Is Nursing a Good Career for Having a Family? (LPN)

00:01 Is nursing a good career for someone who has a family? Overall, I think so.

00:06 But when in doubt, I love a good pros and cons list.

00:10 So let's get one going.

00:12 Now, let's take a look at the pros first.

00:14 Schedules for nursing can be pretty flexible depending on the type of unit and the shift work that they're offering.

00:21 Also, most nurses are in the same position that you are, that maybe they got scheduled on and they that they needed off too.

00:29 So usually, they're going to be willing to switch shifts with you with your managers final approval of the swap, of course.

00:36 However, this means you better be nice to your coworkers.

00:41 When I had to shift and needed off, I usually could just find someone else to help me shift swap, because usually, maybe my son had a game for example.

00:51 The other thing about nursing is that the pay is pretty good.

00:54 However, people for some odd reason, just think that nurses are rich.

00:59 And we're not, I assure you.

01:01 Now don't get me wrong, we make a pretty good living, but for what we do as a nurse, and any nurse will tell you, we would probably appreciate a raise in pay.

01:12 Also, there's a lot of stability and options out there for you.

01:16 So if one environment just really doesn't work for you, there's typically another one that you can transfer to, and also in the same hospital that will suit you better which this is pretty convenient.

01:27 Here's a rule of thumb though about transferring units, usually you can transfer units until you've been on that unit for like at least 6 months.

01:37 So decent pay, decent schedules, different options for working and job stability, not bad.

01:44 Again, there's always another option.

01:47 Different types of nursing can get you into nursing just in general.

01:50 So it makes a great career choice.

01:52 And there's always a need for more nurses, always, which kind of brings us to the cons list.

02:00 So I'm just gonna get real here with you.

02:03 Let's talk about some of the cons, especially when you're talking about family.

02:07 Now nursing is a team sport.

02:09 The more nurses you have on the unit, the better staffed you are, therefore your work day, your flow, just ability to get help from others is easier when you got enough staff.

02:21 However, when you're short staffed, it's not fun, you oftentimes have to take more patients and have a higher stress level.

02:30 Now why is this not good for families? Or others? Or even you? Well, after a while, this stress wears on you.

02:38 You get really tired, moody, you're stressed, you have a short fuse, you can burn out potentially.

02:46 And this many times can carry over your home life, especially if you don't decompress after a hard day.

02:54 Also, the emotional and physical toll can be difficult, which again, can carry over to your home life.

03:01 And if you're a nurse and your partner isn't, it's hard for your partner to understand the things that we see, we experience and we deal with in a given day.

03:12 Sometimes it's happy stuff.

03:13 But sometimes we deal with patient deaths which can be very difficult at times.

03:20 Here's another thing, especially as a new LPN, you need to know this.

03:25 You may be working holidays and weekends.

03:28 Now this isn't fun but it is a bonus because you usually get more compensation for working these shifts.

03:35 However, of course, you are missing those holidays, events and time with friends and family.

03:42 One other thing about your time.

03:44 Most healthcare places combine your sick days and vacation days.

03:50 And we call this PTO otherwise known as paid time off.

03:56 So if you do get sick, you're taking PTO days, which will be much more fun if they are being used as vacation days.

04:04 Now it's not as bad as it sound.

04:07 But you usually have three days you work in a week if you work the twelves.

04:10 So keeping PTO, it's a bit easier at times and maybe a Monday through Friday job.

04:17 Here is one I will personally never forget.

04:22 This is a particular issue in my area, and it's snow storms.

04:26 I know it seems odd that I'm talking about this, but I will tell you if there's a snow storm and you've scheduled to work as a person who knows how it feels to work short with a full unit of patients.

04:39 You have to try to make it work.

04:41 You don't have any help and this is super difficult.

04:44 So when there's snow storms, of course your kids school may be shut down.

04:48 Most places are closed but you my friend, you're a nurse so you are not closed.

04:54 And as a nurse you're having to get to work with hopefully some sort of four wheel drive, you got to go in in the ice and the snow.

05:03 Sometimes you even got to leave really early just there to hopefully get there in time to relieve your friends.

05:09 So after a long night, they can go home.

05:13 Also, due to the snow or weather, I've had to stay over my shift and end up working like a 16-hour.

05:20 Because the weather was so bad, I couldn't safely get back home.

05:25 And I had to stay the night in the hospital in an empty room.

05:29 And that was super weird, really loud, very uncomfortable.

05:34 Then I had to turn around, get back up at 6 in the morning and go back to work on the same unit.

05:40 I just left hours earlier.

05:42 Now, this isn't common, but I've had it happen.

05:46 And honestly, there are more pros then cons I feel like with nursing.

05:52 I love nursing.

05:53 Those who are in it love it.

05:55 They've we feel as though and many nurses feel as though it's our calling.

05:59 But I wanted to give you all the nitty gritty details and explain all sides of nursing, because really, the pros are pretty great pros.