3 Long Days - Nurse's Schedule but Not Job?

What about being a radiology tech/ct,etc?
I know a lot of people that work 12 hr shifts in a factory but to find a decent paying one I'd say you need to go into a medical field.

I work in a hospital but I am not a nurse. I work 24 hours a week (two 12's). There are tons of jobs in the hospital world who use the 12 hr shifts. I am a telemetry technician with no RN pay, but pretty good pay compared to what is out there. While I do deal directly with patients with monitor lead placement and ekg's, I don't have to draw blood or anything like that. The food staff, the lab, patient care staff all get to work the 12 hr shifts.

If you seriously want to go to school, try radiology or ultrasound type jobs that don't deal with blood.

Daycare aide? Many are open from 6am-7pm. You could see if they are hiring part time. You may also be able to bring your children with you!

Factory work usually pays pretty good and has crazy shifts like that. Of course it's usually manual labor and you're on your feet a lot etc. etc. Probably one of the few jobs you wouldn't need major schooling prior to starting.

Fire fighting also has the same kind of schedule and no needles. I was thinking EMT but that definitely involves needles and much trauma.

If I were you, I would only consider doing work that I am passionate about. What are some of the things you would do even if you didn't get paid for them? Can you turn those types of things into an income producing endeavor? Do you like to do things like bake or do you enjoy children? Daycare and catering make for wonderful opportunities for people to earn income. I have a friend that makes the most incredible jewelry. Her piece range from $3.00 for a simple pair of earrings and up. She has begun to dabble in real jewelry with gold, silver and real gems.

12 hour shifts are really tough, especially if you have kids. Expect to do nothing after work but brush your teeth and go to bed. Do you have a good husband, who cheerfully helps out when you're not there? Or any other partnership like that? You will need a solid base of support if you want to be a nurse working 3 12s. Some days are brutal.

As for needles; I rarely inject anyone with a needle at work. Usually, meds are given IV or PO (by mouth), and often it's the phlebotemist who draws blood, not nurses, unless you work in a clinic or doctor's office.

There are lots of jobs that don't require "gross " stuff. I personally love gross stuff but can't handle witnessing trauma / people in pain. So, OR Nurse has been a perfect fit for me ( except getting stuck in recovery ). Anyway , patient interaction is minimal but I get to see cool stuff. You just need to explore your options. You've been given many great suggestions. Good Luck! Also, many of these jobs are flexible . So , if you decide you don't want to work 12's. I worked 7-4, a couple days a week and rotated on-calls.

My husband is a pharmacist and he works 12 hour shifts. So that might be good. However, I don't know how it is in CA but in CO you have to get your doctorate to be licensed so its a lot of school. But in the past and maybe in some states still it was a two year degree.

My neighbor works hours like this. She work Fri, Sat and Sun. She is a radiologist.

I met a girl at church who is an x-ray tech. She works in the emergency room, with the exact schedule you mentioned. You might look into that!

I used to work at Motorola Lighting, I worked in the factory and we had the 3-4 schedule.. one week we did 36 hr, and the next it was 44. it was 3 on 3 off 4 one 4 off.. I loved that schedule.

So there might be a job where you can do that, or even work from home a few days a week.. depends on if you need benifits. I know that when I go back to work I am going to look for something that allows me to work from home more often with in my current company. I have the health insurance, and I have been there for more that 15 years.

Good luck

I would recommend Respiratory Therapy Tech. They make almost the same as a nurse. You may have to occasionally draw ABG's, but it would be worth it to me. You may also want to think about being a monitor tech. Not sure how much money they make, but it has to be more than a nurses assistant and they usually work 12 hour shifts. Or you may want to rethink nursing. I'm a nurse. You would be surprised what you can psych yourself up to do!

I can't imagine being a technician like you're mentioning in your "so what happened". Please know that you'll be scanning stillborn babies too, people who have been in traumatic accidents with many injuries, you'll be exposing yourself to many unpleasant scenarios. You will be doing these on people with tumors, cancer, heart disease, lung disease, etc...it can be very depressing and overwhelm you.

I worked as a care giver in a sheltered living arrangement for a young man with developmental disabilities. He needed 24 hour care so we worked 12 hour shifts. I picked him up from work and took him home, he fixed his dinner and went to his area to do whatever he wanted. I hung out in the other room watching TV or doing something I enjoyed. He went to bed and I stayed up, I got him up for sheltered workshop the next morning and once I dropped him off I was off work. He went to the sheltered workshop to have social time with his friends and it saved his family some money for staff since he was with other staff they didn't have to pay for. He had a job coach that took him to work and provided that type of assistance. I worked 36-40 hours over a 3 day period. On the weekends he had 2 12 hours people who only worked those shifts. They had other jobs and only wanted weekend work.

If you really are squeamish then please don't go to school for any type of medical field jobs. Consider perhaps working in some other field, talking to a career counselor at the Vo-Tech in your area or a career counselor at the local University/college will help you find the area that you will love.

Dental hygiene is pretty flexible. School is 2 years. It's an icky field IMO (I couldn't look in people's mouths all day) but there are no needles.

Maybe a radiology tech (x-ray, u/s, MRI, CT scan)?

ultrasound techs make great money.. but it is hard to get into the program as there are lots of people that want the job.

how old are your kids??

12 hour days can be really hard on the family.. on your work days dad would have to do everything.. get kids up and dressed take them to day care pick them up.. feed them... bathe... you would get home exhausted..