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Can you imagine working with your husband? Wife? Boyfriend? Girlfriend? What would it be like to share work-related stories and know the other person really understood how you felt? For most of us the thought of spending that much time with a significant other seems like one of those things that could only end in disaster. The key word here is “seems,” most of us can’t get past the mere idea of working with the person we share our personal life with. But what if we did? We might find that working together isn’t really that bad…in fact, it’s actually really good! Many healthcare professionals are discovering this relationship secret and NurseVillage is bringing you the stories of two nurse couples who are doing it —and loving it.

Sherry and Roger take being together to a new level

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Sherry and Roger met in Alabama in 1999; eight months later they were married. And when they said “I do” to life as husband and wife, they also set the stage for round-the-clock togetherness.

Sherry and Roger are both ICU nurses, but that’s not all: They work at the same hospital, on the same floor, during the same shift. They ride to work together and they ride home together. They often have breakfast and lunch together. And when you ask either of them how they feel about so much togetherness, they answer without hesitation, “It’s wonderful!”

Sherry explains: “When my friends hear about our situation the first thing they say is ‘Doesn’t he get on your nerves?’ I have to say no, not at all. It’s actually very comfortable. As travel nurses, we change clinical settings every couple of months. Working with Roger assures me that I’ll know at least one person on the unit. I know his skill set and I can depend on him when I need assistance. And he can do the same with me.”

Roger agrees and points to the fact that he and Sherry aren’t joined at the hip just because they work the same shift. “We are both very busy at work,” he says. “There are days I don’t see her at all during our shift. But at the end of a rough day I have more than a shoulder to lean on; I have someone who really understands what I just went through. We can sympathize with each other and help each other deal with the tough psychological side of nursing.”

For James and Anna there is no such thing as too close for comfort

One small Maine hospital got lucky when it hired the new ER manager. Not only did it get James, a talented, dedicated nurse professional, it also got his wife, Anna, an experienced acute-care nurse. For this couple, working at the same hospital has definite advantages. Because James is a manager, he and Anna can’t work the same shift (it’s against hospital policy), but they still share that special bond that comes from working in the same profession.

”The true benefit of being married to another healthcare professional is that we can lift each other up,” James says. “In this field, a lot of emotions come into play. Death is a regular occurrence. And when you have some who knows what it feels like to lose a patient, it makes it that much easier to get through it. Sometimes you need to hear from someone who really knows that you did everything you could for the individual.”

James and Anna each were previously married to people outside the healthcare industry. They agree it was difficult when their former partners couldn’t understand the pressures they were under at work.

And there is another benefit to being married to someone in the nursing field. James explains: “[Because] the nursing and healthcare industry is wide open, you can [work] anywhere in the country. Being married to a fellow nurse meant that we could take advantage of this situation together. Anna and I traveled around to different parts of the country before we decided that we wanted to settle down in Maine. There aren’t many other professions that allow you to do that.”

The prescription is in for the perfect relationship

No relationship is without its problems but as you can tell from these two stories, the benefits of dating someone in the same field far out weigh the negatives. For healthcare professionals this may just be a growing trend. You can even find dating websites dedicated strictly for the medical field. Well Sherry and Roger, James and Anna — you might just be onto something big!