Work-life balance?

Power2020 · Apr 4, 2019

Hello,

I have a background in family practice and urgent care. I currently only working in urgent care. In family practice it was a 8-5 mon-friday plus call once every 3 weeks. It is a pretty bad work life balance for me as 8-5 yoU NEVER leave at 5 pm...it wil be usually 6 pm by the time you are done, if you have any charting to finish thats another 30 min-1 hr at night. you're looking at a 45-50 hour work week easily.

Personally I prefer urgent care - it is like a RN schedule 12 hour shifts-no charting to take home-no call. It is hard to find these jobs but honestly this schedule is the best in my opinon. I do not have any kids, but could only imagine people with kids in family practice or 8-5 setting....daycares close by 6 in our area and NP's with children usually get favored to leave earlier because they have to get their kids from daycare....

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Apr 4, 2019

I work in a primary care clinic M-F 8 am to 5 pm. We also offer 4 10-hour days as an option to providers. No on-call. In the past year, I have become more efficient with charting and usually leave the office between 5 and 5:30 pm. We have laptops, so we can complete our charting at home during evenings and weekends, which I sometimes do. So, I think my job provides a good work-life balance. I also only have a literal 5 minute commute!

renzlao, MSN, APRN · Apr 4, 2019

I’m personally following this. I have one year left in my part time -program. I love the role but I don’t know about the hours ? Travel is in my DNA and I tend to travel outside the country every 3 months. I’m currently a travel RN and the hours appears to be better ?

Power2020 · Apr 4, 2019

renzlao I can relate, I travel internationally at least twice a year....and have been travelling about 4-6 times this year... if you want flexibility 8-5 gives you typically 2-3 weeks vacation a year. Sometimes that doesn't include sick leave which is dental appointments appt, that you will have to take an entire day off.

Ive considered going back to RN role but this is just my opinion.

Power2020 · Apr 4, 2019

Full glass- that's awesome a 5 minute commute does help !

Trauma Columnist · Apr 4, 2019

I've been an APRN for 13 years, all but 5 months in a nephrology practice. I work 40-55 hours per week, but my travel (100-200 miles/day) is figured into my day and I get reimbursed for it. I have no issues with my work/life balance and I do have some child care responsibility for a relative.

Power2020 · Apr 5, 2019

traumaRU what speciality are you in? u travel 100-200 miles a day? are you working a 8-5 or a flexible schedule

Polly Peptide, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN · Apr 6, 2019

All helpful replies. I am trying to make some decisions and being "there" for my kids is an important part of that.

Nursing is a second career for me. My first career was a M-F, 8-5, though there were certainly times I worked later or came in early, as the need arose. It was a consulting job so I worked as much as my clients needed me to. That included working at home, nights and weekends as well. However, it was flexible, in that if I needed to run my kids to an appointment in the middle of the day, or come in early/stay late, I could do that.

Any of you feel that the RN role actually afforded you more options/flexibility than NP?

Power2020 · Apr 7, 2019

Polly

Well it's good you got some type of feel for 8-5 with most nP jobs 8-5 there isn't much flexibility..

RN role MOST definetly gives more flexibility. There are sooo many different RN roles but the ones in the hospital is what I did in the past- 12 hour shifts- I absolutely loved that schedule wish i could work that again.

I do not mean to sound negative in my post but just feel 8-5 jobs in NP field are truly 8-530 or 6 and doctors do add patients last minute and that is pretty frustrating as you are intending to leave after a long day at work even working through lunch sometimes.

There was also more job security as RN.......because you have more opportunity to work with big organizations...as a nP with private doctors...it's not as secure and benefits aren't as good (if you work with private docs) in general.

I really love being a NP but if I had kids it would be a field you will need a LOT of help to truly give 100% in your work and home life from my perspective.

hope this helps

staphylococci, NP · Apr 7, 2019

I work in primary care Monday thru Friday 8a-5p. Our office schedules the last AM appointment at 11a and the last PM appointment at 4p. Our lunch hours are from 12p - 1:30p. I usually leave the office at 6p, but sometimes earlier depending on how busy the day was. I seldom chart at home or on the weekends, but Epic is available to me on my laptop if needed. It's taken me some time, but I've learned that I can't finish EVERYTHING in 1 day, that my work is never actually done. It's not like a 12-hr shift where one can pass off what wasn't done to the next nurse. I don't have admin time, so I've learned to prioritize my work and complete the most urgent tasks first.

Overall, I would say my work-life balance is better than as an RN. I did have more days off as an RN, but it's nice having the evenings, weekends, and holidays off along with the rest of the working world. If I ever need to take some time off from work, my clinic manager is pretty accommodating. I try to give her as much notice as possible, so it's easier to reschedule patients.

renzlao, MSN, APRN · Apr 7, 2019

On 4/4/2019 at 1:10 PM, Power2020 said:
renzlao I can relate, I travel internationally at least twice a year....and have been travelling about 4-6 times this year... if you want flexibility 8-5 gives you typically 2-3 weeks vacation a year. Sometimes that doesn't include sick leave which is dental appointments appt, that you will have to take an entire day off.
Ive considered going back to RN role but this is just my opinion.

Yeah, my travel nursing life is better it seems. I can work for 3-months with similar pay as an NP working as a travel nurse and I can take as much time off as I want in between.