[sherylchaynes]

Working out of the hospital has its challenges. I have worked in different areas of Nursing outside of the hospital. Let me tell you a little of each area. In 1996 I left the Hospital to work as an Occupational health nurse, meaning you work in an industry, this was a bottling plant. Here it was much differnt from the hospital because you dealt mostly with well persons. A lot of teaching, health promotions, you do pre-employment and yearly medicals ( along with the Company Doctor), audiometry testing, spirometry (lung function testing) and the usual emergency care e.g. lacerations, fractures, crush injuries etc.

This I did for four years and then branch off into home visiting. Patients who are not sick enough to be admitted to the hospital but needs daily supervison and medical assistance at home. This I did for two years and then I went into Research. HTLV-1 (Human T-cell Lymphotrophic virus type -1 ) virus research between the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and the National Cancer Institute in Washington. The study involued recruiting blood donor to participate in the study, the names are then taken to the administrator who enters them into a computer. The test results are also entered and the computer selects those who are positive and matches them with those who are negative, using age, sex and date of donation as criterion. tThose selected are forwarded to the research nurses who do not know who are positive or negative. We call the individuals and make appointments for them to come in to the clinic. There we would check weight , height, urinalysis, blood is drawn and the doctor would do a physical examination. We analyze results and entra data into the computer, ship samples and results to Washington . This is very interesting and so I stayed there for four years.

While I was doing all these other jobs I still did parttime as an Occupational health nurse and so when the Research Project ended in 2006 I returned to the industrial setting. This time at the International Airport. I am presently responsible for the Medical Post. Here I see sick passengers, airport workers, visitors and other emergencies. I do health promotions and lots of teaching, similar to what I did before. I have six other RN's that works on a shift basis, however I work Monday to Friday 7:30 am to 3:30pm.

The salary is good when compared to what is paid in the hospitals here(Sometimes twice). I totally love what I am doing and the pay is good.
I do hope this helped .

[jjjoy]

Sheryl - thanks for sharing your varied experience.

My concern would be in pursuing such jobs is that I wouldn't be qualified or competent enough to carry out all of the job roles. For example, I wouldn't feel comfortable being the sole person evaluating random sick people who wander in at the airport. I don't feel that my RN education prepared me for that role straight off without extended training. I'd want at least 6 months of supported guidance in such a role while learning the experiential aspects of patient assessment and clinical skills in such an environment.

The same goes for roles like school nurse or occ health nurse. Sure, I could LEARN the job well enough in time, but the first 6 months I'd just be "faking it til I make it" in regard to my abilities to truly provide competent clinical assessment and care on the few occasions a more emergent situation might arise. As an RN, I'd expect myself to be able to know more than basic first aid, but how it is possible to to know this without experience specific to the situation (eg child injuries, diabetic emergencies, industrial injuries, etc)?

Of course, I unfortunately realize this is often the case in acute care as well, that is, you have to more or less "fake it til you make" for the first six months, though at least there are other people immediately around to help - even if they will roll their eyes and grumble "what did they teach in school anyway?" when you ask a question.

Any thoughts on this? Do I expect too much from myself as an RN? Is it okay to have just the most basic grasp of first aid and chronic health conditions and the like when taking on what seems to me to be a fairly independent nursing role? Nursing education is pretty broad and so perhaps no one really expects the degree of expertise I'm thinking would be necessary BEFORE taking on such roles - as opposed to not expecting more than the most basic level competency from someone new to that role. Or perhaps I'm just not suited for this type of work because I want more "hand-holding" while I gain experience before taking on full responsibility as a nurse.

[hollyvk]

I've worked 12 years doing direct patient care in hospital settings, one year doing hospital risk management, and 6 years doing home health. Plus 4 years working as an attorney in private practice.

I now work in a field I really, really like--medical reference and information services. I do evidence-based technical writing, which combines my medical and nursing knowledge, the writing and analytical skills I refined as a lawyer, together with healthcare IT skills and knowledge, and the analysis of clinical studies and medical information. It's a very specialized field and not easy to get into, but with the ongoing growth of medical and healthcare information systems, there should be more positions available in the future. It requires a four-year degree as a minimum.

