Sep 15, 2011, 10:28 am
Peter,
Whether EEN or RN, you would most likely be required to work shifts (95%) of the time. I am assuming that you would want to go into a hospital environment that is because post graduattion you'll want to seek broad experience and the hospital ward is the general place to be. Specialised areas like ICU, Emergency and Cardiac Investigation Units are good but may be restrictive in the sense of the basic scope of nursing practice that you want to get a hand on. Given this, shift work will be expected. Some (the rare few) have moved on to private practices or community nursing where the hours is a little bit "normal".
OK having said this, you can request for certain days where you are off and make arrangements for something fairly structured. However do not bet your dollar that this will be the case. In my ward, I have some nurses whose request are given priority because of family commitments but when it comes my turn to ask for certain shifts, I would get priority because I never have any request and accommodate my mates all the time. So there you go, the shift planner will take into account of certain conditions and within limits.
