It really depends on what type of nursing you get into. Most of your staff nurse positions are going to keep you working 12 hour shifts which usually turn into 14 or 16 hours, but you only do that 3 times a week, but you have to work holidays and weekends and nights. If you chose an office position, you might work 5 days a week 8 to 10 hours a day, but yo have holidays and weekends off. You need to do your pros and cons. Good luck!

Hi shan4691. I am a pre-nursing student. Is the pay double-time if a nurse works holidays? Do you know of the shifts that are usually available to the new nurse on the block? I would like to work swing (3 pm to 11 pm or 12).

sinimin: holiday pay is double time. If its overtime, you add time and a half. Most places require you to work so many holidays per year; you usually alternate Christmas and Thanksgiving every year (the manager keeps track of who worked what holidays which year). There are variations in this rule, of course.

Candace, the kind of time off you have depends a lot on the hours you have to work and the kind of job you have. If you have a state job as a school nurse or public health nurse, those jobs are usually 9-5 M-F with weekends and holidays off. They may not pay as well as hospital work, and public health jobs are sometimes competitive. Correctional nursing can also be day work, depending on the institution (some offer 24/7 nursing care, some don't). Industrial health is usually day work or evening work, but can involve weekends.

Hospice is usually day work, with some positions on call in the evenings. Unless you have a weekend on call position, it's usually day work M-F.

Some hospitals offer "weekend alternative" jobs where you work every weekend (12 hour shifts) but get full time benefits. That gives you the entire week off. Some places will also require you to work one 12 hour shift during the week as well.

You could always opt to work per diem: you set your own schedule (based on the holes left by the full time and part time staff), but you get no benefits and may not get full time hours. Some per diem folks work two facilities get enough hours. This is a great option if you have health insurance from another source, such as a spouse.

Some of these options require experience, at least one year, in a hospital setting. And be warned, nursing school itself is very time consuming. But the rewards are well worth it. Many of my students are in your boat, and they do tell me the time away from family is hard, but the reward after graduation makes up for it.

I understand your situation with the Air Force. My sister spent a year in Korea when her daughter was only 18 months old. It was very hard on both of them.