Working part time in nursing school

[Udmert]

Hi all,

I wanted to get peoples opinions on working part time (24 hrs/wk) as a nurse tech. I will be starting up in my second semester junior year while taking med surg II, pharmacology II, and maternal-child nursing. I currently work 12 hours a week and my grades are decent (B average). The part time job is in the ED which is my dream job. Are there any RNs that have worked part time as a tech that could give me advice as whether or not it is a good idea to work part time while in school? I am worried about taking on too much to handle.

[cleback]

It's going to suck but it'll be doable. Just resign yourself to no social life now.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

I worked 4 evenings a week while in school. The tech experience helped me in the nursing program. It can be done, just put the rest of your life on hold...

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

OP: You will not be just putting your life on hold, you will be lacking a lot of sleep too... However, as the others stated, it is doable and it will benefit you in the long run!

[RNperdiem, RN]

Look closely at the details of the job. Is there flexibility to work with your school schedule? Managers don't care about school; their first priority is to get their departments staffed. Would there be any chance of being late for school or clinical if the next shift is late? This was a problem for my sister when she worked as a tech. The day staff would arrive late every day and she would barely make it to clinical on time.

I did work part time as a tech in nursing school. It paid all my tuition and books. Because the job was per diem and I preferred weekends, work did not interfere with school, and weekends paid better.

Working as a tech did not help me find a job there. I was told that the hospital has no budget or facility for training new graduates.

[PeakRN]

I worked two jobs during school, one as a firefighter and the other as an ED tech. They were both part time but together were essentially full time.

Working is possible, but make sure you still have the flexibility that you need. I didn't lose my social life, but don't plan on being able to go and party every night either.

When you apply to your first nursing job having a work history is huge, even PRN hours somewhere with a good work history will dramatically increase your application's competitiveness.

[NuGuyNurse2b]

I worked full time, night shift, during nursing school. It's doable. Extremely difficult, mentally challenging, physically exhausting, but doable. There were days when I would get off of work, change into my uniform, drive to clinical and do 8 hours, go home, crash for a few hours, catch up on my assignments, and start it all over again.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I worked weekend nights as a CNA at my local hospital when I was in nursing school. The experience was very valuable, and the nurses took me under their wings from the beginning. They'd call me to come in and listen to wet lungs, or check out an interesting rhythm on the tele monitor. Once I even had to talk an RN through an NG tube placement, as I'd done one in clinical and she'd never done it on a live patient before. It was hard, especially since I was raising four kids and had a husband going through an electronics program at the same college I attended, but we all survived and it was worth it in the end.

[BlueShoes12, BSN, RN]

I worked full time (32-36 hours/week) in nursing school and had no issues with it. As long as you have a decent grasp of time management and prioritization you'll be fine. My tech job also helped me to find a job before graduating nursing school and gave me hands-on experience that has been incredibly useful as an RN.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

a lot depends on how solid your education has been up to this point. doable, no/little social life, good time management.