It's been a few days because I'm in the middle of my work cycle right now. I think hospitals probably have the strangest scheduling options of any industry, I swear. Some have self scheduling where you can make your days different each week if you want to. Some have semi-set scheduling where you can occasionally make changes. We have set schedules where always work the same days and you can't make changes unless you trade with someone BEFORE the schedule is finalized, which is usually 5 to 6 weeks ahead of time. Then of course, some hospitals work 10 hour shifts and some work 12 hour shifts. Very few work 8 hour shifts any more. Mine does 12 hour shifts.
So anyway, I work Thurs, fri, sat; have Sunday off, then work Mon, Tues, wed. THEN I'm off till the following Thursday again. Today is Monday, and the only reason I'm not working tonight is that our census (the number of patients we have) is low. Too many people were scheduled for the number of patients, so I asked to be cancelled. I have an extra day off in the middle of my working days!
I work about an hour from where I live, so I don't get a lot of time to sleep during my work cycle. I get home around 8 or 8:30 am (did I mention I work nights?) try to get to sleep by 10 or 10:30 am, then have to get up at 4pm in order to show, eat, and leave for work by 5:15. My sleep time is 5 or 6 hours if I'm lucky. The day I have off in the middle of the cycle is dedicated to sleeping; usually 18 out of 24 hours.
This actually is a good schedule. I love that I have a whole week off between schedules. I'm able to take short trips without using vacation time, thereby saving up vacation time for when I take a real vacation (like going out of the country). I work overtime in order to take my longer luxury vacations. Only problem being that overtime has been in short supply recently, so I probably won't be going anywhere until 2012 at least. I shouldn't complain, though. I don't know how people with families manage to work 12 hour shifts, let alone if they're single parents.
Enough about work. As you may or may not know, I live in Nevada. The big news here is all about the terrible accident last week at the Reno Air Races. I have to admit I didn't even know it had happened until I went into work that night. It's a terrible tragedy, and I can't imagine being that poor pilot or his family who were there in the audience that day. I can't even describe the feeling I get when I think about the terror that pilot must have been feeling before he crashed.
We've had a lot of sudden deaths here in Nevada. Just ten days ago there was a shooting (or shootings, actually) in an IHOP restaurant in Carson City Nevada. ( Did you know Carson City is the capital of Nevada? Most people think it's Las Vegas!) Another very sad day. Can you imagine going out to breakfast, minding your own business, and suddenly being confronted by an angry man with an automatic weapon? I'm not an NRA member, but it makes you think about gun control. But I suppose people who want a gun are going to get one, one way or another. It's sad, though, that it's the innocent people who get hurt when someone's angry.
Enough of my wanderings for now. My thought for the day: give a hug to those you care about. You never know when you might lose them.
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