[jen42]

I work in oncology in a hospital, and I'd like to transition into community health/ family practice. I'm not sure how to best go about it. Should I put in a year on a med-surg floor? Everyone has the "Experience preferred" on their job posting. Should I just go for it? Would volunteer experience help? Please advise!

[kona2]

I would just go for it! You do have experience as a nurse, having worked in oncology. Not sure that more hospital work will win any points. I applied to a public health job last fall, and they were willing to hear about any applicable experiences. I have several years of solid med/surg, but it wasn't enough. Seems like fleuncy in Spanish is a HUGE draw.Case management experince is a biggie too. You can always do volunteer work later if they don't seem interested now. Good luck!

[Jayla]

Does it say what kind of experience is preferred? You have nursing experience, so maybe that qualifies.

I was hired as a relatively new grad by a public health department. I did 2 rotations in community health while in school, but that's all the experience I had.

Go for it! It's so much better than working in a hospital! What type of position are you looking for?

[leo_bsn]

I apologize for "interrupting", but I am wondering if you could tell me a little more about what you do as an RN at the public health department. I am interested in working in a non-hospital environment and am very much drawn to public health departments. Can you tell me more about your position? I feel as if we do not get a good idea of what RNs do in public health departments in my program.
Thank you!

[Jayla]

No need to apologize--that's what these forums are all about. The department where I work is unique in my state (MD) in that it has a "generalized" PHN program. Meaning, we do all sorts of stuff! One of the biggest duties is working with Healthy Start patients. Healthy Start is a program for pregnant women and newborns. I visit a pregnant mom *ideally* once a trimester and then after the baby is born to assess the newborn. If there are any problems with the infant I can make additional home visits for up to 2 years. It's a lot of fun and I've learned a lot re: OB/GYN.

I also work STD clinics (pre and post test counseling), immunization clinics, well child clinics (interviewing and educating parents), with TB patients (educating those with +PPD and -CXR regarding INH therapy) and with some children with risk for developmental disabilities (premature birth or other issues). We also have a program called Infants and Toddlers and those nurses work specifically with children who have a diagnosed developmental problem. In addition there is a separate Family Planning program, TB division (working with pts with active TB), long term care, home health (skilled nursing) and many many other programs through the health dept that I could not even begin to list here.

Any second language skill, especially Spanish, will serve you well in public health. 80% of my patients speak Spanish and MD doesn't have that big of a (documented) Hispanic population. If your program offers a Medical Spanish course--take it!

Public health is wonderful and holistic and you can impact a lot of people, specifically those that are most disadvantaged (i.e. no health insurance). On the other hand, it's not very skill based, it's very education based. Often times a feel like more of a social worker than a nurse, which can be frustrating. These are, however, only my experiences and opinions. Hopefully others will respond so you can get some other points of view. Good luck!

PS Most 2 year RN programs don't have a community/public health rotation. Most health depts will not hire a 2 year RN as well. There are exceptions, but this is generally the case. Since I don't know your background, thought I should mention this...

[KerenRN]

The most logical "transition" for me would be going into hospice/home health. I see that as a bit of combination of both oncology and public health nursing. Of course, if you're doing it just for the experience to get into community health it may not be a good choice. As a former public health nurse (currently in oncology), I don't see why any experience other than general nursing would be required. Public health nurses don't use clinical skills to the extent that a med/surg nurse does, so I don't see that working in that area would be any benefit to you. I would just start applying and see what happens.

[cinnyluvscats]

Lots of good info here!

I have worked at 2 local health depts. and some of the dutes were immunizations (kids and adults), infectious disease tracking/education, clinics (well child, cardiac, plastics, vision, ear, satellite immunization, etc.), community education, BP screenings, lead kids, and more. Flu shots are the main focus now.

Now I'm a home health nurse and all my experience (med-surg, OB, community education, public health, school nursing) has come in handy at different times. Lots of nursing principles go between specialties.

Good luck!

[cgg702]

I would definitely suggest volunteering in a local public health facility. It's amazing how many community/county/state programs are out there. I walked into my local county health department a month ago for a TB test and offhandedly asked if they took volunteers. The nurse's eyes just lit right up and I started the very next week. I mostly work with the immunizations RN. So far I really love working with the demographic that we get there - mostly Hispanics (yes, it helps to know even basic Spanish!), Native Americans, single moms and teenage moms. I also volunteer in the ED at the local hospital, and in comparison, the county is better because u get so much more contact with the patients.

[PegJS]

I have worked in Public Health for about 13 years. I had some hospital and some long term care experience when I applied. Mostly what Local Health Jurisdictions (at least in Washington State) seem to want is just that you have some clinical experience because depending on where you work you have tremendous amounts of autonomy. I have worked in clinical services and in a Maternal Child position. The most important thing is the ability to be non judgmental (or at least hide your judgments), work independently, flexiblity, and a willingness to learn. In my case I had been working in clinical services (STDs, TB, Imms, HIV testing and counseling) and had applied a couple of times for a field position (going into peoples homes to teach them) and had always lost out to a more experienced nurse. One supervisor said it would help if I had some CEUs more focused on pregnancy/parenting and so I went out on my own time and took some. They were so impressed with my motivation and desire that the next time a position came open I got it. I would just go for it and if you don't get the job, listen to what they say - or inquire as to why - and then try again. Good luck to you! I know I wouldn't want to do any other kind of nursing.