Because you care … it’s a good thing.
But seriously it depends on the type of nurse you are. In a hospital, I got a different schedule every week and next months schedule was always published at the last second but always subject to change with a 6 day notice. This made it very had to plan trips on your “long weekend” and my days off were often split anyways.
As a Hospice nurse (RN Case Manager) I worked salary Mon-Fri but had to think and Plan while educating my patients. Failing to properly teach or anticipate problems often leads to more problems and multiple visits/pt in 1 wk.
As an In Patient Unit (IPU) hospice nurse I had a reliable schedule and easy work, but felt I was not growing in my knowledge base (I was wrong by the way … I learned far more than I realized). An IPU is like a medsurge unit, except everyone is comfort measures only, and my unit had 1 RN, 1 CNA to 6 or 8 patients (but often less than 6). So 3 12 hour days per wk.
Today, I am a Continuous Quality Improvement or CQI nurse. I work remotely about 90% of the time. Personal growth is a must, but you also have to be a little self motivated to learn key information and review the work of others.
It shouldn’t be as hard. It’s mainly managers not managing well; no morale for employees, not even during nurse’s week. Unit heads not advocating for staff, esp concerns re patient safety due to short-staffing; and overall, hospital heads wanting to generate more money for them by short-staffing everyone, including techs.
Being a nurse is so hard because of disadvantages the nursing profession: Nurses often face a heavy workload, The nursing profession requires providing care 24/7. Working in the nursing field exposes professionals inevitably face difficult and emotionally taxing situations, such as losing patients or witnessing suffering. Nurses are also exposed to health risks due to contact with pathogens and dangerous chemicals or even strenuous physical maneuvers. Nurses often have to juggle several tasks at the same time, which requires a high ability to organization and priority management. Despite the disadvantages there are also the advantages of the nursing profession including the impact on the lives of patients, diverse and stimulating work, growing demand and human contact.
In long term care the answer comes down to GREED of the facility. The nurse is expected to take care of 20+ patients including treatments and chart during the day. Not only is it mentally fatiguing but can cost you in terms of sentinel events and possible loss of license. I had worked in a few places becasue I needed extra monies but it was some of the most GRUELING and mentally draining work I ever did. A few places had good tech and LPN support. Those places I would go back to but the others...H------ NO! If you add in the sanitation or lack thereof in the facility you go to, then your day is even longer.
