By Ben Beichner, Direct Support Professional and Founder of Hourly Goal An open shift appears on the schedule. Is picking up an extra nursing shift worth it? You could earn more, but you might also sacrifice recovery time, pay for childcare, or rearrange family plans. Before saying yes, there’s a practical question: How much of that extra shift’s pay might you actually keep? You don’t need a perfect prediction to make a better decision. You do need to separate what you know, what you’re estimating, and what remains uncertain. Start With the Extra Shift’s Gross Earnings Consider a fictional nurse earning $25 per hour who has already worked 40 hours…
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Nurses For America Event 7/7/26
Please join us for the online Nurses For America Event on July 7 from 8-9 PM EDT. There will fabulous speakers and information and some surprises. It is a postcard writing gathering, but You Don’t need postcards to attend. Just register and show up. You will receive an email with instructions and the link. Share with your family, friends and colleagues. We need lots of attendees! Everyone is welcome! Hope to see you there!!! Time is ticking. There are less than 125 sleeps before the Mid Term elections in November. Help us get the word out to Improve our representation across the nation from local to national elections. Elections have…
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The Journey to Becoming a Nurse – Of Course!
My earliest thoughts of what I would be ‘when I grew up’ was always “a nurse of course”! Why, I do not know, I did not come from a family of health care professionals, I was not sickly as a child with multiple hospitalizations, I just always KNEW, I would be a nurse. First Attempt at Nursing School After high school I was accepted to the nursing program at Long Beach State. That was in 1971 and the dorms were co-ed and sadly, I spent that year growing up, away from my overbearing father and well, did not attend many classes, resulting in an academic dismissal. That sent me on…
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What Nobody Tells You About Nursing Until You’re Already In It
I didn’t go to nursing school to become an insurance appeals specialist. Here’s What Nobody Tells You About Nursing Until You’re Already In It… Nobody does that. You go to nursing school because you want to help people. Because something in you responds to the idea of being present with someone in their most vulnerable moment and actually making a difference. That’s the story we tell ourselves on the way in. And it’s true, for some part of every shift. But there’s another part nobody warns you about. I spent a decade working in the ER as a case management nurse. And while the patient bedside work was everything I…
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Have you ever felt absolute dread the day before a shift…or walking into one?
Have you ever felt absolute dread the day before a shift…or walking into one? If so, this is for you. This is my story from those moments…or for me, several moments…of my body rebelling against something I thought I had to do to the point where I finally said, no more, and found a new way. I’m a nurse practitioner, currently working as a nurse life coach. I’ve been in healthcare for 21 years. During that time, I chose my job over my family, over myself, and over what my body was trying to tell me. My Body’s Protests Grew Louder In the last few years, my body got louder…