[-Midget-]

Good response, Marie.

[Nurse Ratched]

Office nursing may not be adrenaline-y like the ER or have all sorts of tubes and wires sticking out of ppl like in ICU, and I certainly haven't had to wrestle anyone to the ground in the course of my clinic work (can't say that about psych!) BUT a good office nurse does his/her best to keep the patient out of the hospital. Someone's gotta do the daily grind of keeping people in refills and encouraging healthy behaviors that hopefully minimize the need for ER and inpatient visits. It is most certainly a worthy and worthwhile task .

[Terriwas]

Does anyone know what the approximate pay scale is for office nursing ?

I'm not a happy camper to work weekends and having only one day off
between work days

I've been thinking about working as an office nurse.

My concern is the possiblility of a large pay cut.

Any input would be appriciated.

Terri

[J Lynn]

LPN's make anywhere from $7 to $12 to start with no experience in an office. It all depends on what the doctor is willing to pay. RN's...I'm not sure. The doctors around where I work don't hire RN's due to the high pay scale.

[stephiebob/lpn2rn]

I have done office nursing for 6 yrs as a LPN & now as a RN. It is different from hospital nursing, you use different skills. In a hosp. you may have a patient for a 12hr shift & never see them again, in an office you have them as long as they continue to visit that office which means they rely on you (& call you) for everything. There is a lot of phone work & triage. You absoutely have to be able to multitask. Finding a good doctor to work for is a must because they will learn to rely on you & your judgement. A NURSE IS A NURSE NO MATTER WHAT FIELD YOUR IN.

[J Lynn]

Originally Posted by stephiebob/lpn2rn

I have done office nursing for 6 yrs as a LPN & now as a RN. It is different from hospital nursing, you use different skills. In a hosp. you may have a patient for a 12hr shift & never see them again, in an office you have them as long as they continue to visit that office which means they rely on you (& call you) for everything. There is a lot of phone work & triage. You absoutely have to be able to multitask. Finding a good doctor to work for is a must because they will learn to rely on you & your judgement. A NURSE IS A NURSE NO MATTER WHAT FIELD YOUR IN.

Very well put .

[JentheRN05]

I graduated in May of 2005. Worked OB first, then worked on an ortho/neuro floor for 6 months (nights) My body just couldn't adjust to nights. So something amazing happened. I am also a holistic practitioner.
Well one day I took my son in to get some labs done. Told the Phleb that I could do that for her if she likes. To which she responded, are you a nurse or a phleb. I told her a few years back I was a phleb, but now I'm a nurse. She proceeded to tell me they just decided (in the building next door) that they needed an RN.
I immediately (in sweats no less) went over and talked to the office manager. Turns out it is a alternative Medicines MD office. RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!!!
I've been working there since Jan of this year, I absolutely love it. But the pay is not good and there's no insurance so I'm cutting my hours back and looking for another job that pays more.
In the 6 months I've been at the doctors office I was personally responsible for setting up a research study site. We are in a research study to validate Chelation.
I spend my entire day at work setting up IV's running them, evaluating patients. Seeking out patients for the research study.
All and all I absolutely love my job. Just wish it paid better and had insurance. I could stay there forever if it did. But they have just built a new office and the doctor can't afford much right now, especially since they moved in the building last Dec they haven't taken a paycheck since.
In either case, office work, especially in the enviornment I work in gives me more skills especially as I am now the IV manager as well as the clinical coordinator for the research study.
The doctor begged me (when I leave) to allow him 1 - 2 days a week to help with the research study. I told him I would at least save one day a week for him. Already turned down another office job because they would've required me to work saturdays to make up for giving the doctor just one day a week.
So I'm looking into agency nursing or maybe home health. If I can help it I will never work in a hospital again. WAY too much stress for me there.

Where I work currently it's $16/hr and no benefits. But actually the going rate in the area is about 18/hr with benefits. So that's not too shabby when nurses in the hospital make 18.50 an hour.

[prettypaws]

It certainly is! My clinic just closed, however, I was there from the minute the doors opened until corporate closed us. Me, the doctor, and the office person. All three of us worked our butts off! Everyone did everything. Heck, the doctor I worked for convinced me to stay in the medical field. All of us roled up our sleeves and did what needed to be done. If the phone was ringing, I answered. If someone was a hard stick and I missed, the doc did it. Our office manager (fresh out of school) was calmer during a code than some residents I've seen! If that's a route you're interested in, go for it. It can be very rewarding. I still have a close relationship with many of my former patients.

[cleo]

I have worked in an office for more the 15 years. Office nursing is very specialized and becoming more so every day. We are doing treatments and procedures in the office that you wouldn't have done even 5 years ago. I do agree that you should get a good foundation of med surg under your belt before going into an office setting. As the nurse manager I generally do not hire a nurse unless she/he has had some hospital experience.

[NurseEcho]

Originally Posted by Rapheal

I caution anyone who feels the need to work med/surg to get experience to really be careful where you work. Some med/surg units work chronically understaffed and this can be a real danger to your license (and your confidence) for a new graduate. Some people have really great experiences in med/surg but IMHO it should not be considered the rule to work med/surg for a year before pursuing other areas in nursing.

Good advice, and the same goes for specialty areas.

I've always been interested in cardiac -- I was an echo tech before going to nursing school. But I *loathed* bedside nursing. I worked in a telemetry step-down unit through school, then went into CCU after my husband was transferred to another state. I thought it would be a dream job. It turned out the unit was mismanaged and chronically understaffed. They'd hire anyone with a pulse, a licence, and the ability to read EKG's. But there weren't enough experienced people to orient the newbies, and between the stress of working 7P-7A and knowing my license was in jeopardy every minute, I nearly had a nervous breakdown and quit under my doctor's orders.

Now I am working in a cardiology office. I love it. It is very challenging with a lot of responsibility -- managing Coumadin pts, running various stress tests, telephone triage -- it's another whole side to the specialty and after 14 years total in cardiology, I thought I'd seen most of it. Not even close. That is part of what I love about the medical/nursing field -- I am always humbled at how much more there is to learn.

AND, I get to sleep 7-8 hours a night, no weekends, no holidays, and no call. It was even a small pay raise from what I was making in CCU ... which probably had a lot to do with their staffing problems in the first place ...

But yes, office nursing *is* real nursing. Not the same as hospital nursing, but just as demanding and requiring of critical thinking skills, IMO.