Working as a nurse
Hello, I'm currently working in a nurse management position which requires 5-8 hour days a week. I have the opportunity to work in a hospital on the floor doing 3-12hour shifts. The hospital job would be more taxing physically but the same mental stress. I'm trying to decide if the gained knowledge of working in a hospital setting is worth the risk. Of course after I put in my notice my body decides its going to be exhausted and in constant pain. Nothing out of the ordinary but I also did nothing physically exhausting recently. So this is the normal wax/wane of the disease for me. Give it another week and I will feel "normal" again. But this scares me and really made me rethink my choice. So the real question I have is the risk worth it?
Hello, I hope you feel better soon and back to your normal self. I work as a healthcare professional too and it involves being on my feet 95% of the time so I get the physical aspect of how that affects my MS, You mentioned it would be between 3-12 hours the new shift patterns, and that’s a big range. Is it possible for you to speak to the people you will be working with to reduce the longer hours and work a similar pattern to before? That might help your body adjust and make it less physically taxing. Also is there support in place if you need to take a break? Or work sitting for some time? I’d really recommend wearing shoes that feel very light and give lots of support. The shoes I wear do make a big difference to my MS symptoms the day after, All the best in your new job!
I would avoid any 12 hour shifts if I were you and try to reduce my days in the nurse manager role , could you do a job share or part time hours?