I get to learn something new everyday, and there aren't many jobs where you get that level of stimulation. I work with other RNs, physicians, and pharmacists. It's a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday job with limited stress and average benefits; it pays about the same as hospital work.

HollyVK, RN, BSN, JD

[sherylchaynes]

jjjoy!
Be not dismayed, as a registered nurse you have the base knowledge and with constant reading and researching you will grow. You will gain more confidence in yourself, your knwoldge and your performance.

Your nursing process guides you with each case you have to deal with. Being assertive and able to think quickly is essential in your decision making. Trust your education, your knowledge base and your nursing skills.
I consider myself well rounded, assertive quick thinking, lodgical individual who is a registerd nurse with a Bsc in nursing. Think highly of yourself. Tell yourself there is nothing you can't achieve and go after it. You can function independently you make your assessment and refer accordingly.

[delee99]

I work in LTC. I am the Assistant Care Cordnator, Charge Nurse, I am also the inservice Director, and teach the CNA Classes, I love my jobe Lots of diversity.

[CyndieRN2007]

I am an occupational health nurse at a beef processing plant. My job is very interesting and has many, many different functions. We triage personal illness, like chest pain, diabetes, and so on. We maintain compliance programs (Hearing conservation, Bloodborne pathogens, etc), and OSHA logs. We provide preventative health screenings, annual physicals....We provide all nursing care for employees with work injuries, post op care. We have childbirth, hypertension, and diabetes classes to name a few. Oh, we also teach CPR to the HAZMAT and primary responders here. We do this and a lot more!!

I used to work in the hospital setting, and I didnt care for it much. I really love my job...The pay is great, and I have weekends and holidays off (federal holidays paid).

[nursegottabe]

Originally Posted by tencat

I work in hospice going into people's homes to care for them. I love the autonomy. I did work in med/surg for 8 months prior to landing this job. In most cases you do need two years of experience before entering, but they hired me with 8 months' worth. The 8 months I spent in the hospital were the foundation for what I am able to do now. So I would say that you should spend some time in a hospital setting to learn basic skills and time management. Most people recommend a year of hospital work before branching out. I really did not like the hospital and felt that I was ready to try something new. I'm not sorry I left 'early' as I love hospice.

Hi tencat

Im an LPN newbe and not able to work until I have some medical issues resolved but I like what you said about getting some exp. in the hospital. I was just telling my husband that the hospital is where I want to begin. I will be training to be an RN in Jan. 2008. I'm very excited. I hoping to read other comments about how to handle time management. Maybe in the future I'll think about hospice.
thanks again, Nursegottabe.

[sherylchaynes]

It ia always recommended that all nurses work one to two years in the hospital setting before branching out into none hospital work. Fact is, that is where you gather all your experience practising using your nursing skills.

I have been a RN now for 16+ years and after graduating I worked 4 years in the hospital before leaving. I didn't leave because I hated Bedside nursing, as a mater of fact I love nursing all aspects and different faculties of nursing. If Ishould have to go back to bed side nursing I would. I am in love with occupational Health nursing and the privileges that comes with it. Nursing is vast and I think that if you are truly caring individual then you will love all the diffent areas of nursing.

[BRAGGY]

Hi Verdana,

Yes every nurses dream to work outside of a hospital! I work on a mine site as a Occupational Health Nurse. I work 12 hour shifts either day or night, currently I am covering nights shift, can be very quiet, but there is always the internet. Basically I respond to any medical problem on site, and conduct drug screening as well as data entry. If you are interested, ED experience and a postgrad in OH&S would be helpful.

Good luck.

Andrew

[Franemtnurse]

I have a daughter who is an Occupational Therapist. She works for an agency. Some of her jobs were overloading due to the patient/OT ratio, and she would come home exhausted. But now she's with a different agency, and the work is on a slower basis.