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My first job out of nursing school was night shift charge nurse in a nursing home. It was easy because there were only 30 residents. My next couple of jobs were also night shift nursing home jobs and then I took a job on the 3-11 shift in an assisted living facility that wasnt so much working as a nurse as it was doing housekeeping, 
. Sure we passed meds, did any treatments and did a few assessments, but mostly it was changing bed linens, vacuuming, doing dishes, doing laundry, dusting, and assisting with adl's when needed. After leaving there I worked for an oral surgeon in his clinic for 6-1/2 years. Clinic hours were nice although this particular clinic had looooong hours at times. We were to be there by 7:40 and worked until 7 p.m. often times. I enjoyed this job because it was nursing and dental. We sedated our patients to extract wisdom teeth, full mouth extractions, place implants, do oral biopsies, expose and bonding of teeth.... just about anything you can think of. So, there was nursing in the aspect that we assisted with surgery including suctioning, handing the surgeon surgical instruments, we recovered patients- monitored vitals, administered meds when necessary ex.-phenergan for nausea after sedation. We did alot of patient teaching. I did not have children when I started there so the long hours didnt bother me. Then, after having my 1st daughter I felt like I was missing out on so much. I hated leaving her to go back to work after my maternity leave . Luckily, dh and I found an awesome college student to watch her in our home until she was 2 and then she started daycare. That helped me to at least get to see her on the few occasions when I got a lunch break. I just hated being away from her. I also wasnt able to pump at work when I needed to. It was just hard. I stayed there 2 more years after having my daughter, but the "politics" and long hours started to wear on me and I decided to go part-time at a family practice clinic in the lab. The work wasnt very exciting. Basically I pulled lab reports and drew blood. It was monotonous and while working there I had my 2nd and 3rd children in a 14 month span. My daycare provider increased her rates 50% while I was on maternity leave after my 3rd child was born and at that point it made no sense to keep working if all of my income went to childcare for 3 kids. So, I started my own daycare. I do not want to do this forever, but for now it is a way to be home with my kids which is the most important thing to me. I do not plan on going back into nursing when I stop doing this though. I am burned out. I think nurses are under-appreciated and under paid for an extremely stressful career. I may try to take some courses to do medical coding over the span of the next 4 years and see where that takes me, but in the meantime I will keep doing childcare and playing my bi-weekly lottery numbers in the hope that I can someday be a sahm who is financially comfortable, .
. Sure we passed meds, did any treatments and did a few assessments, but mostly it was changing bed linens, vacuuming, doing dishes, doing laundry, dusting, and assisting with adl's when needed. After leaving there I worked for an oral surgeon in his clinic for 6-1/2 years. Clinic hours were nice although this particular clinic had looooong hours at times. We were to be there by 7:40 and worked until 7 p.m. often times. I enjoyed this job because it was nursing and dental. We sedated our patients to extract wisdom teeth, full mouth extractions, place implants, do oral biopsies, expose and bonding of teeth.... just about anything you can think of. So, there was nursing in the aspect that we assisted with surgery including suctioning, handing the surgeon surgical instruments, we recovered patients- monitored vitals, administered meds when necessary ex.-phenergan for nausea after sedation. We did alot of patient teaching. I did not have children when I started there so the long hours didnt bother me. Then, after having my 1st daughter I felt like I was missing out on so much. I hated leaving her to go back to work after my maternity leave . Luckily, dh and I found an awesome college student to watch her in our home until she was 2 and then she started daycare. That helped me to at least get to see her on the few occasions when I got a lunch break. I just hated being away from her. I also wasnt able to pump at work when I needed to. It was just hard. I stayed there 2 more years after having my daughter, but the "politics" and long hours started to wear on me and I decided to go part-time at a family practice clinic in the lab. The work wasnt very exciting. Basically I pulled lab reports and drew blood. It was monotonous and while working there I had my 2nd and 3rd children in a 14 month span. My daycare provider increased her rates 50% while I was on maternity leave after my 3rd child was born and at that point it made no sense to keep working if all of my income went to childcare for 3 kids. So, I started my own daycare. I do not want to do this forever, but for now it is a way to be home with my kids which is the most important thing to me. I do not plan on going back into nursing when I stop doing this though. I am burned out. I think nurses are under-appreciated and under paid for an extremely stressful career. I may try to take some courses to do medical coding over the span of the next 4 years and see where that takes me, but in the meantime I will keep doing childcare and playing my bi-weekly lottery numbers in the hope that I can someday be a sahm who is financially comfortable, .
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