Working Part-time - how flexible?

Nurses Career Support

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I am a 26 year old SAHM to a 14 month old. This fall, I have been thinking about going back to school to pursue my BSN. I enjoy being a SAHM, so I would really want to go into nursing on a part-time basis while my daughter is little and more of a full-time basis when she is in school. My husband's income is more than sufficient to support us, so I am NOT pursing this as a career for the money.

My question is: How flexible are part-time or PRN nursing schedules? Can you work just 1-2 shifts a week? I would probably do best working an 11pm-7am schedule while my daughter is in preschool & sleeping through the morning till she is out of her morning school. (I'm a nightowl and am up until 2-3am frequently right now!) I just didn't know how flexible schedules were - also does anyone work partial shifts?

Thanks!

In the hospital that I work in PRN nurses are required to work atleast one shift per month. They can pretty much choose when they want to work because someone is always wanting to be reduced or have a day off. As far as the partial shifts go it's almost impossible to work just a partial shift as a nurse, since we have so much documentation and if you took a patient half of the shift another nuse is going to have to pick up where you left off, most don't want to do that. On rare occasion some of the nurses are called in to fill in as CNA's because one of the CNA's have become ill, we can then leave early because we are not required to document anything or administer medication.If you want a flexible schedule try home health. You can choose your own hours most of the time.

I feel the same way you do. When I have little ones at home, I want to be there as much as possible. They grow up to quick and you end up regretting all of the time you should have been spending with them. Anyway, I work part-time right now. We do self-scheduling where I work in Post Coronary Critical Care. I usually work Thur and Fri from 7pm-7am. Sometimes I work half shifts like you were asking about or even for four hours. You just let them know your preference. If you want to be the first one called off if there are too many people working or you want to work the four hour shift just let your supervisor know. The nursing shortage right now is so great that most places will work with whatever you are willing to do.

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