Weekend Work

Specialties Operating Room

Published

Hi y'all!

Quick question, I feel like a lot of people enter the OR to work "business hours" (or something close to that) shifts. I actually went into nursing to avoid the whole 9-5pm thing (of course, not just that!! lol). Is it possible for a NEW GRAD to request/get hired to work Weekends and/or Nights? I love having days free for other projects and family time. Ideally I would LOVE to work 7am-7pm Saturdays and Sundays only, but I don't know if that is realistic. Oh and I live in a very large urban city. Thank you!

**Yes, I know as a NEW GRAD I should be thankful for ANY job! Just looking for advice specific to my question. Thank you!**

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Specializes in EMT, ER, Homehealth, OR.

If a hospital near you has weekend options I can image they would fill them with experience nurses in the OR because of limited staff on hand.

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I'm confused, do you want to work OR, weekends only. Or do you want any nursing job where you can work weekends only?

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So weekend work is generally desired by experienced nurses? I do find that kind of surprising. Also, if there is limited staff on hand, wouldn't there be a need to hire new staff that want to work those hours? *In reply to Jeckrn*

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In this case I was specifically asking about weekend work in the OR due to the hours being somewhat different than traditional 3/12s floor nursing.

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Absolutely! I was offered a "weekend option" position as a new grad. I had never heard of such a thing. I absolutely love it and find it difficult to consider moving to any other unit if I can't secure the same weekend option position. I work Saturday and Sunday only, 7AM-7pm and get paid for 35 hours per week with full medical benefits. I do not get called in for extra shifts, but the option to work extra shifts if I want. The downside is that I only get four days off per year, so I must choose them carefully.

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So weekend work is generally desired by experienced nurses? I do find that kind of surprising. Also, if there is limited staff on hand, wouldn't there be a need to hire new staff that want to work those hours? *In reply to Jeckrn*

No. What he is saying is that experienced people are assigned to weekend work (or night shift) because there are less resources for help. 'You're on your own on the weekend or at night' is a way to look at it.

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Thanks Heylove (cute name!), That sounds amazing!! Do you work at a large hospital?

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Gotcha. Thanks!

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Thanks Heylove (cute name!), That sounds amazing!! Do you work at a large hospital?

I just noticed that this was a question for OR. I'm in psych, so I don't know about OR, sorry. It's a big hospital, yes, part of a large corporation.

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At my hospital, new grads in the OR are typically put on 5 8s or 4 10s. Like others have said the weekends and nights are off hours and when the crazy calls of really sick/ hurt patients come in. A new grad is less equipped to deal with these cases than an experienced RN. I started off as a new grad in the OR and I was very happy to have the 5 8s schedule as I always had help if I ran into equipment/ patient/ crap this broke what else can I use issues.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

The OR is one of those rare nursing jobs where the bulk of the hours are of the dayshift variety. Dayshift is also where you will find your resources: the manager, specialty facilitators, larger number of anesthesia providers/circulators/scrub staff, company reps to help with new products or troubleshoot equipment. Weekends, evenings, and nights those resources are much less if present at all. Depending on the facility (trauma vs non-trauma, size, etc) nights and weekends might not even be staffed- it may be covered by those working dayshift hours on call.

Agree with the consensus that weekends and nights in the OR are not a good setting for the new grad. The staff during those hours need to be able to depend on their experience.

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