'm not familiar with it, but its always the same number of hours per pay period, every other weekend to work.