[freespiritlives]

hi everyone,

it sounds like i will be offered a job in a physician's office next week...i have no office experience ( i have only worked in hospital settings thoughout my nursing school experience). i would love to have your advice regarding telephone triage, handling doctors/patients, anything you have to throw out there for me to consider would be great.

thanks everyone for your support.

NURSES RULE!

mo

[J Lynn]

Hi Mo.
I accepted an office position right out of school. I had no experience anywhere. Just the little bit of office rotation during my clinicals. The doctor I work for was wonderful in helping me to understand what I needed to do. He helped me in answering the patient's questions which later led to the confidence I needed to answer them on my own. Once I got to know the patients and how the doctor handled their questions, It got really easy. You need to work under good leadership. Work for someone that builds your confidence, not shoot you down. If a patient is rude to me or any of his staff, he's sends them a letter of dismissal from his practice. No one is allowed to speak down to us in anyway. It's a great enviroment to work in. I hope that you find that with this office. If there is alot of negativity, run to another office. Ask around. Once you get to know the other office nurses, you'll find a place where you can really enjoy working, or you'll get blessed like me and hit it the first time. Good luck. Let me know if there are any specific questions you have.

[freespiritlives]

thanks j lynn.

i may use you as a resource from time to time. i have an interesting circumstance that may or may not be a good thing for me. my sister is an lpn also and she happens to work in the same office that i will be soon employed at. (she works for the PA there...i will be working for one of the physicians). like you, i have no real experience...i think that my main concern at this point is the telephone triage. but i think that that is something that i will pick up along the way. most offices have their own criteria, right, concerning when its best to tell pts to stay home and when its best to have them come in?

thanks again for your help.

mo

[J Lynn]

Triage can be tricky at times. My doctor will be on vacation for three weeks and I have to decide if patients should go to the ER, urgent care center, or their PCP. That's when my job get a little stressful. Usually if they are complaining of SOB or chest pains....I tell them ER. If it's a cold or UTI and they've been on anibiotics in the past that we've prescribed...I call in the meds. If they need a doc to look at something that's not quite ER status...urgent care is a good place to go...or their PCP. Some of our patients use the specialist I work for as their PCP and I tell them they should always have a "back up doctor", but they don't listen and when he leaves every summer....we go through the same thing .