RN and running

I found a job in Home Health where I could work part time and be on call only 1 weekend a month. I tried the 12 hours shifts and my running suffered.

Thank you for your response, but still looking for other's. Thanks.

Nursing student,

A very close friend of mine is a 17 min 5k runner who competed in a D1 program during the mid-90's. She also had to go back to school for the BSN. I can't fully speak for her, but I can give you some idea of what she experiences. First of all, she works about 3 tweleve hour shifts per week and is currently working 7p-7a. This is rough. On days she has to work, she runs around 3 pm--sometimes earlier. On her days off, after coming home from work at 7am, she sleeps in until about noon and runs sometimes in the afteroon. Instead of doing doubles, she sometimes cross-trains for her second session (right before she has to go to work) despite knowing she'd be better off running. It can be done, but you have to become more attuned to time management. Of course it would be easier if you didn't have to work, but you can still train. Don't give up on your goals!! Good luck and I hope this somewhat helped.

Get a job as a school nurse. Decent money, set schedule, off your feet and, in many cases, access to school athletic facilities.

Most areas of the country have "weekend alternatives" where if you work "two 12s" between friday night and sunday night your paid full time money and get full time health care benfits. My wife works Friday night 7p gets out sat morning at 7 am and then goes in sunday night 7p get out monday morning at 7am, she is done for the week. There is a window in that time period to train on weekends, of course you would have all week to train without worrying about work. Yearly she also gets 4 weekends off so for big races you could plan accordingly.

Also you could be a agency nurse where you pick up shifts randomly and there is great opportunity to make money.If you keep your lifestyle low key you obviously train hard and work less. Good luck

Nursing is not the best profession to be in if you want to be a seroius runner as you are standing all shift on hard tile floors, hanging around sick people, and having to work 12 hour shift, which in reality is more like 13 and add a commute and you have close to a 14 hour day. That being said, there is good news. With the nursing shortage you have many more options available to you as far as shifts, days, etc. A 3-11pm shift isn't bad for training and they are out there. Weekend option was already suggested. Most hospitals are dying for nurses and have lots of shifts available, including part time and PRN. Being an agency nurse will get you even more flexibility but you will need at least 1 year experience first and you will not receive benefits. Remember when you interview that you have the upper hand and if the facility can't give you what you want then try elsewhere as most hospitals are hiring. Hope this helps.

Have you thought about being a home care nurse? I work for a company right now that does home care visits. Patient leaves the hospital and still needs care, doctor orders home visits. We send out RNs to do the visits. Beauty of it is that you can pretty much take on as much or as little as you want. Depends on how much money you want to make. I am not trying to recruit you, just throwing it out as an option you might not have though of.

Can you please send over a tall blonde nurse Im not feeling well

Pigpen wrote:

Can you please send over a tall blonde nurse Im not feeling well

Sure thing, I'm sure you'll be extremely pleased with his service. Our patients tell us he's great with his hands.

Thank you everyone for your advice. My plans are after I finish my BSN, I will work for a year or two and then go for my practioning--probably critical care.

I am always looking for advice so please feel free to give more input!! Thanks again.

My wife is a nurse and she works in the OR at an orthopedic surgery center and the schedule isn't bad at all. She works 4, 10-hour days and then always has a 3 day weekend. When she worked at a hospital, she worked 5, 8's. Maybe you should look into this kind of care. She went straight into it after graduation from nursing school.

Definitely look into the 3-11 evening shift. My wife has been working this shift since she became an RN about 3 years ago. She's not an elite runner by any stretch, but she's found the time to train for a couple of marathons in which she qualified for Boston. She would get home from work between 11:30 and 12:00 (usually), sleep until 7:30 - 8:00, then get up and do her training for the day. Another benefit of evening shift (versus days) is you have off time while it's daylight.

