There are a million reasons why I love being a nurse – I won’t bore you with them all. I thought I’d just mention one of the reasons why it ‘works’ for me- shift work.
The great thing about being a nurse is the unlimited employment environment opportunity. A nurse can work almost anywhere. You are only limited by your choice and your imagination. Everything from the popular hospital setting, to out-patient facilities, offices, independent health care businesses, working from home, etc. Each job and their responsibility carries with it a certain type of ‘working hours’.
Some nurses can work a Monday through Friday job with weekends off. Some can work just weekends with their week free. While others work varied shifts throughout the week.
I myself have found out I am a shift-worker. Anything else just makes me tired and a tad unhappy. I like having a day or two off during the middle of the week. It’s probably just me and my delusional thinking, but I feel like I get ‘extra’ time to myself.
(Now let’s be clear, technically there is more time to myself. A 5-day work week usually entails a 40-hour work week. Shift-work ‘usually’ equates to a 36-hour work-week. I stress the word usually.)
The drawback to shift-work is having to work weekends. In some instances every other weekend, or one weekend per month. Yep, working weekends is not something anyone enjoys (for the most part), but if it’s a choice between working 5 days straight and then 2 days off (the weekend) or working a couple days and then off a couple days during the week with some weekend shifts – I’ll take the shift work.
I tried the Monday through Friday job. It was awesome for about 2 or 3 weeks, then it started to become tiring and overwhelming (for me personally and physically). I felt like I spent every weekend playing ‘catch-up’ for all the things I didn’t get done during the week. There was no rest or reprieve. 5 days of work and then 2 days of ‘catch-up’ madness.
Maybe it was just me? I’m not sure.
What I do know is that working the shift work gives me a false sense of ‘rest’ during the hectic week. I don’t know how those bankers do it. LOL
What about you? Are you a banker-type nurse?
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9-5? Nope. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt and am not going back anytime soon. I’m glad there are folks willing to do it, just like I’m sure there are those that are glad for people like me who work 7p-7a. But you’re right, there’s a little for everyone!
Scrubs Blogger
Scrubs Blogger
@ Wanderer I’m a 7a-7p person. LOL