Is nursing a flexible job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who is a nurse and works in a hospital. Her schedule is very flexible. Her husband works a 24 hour shift as a firefighter so she works the days he is off, so rotates. The length of the shift isn’t flexible ( 12 hours) but the days she works are. It may be a case of having to work your way up to that point but it’s doable.

It sounds like both she and her husband have seniority at their jobs. Starting firefighters and nurses don't get to choose their shifts or schedule them around each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a nurse. If you mean flexible, yes, she could work 7p-7a three days a week. My dad took care of us those nights. She didn’t sleep much.

Similar. My mom worked a lot of nights and night call at a hospital. She made good money and has an amazing pension (one you can't get anymore) plus she was able to be a very involved parent - but she didn't sleep. She yelled a lot and we had a very bumpy relationship.

[Anonymous]

She could work part time with a set schedule, just not in a hospital. She’d have to pick some place like a retirement home, jail, or in home nursing. She’d have to be very clear up front about the schedule she wants and be prepared to double down and quit if they try changing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom also did it for the scheduling. She was low person on the totem pole but took a lot of night shifts which worked because she’s be home for us before and after school which is what she wanted—the night shifts were generally less sought after. In particular it worked because my retired grandmother was available to step in whenever her shift didn’t line up well with my dads schedule. You’d need flexible coverage for when you don’t get the shifts you want. My mom used to try to get the coma patients—again less desirable for many nurses but no doctors yelling at you. She hated OR and ER work the most.

I knew a family where the dad had a day job and the mom was a nurse who worked nights. They actually had an au pair who handled mornings (wake up the kids, get them ready, and take them to school) but usually the mom was able to pick up the kids from school and eat dinner with them, and the dad was able to handle bedtime. But they also had the au pair for backup in case.

[Anonymous]

Over time, yes. Like everyone else said, there are ways to build flexibility into the career, but you should be doing it for the love of nursing, not because you anticipate some perfect 20-hour-per week gig.

Many of the nurses I know do three 12-hour shifts per week. It gives them a lot of family time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who is a nurse and works in a hospital. Her schedule is very flexible. Her husband works a 24 hour shift as a firefighter so she works the days he is off, so rotates. The length of the shift isn’t flexible ( 12 hours) but the days she works are. It may be a case of having to work your way up to that point but it’s doable.

So she barely sees her husband. Great!

They probably see each other a lot, actually, if they have seniority, the way shifts work they will end up regularly with several days in a row together where neither is working.

[Anonymous]

If your friend needs flexibility (presumably now), how is she going to juggle sahm with going to school and getting at least the first step towards a nursing degree?

Ask your friend if she'd consider something like an x-ray tech or pharmacy tech.
Still in the medical field (which I assume your friend is interested in, but a bit less intense and more opportunities for flexible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your friend needs flexibility (presumably now), how is she going to juggle sahm with going to school and getting at least the first step towards a nursing degree?

Ask your friend if she'd consider something like an x-ray tech or pharmacy tech.
Still in the medical field (which I assume your friend is interested in, but a bit less intense and more opportunities for flexible

Or dental hygienist. It's only a two year degree, and I believe that's one of the two year degrees with the biggest return on investment and there's generally a lot of flexible schedules available--full time, part time, weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flexible in the sense that you can work 3 12 hr shifts a week ... for example M, T, TH... and then be scheduled for the next week on TH, SAT, SUN and therefore have 6 day long weekend.

^^THIS x 100. I worked nights alternating with days and learned how to bunch my shifts like this. I didn't do it all the time but loved that I didn't have to take all my leave when I wanted to get away. Especially as low man on totem pole, just starting out.

When my kids were little, I had a job where I worked 8 or 10 hour shifts, 2-3 days a week. My husband adjusted his schedule to take care of the kids' needs on the front or back end.

The beauty of shift work is that when your shift is done, the next shift picks up. No work left on the desk to take care of tomorrow.

Being a nurse takes teamwork, which leads to camaraderie. I was fortunate in that during my time where I worked shift work, I had good co-workers who looked out for each other, made switches/schedule changes, because each of us knew we might expect that from the other. You also commit to working a certain number of weekends, evenings, nights and holidays. I didn't mind that because 1. you get paid more and 2. if you work them, that gives you a day off somewhere else. I miss having my days off in the middle of the week.

Working in a doctor's office as a nurse sounds like the worst kind of nursing job, but to each their own. I liked to stay busy and stimulated as it made the shifts go by faster.