working in a physicians office

Cisl4him, RN · Oct 23, 2014

I'm so happy for you and I so get it as far as staff ratios. Before I became a nurse I saw what they went through and still pursued a career in nursing. I am sooooooooo happy to be out of Geri psych and the 3 - 11 shift and working with psycho nurses. I was so stressed and depressed from dealing with all the drama and miserable staff.

I'm excited to get back into learning more about disease and prevention! What is your name? Mine is Cissy.

Oedgar · Oct 25, 2014

I've had two physician office jobs. The first was the absolute best job ever, 14 yrs ago before I had kids. One doc practice, allergy/asthma. Mixed antigens, skin testing, breathing treatments, allergy and DepoMedrol shots. Shared back office with another nurse who was a wonderful person. It was not that easy when one of us had to take off, but manageable. We were well paid and generally a low stress situation.

My job now... in an OB/Gyn clinic. My doc shares a too-small office with another doc. Other nurse(who is also wonderful) and I get about 40 pts per day in and outta there with one shared pt bathroom/lab/vs area, and three exam rooms. Oh and other doc has more priority over the exam rooms. I do not have easy access to a phone w a computer for calling pts/making follow ups. Any time I have a minute to make a call, there is already another person sitting in front of the computer/phone. Other nurse and I (with no MA, no phne nurse) do it all... room pts, follow up abnormal labs, help with procedures, injections. Thankfully, we do not draw labs. A few weeks ago my doc was making noises about that, which was worrying me. Luckily she seems to have moved on. The thing that absolutely makes my hair stand on end, is, in addition to all of this, we have to xerox every ob pt chart at 20w and 36w and hand carry it to L&D. And remember to fax their third trimester blood work. Due to the lack of a fill in nurse we pretty much can't be gone unless our doc is gone. So we had just better not get sick... I am concerned because I do have kids and they do get sick occasionally. This place makes me tear my hair out on a daily basis.

That said, I would still rather work in an office than the hospital. Left that in 1994 and never looked back.

naptimeRN · Oct 26, 2014

Hi, Cisl4him. In terms of salary, I took a pay cut (a couple of dollars less per hour than the hospital base pay) to work in an office setting. I had several interviews for outpatient jobs and all of them were less than what I make at the hospital, and nearly all of the offices backed up their lower pay scale with "..but it's better hours, and that's a huge perk... so that's why..". Which it really is I guess.

In terms of my office experience...there are pros and cons (as with all things in life). To sum it up... I like the schedule of office nursing (no weekends, holidays, overnights). I like seeing patients when they aren't super ill. They are more apt to listen to health teaching. In my specialty, I see a lot of the same patients so I get to really know them and that's pretty rewarding. Things that I would consider cons to office nursing (and this will totally vary based on individual offices. The office culture will be different in every single one): the gossipy, chit chat office culture. Yuck. I feel like it's less "team" oriented in the office between doctor and nurse than it was in the hospital. In the hospital, you get your assignment and you are on your way. In the office, it's a lot waiting on other people before you can move on to the next step. Pay raises...I'm still waiting for that in the office... Didn't have to worry about it at the hospital. We had a union and a contract. We 100% got raises. The hospital was more flexible in terms of time off. Could work my shifts all in a row and then have a bunch of days off for a vacation without even using PTO. Not so much in the office. The schedule is pretty set in stone and there are less (if any) people to cover when I want off.

In general, I like outpatient. I think it's where to be in terms of the future of nursing. Not in love with my specialty or the office I'm currently at, but that's the beauty of nursing...there are so many areas and avenues to try. Best of luck to you! :)

klone, MSN, RN · Oct 26, 2014

I want to chime in with my own experiences - the office I work at is nothing like what NaptimeRN describes. We're a small clinic - two providers (three on Thursdays), two MAs, and me (and two afternoons a week we get a non-clinical health educator who sees patients for pregnancy tests, STI testing, birth control consultations, etc). We actually have 6 different providers, but they all work only 1-2 day a week, so they rotate through. The MAs and I are the only ones that are in the clinic every day, 5 days a week. We all get along SUPER well. We have an extremely cohesive group, everyone likes each other. And we often go to lunch together or socialize after work or on weekends. Between patients, the RN (me) and the providers all sit in one large room that has several work stations, and that's where we go to chart, make phone calls, etc. Much of the time it's friendly chit-chat, as well as consulting with the other provider about complicated cases. So there is a high level of collegiality. I seriously LOVE all of my providers, and consider all of them friends. And the MAs are highly competent and friendly, and I get along really well with them as well.

So I would say that the culture and atmosphere of the clinic is highly individualized. I know that my clinic is pretty rare in that regard, but it does exist!

As far as raises - our clinic is part of a large hospital network, and we get annual performance reviews and raises each year, as well as sometimes getting a COLA.

Cisl4him, RN · Oct 27, 2014

What does CCM stand for?

Cisl4him, RN · Oct 27, 2014

Klone...this is very encouraging to hear. I am really excited about office nursing. I am a bit nervous as with anything new I try but I do believe this is going to be my ideal nursing job.