That said, evening shifts can often be harder to find. Her most desired work places just starting would have required her to do some kind of alternating 12-hour day and night shifts (switching every six weeks or something). She wanted no part of nights, so worked in a less desirable hospital (generic community hospital, medical floor, mostly elderly patients) on evenings for about 8 months before switching to her current job (Children's Hospital, surgical floor) which she was able to get the evening shift because she did have just a little bit of experience.

Nursing is a hard job though, she is constantly on her feet and busy--I routinely get calls during her short dinner break at 9:30-10:00 pm. Apparently, this is particularly true for evening shift (at least if the hospital also runs 12 hour shifts).

One final note: when you start going for your NP, it will be REALLY difficult to find the time. One of my wife's best friends just went through this, and time was certainly a premium. Depending on your ultimate priorities, I would consider holding off until you have met your running goals.

My wife is a nurse and only works tuesday to fri.

8hrs.Level 2. $27.50 an hr here in Aust.

Seems to Me community nursing is the way to go if you do not like the shifts.

Nursing being a growth industry,largely due to the ageing population, you should be able to negotiate your hours.

I am a shift worker who works those long hours as well.

Plenty of 12hr days and 2 out of 3 weekends.

I still find the time to train for and run Marathons.

It is a juggling act at times but it is very achievable.

Good luck.

Here is what the other R.N's in the family have done.

Two hated working as a nurses so do jobs as sales reps. for Baby formula companies.

Wyeth and Karicare.

One set up a home beauty clinic and works in a aged care home when it suits.

One sells high tech., intensive care machines and products to hospitals.

One works as a Nanny in London and part time in a childrens hospital.

One works in a local doctors surgery as a receptionist.

One works at a medical testing laboratory.

As you can see, there are a lot of Nurses in the family but their job prospects are bright and very few of them work shifts.

There are a lot of associated industries that nurses have the qualifications to work in.

Thanks everyone for your responses!!! Keep them coming!!! The more the better!

I am currently in RN school and I also work prn as a cna. Ok so here is how it goes. Mondays and Fridays I am in lecture from 9am-3pm. Wednesday and Thursday I am in clinicals from 6:45am-3:15pm. Tuesday I am doing patient assignment pick up from about 10:00am-12:00am. I work a 12 hour 7pm-7am shift as a CNA on saturday nights. Now you might wonder why I am telling you all this. The reason is that I am also running 70-100 mpw and I am planning on getting my marathon time down low enough to make it to the trials in 2008.

Moral of the story is that you can't have everything you want in life. If you want to be happy and still be a nursing student than running at your highest level is out. I decided that I was going to basically be out running when I am not in the classroom or hospital. It makes for a pretty lonely lifestyle because I don't have time to have friends and all that. I figure that once my running goals are met and I am about 30 or so I will have more time to do fun stuff. Life is hard bro.

(sorry this is unrelated to your post for the most part, but) are you a male RN student? I only ask because I am thinking about going down that route. What are the pros/cons to being a male nurse? Would a male nurse encounter a significant amount of mockery/ridicule?

As far as mockery and ridicule goes-no way. As a nurse you are pretty much the top dawg when it comes to patient care. The patients you are assigned to are your patients and the doctors are more or less just props. The doctors make the orders and come pass by for like 5 minutes at a time to do check ups. It's pretty much all in your hands. I was under the impression I would have to be a yes man and take orders from people and shit and it hasn't been like that. The pro's of being a man is that in my opinion the male nurse is usually in a leader position. The women automatically assume that you are going to take control whent the sh#t hits the fan. As a charge nurse your going to notice that after a while the doctors are asking you all the questions (they are never really around to know whats going on). If you choose to specialize (i plan on going into anesthesia) you are going to make more out the blocks than your doctor counterparts. And finally, unlike doctors once you clock out your not going to get called back until your next shift. And to all those tough guys out there that think nursing is sissy I would like to see them spend 15 minutes with me in the level one trauma center and see what they are made out of.

there is a sophomore out there in the world of DI who is both a two-time all-american and a nursing student and at such a young age!