Needs Must
Two years ago this August, I started my new job. It is actually just a new position in the same hospital I've worked at since 1991. For the first almost 17 years I worked there, I was a regular old peon staff-nurse working mostly 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. on the internal float pool. Interesting work, never a dull moment, but sucky hours. Holidays. Weekends. The whole shebang.
Then I got this job in the same-day surgery unit. No weekends. No holidays. Very, very rarely any adult-diaper changing. A "late" evening shift is if the last patient doesn't go home by eight o'clock in the evening. Fast paced and exciting, it's still a 'cleaner' job than the old one. No one comes in to have surgery sick.
Unfortunately, no one comes in to have elective surgery when the economy is in a slump, either. That's an exaggeration of course, but we've gone from an average daily census of 65-70 patients to an average daily census of 50.
Which means that when we're scheduled to work 8 hours, we often get 'sent home' at noon because the vast majority of the work is done. A 'closing' shift used to be a guarantee of ten hours, now is seldom a full eight.
Ouch.
So most of us are looking for places to pick up extra hours. For most of us, that means going back to our 'old' jobs (almost everyone here started out somewhere else in the hospital) and picking up the really crummy hours at the place we were excited to leave and hoped never to see again.
Today, at 0300, I join that number.
There are things I miss about my old job. There are advantages to this - it will help me keep up to date with any of the new goings-on on the inpatient side of the hospital, which will make me a better patient-educator when I'm admitting folks who will be staying a few days after their surgery. I miss all the people I used to see and know by floating hither and yon all those years. It will keep my 'bedside' skills fresh and sharp.
I'm grateful to my 'old' boss for allowing me to do this. Nothing in any hospital policy says she has to do it. She's letting me pick up in 4-hour shifts to minimize the impact of the erratic hours on sleep and home life. I'm only going to add a maximum of eight to twelve hours to my dwindling work-week. The extra money will be a Godsend to the family budget. I never 'burned any bridges' when I left, so there are no hard feelings to worry about encountering.
All in all, it's a good thing. I'm very, very fortunate to have the ability to do this at a time when so many people are losing jobs or taking dramatic pay cuts.
But dang. There is a part of me that can't help feeling like it's a step backward.
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work I go. Leaving the house at 0215 after an inadequate attempt at four hours of sleep.
Cheers.