What are the hours like for nurses?

I'm thinking about becoming a nurse and I want to know just how many hours registered nurses typically work in a week. Is the workload too much? Is there enough free time?

Please only reply if you or somone you know if a nurse. No guesses please!

Depends on the job, it's up to you. In hospital nursing, it is totally flexible. My hospital offers benefits if you work a ".4", which is four 8-hour shifts in a two week pay period. I work a .75, which is five 12 hour shifts in a two week period, and I only have to work every third weekend, whereas most 8-hour shift people have to work every-other weekend.

In a clinic, you might work M-F from 8-4:30 and never work weekends.

I don't know too many nurses who work truly full-time, 40 hours per week, especially hospital nurses, because it can be tiring, especially if you have children.

My friend is a nurse, she has regular hours but is often asked to work Overtime. So in average she works like 40-60 hours a week.

Each hospital is different in the number of hours it requires nurses to work. Most typically, a registered or vocational (practical) nurse works for anywhere from 32 to 40 hours a week. Some hospitals have 4 for 5 plans, work 4 days and get paid for 5. The majority of hospitals have 8 hour shifts, but some offer 12 hour shifts.

Nursing is definitely not for everyone. Sometimes the work can get very demanding, depending on which service the nurse is working. Sometimes there's a heavy emotional component too, because nurses are working with people who are in one way or another suffering. But from my own experience I have to say that I never regretted having become a nurse. Yes, we give a great deal of ourselves; but what we get back is definitely more than we could ever conceive of giving. There's nothing more rewarding that having a patient look at you and say, "You're a good nurse."

This nurse recommends that you arrange for a visit to a local hospital or two in order to get a sense of what nurses do all the time. Note, too, that hospitals work 24/7, so getting a sense of what the evening and night shifts are like can also be helpful.

It is so variable. You could eork a standard 40 hour work week, part time or a casual/on-call position where you pick up hours if you want to ... most positions like that require at least 3-5 shifts per month. Then you have to remember, unless you are in an office setting, it will be shift work, days, PM's or Nocs. You usually can't get a day shift without seniority though.

Some facilities demand mandatory overtime. Mine does not but, is available for those that do want it. The workload is usually quite busy no matter where you work.

It depends on you and how many hours you want to work. Most companies are flexible and hire fulltime, parttime, prn, etc. Because there is such a demand for nurses we have more control over what hours we would like to work but keep in mind becoming a nurse means being flexible. As far as the workload it can be very demanding and stressful but isn't that with all jobs? I have been a nurse for a year and I control what hours and days that I want to work not the company:)