Nursing specialty that requires minimum patient contact and best hours?

allnurses Guide · Nov 2, 2013

The OP's username is 'the rapist' spelled backwards.

Or therapist backwards...
I think you might be reading too much into the user name.

I'm sorry but this made me laugh so hard.

tsipareht · Nov 2, 2013

It was just a question to what kind of responses I would get from this community. I know that direct patient care/code browns/c-dif/mrsa/etc is all part of the job. I absolutely know that ICU have no techs and are usually 1 to 2 patients. I do plan to put in my time as a beside nurse, and was looking towards the future after I get into an APRN degree. Didn't mean to offend anyone if I did I apologize in advance. No hard feelings life is too short. Cheers!

tsipareht · Nov 2, 2013

I'm sorry but this made me laugh so hard.

Yeah, this one had me laughing pretty hard too. Don't know why someone would read into my SN into that much detail. =P

loriangel14, RN · Nov 2, 2013

I just spent time supervising a student that turned her nose up at any patient care. I thought " oh no not another one!". I get you now.But, I still think to be any good at a specialty you need to learn the basics and spend some time in the trenches first. Just because you plan on advancing doesn't mean you don't need to experience patient care.

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Nov 2, 2013

I do plan on pursuing my masters as a FNP as soon as I get at least a year under my belt. After my psych rotation these past couple of weeks and speaking to the CRNA I may even consider this as well, but I know how difficult it is for a new grad to get a position in an ICU to eventually get into a CRNA program.

I don't know what the market will be like five years down the road but the market in many places for new grad FNPs is just as dismal as the market for new grad RNs, if not worse. Several of my coworkers have passed their boards but are still working as RNs because they can't find FNP jobs or are underemployed and unable to pay back their student loans.

Plenty of new(er) RNs out there who also intend on putting in the minimum and then fast-tracking it into a mid-level position. I think something like 85% of my graduating class of 120 stated that they intended on pursuing a masters or higher after graduation.

martymoose, BSN, RN · Nov 2, 2013

Maybe a physician's assistant would be a better choice.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Nov 2, 2013

There are dozens of threads on AN started by people who want the title of nurse but not the learning involved in doing the actual job; this is generally related to immaturity, inexperience, mistaken ideas about what nurses are and do, and inability to see humans as needing the help that nurses give. I am sure you can search them out.

Short answer: There are plenty of nursing occupations that don't have anything to do with physical patient care, but you're sure not going to be qualified for them right out of school. When people want to hire nurses to use the background and experience acquired as an RN, they want people who actually have it.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Nov 2, 2013

Haha! LOL! "The Rapist". Wow you folks really do get creative! It does spell "therapist" backwards. I was a former respiratory therapist trained thru the Army route turned nursing student. I'm just wondering what my options are when I finish school. I really don't mind bedside nursing, but after being on med-surg for the last two terms I can say it is something I don't want to do long term. My rotations are limited and I really want to get a taste of OR and ER. I have heard they are two different worlds. I'm young and would like the ER environment or at least to see how fast the pace really is. And I want to experience OR to see the methodical ways things are done, and to see exactly what a nurse does here.
I do plan on pursuing my masters as a FNP as soon as I get at least a year under my belt. After my psych rotation these past couple of weeks and speaking to the CRNA I may even consider this as well, but I know how difficult it is for a new grad to get a position in an ICU to eventually get into a CRNA program.
Thank you everyone for your posts.

You will have to deal with patients and feces.....especially old crusted feces on the homeless or the elderly who have fallen and not found for days.....the most recent GI bug going around.... A GI bleeder who is incontinent...in the ED/ER.

It kind of like a police officer who hates dealing with the public and is afraid of guns....my suggestion...don't be a police officer.

If you have been military...I am sure you are no stranger with pecking order and putting in/paying your dues. However....it make me wonder how young you really are if you already have a Bachelors degree, been in the military, and finishing a ABSN program in April. You are certainly old enough (or should be) to have a better understanding of the profession you have chosen.

The ER and the OR are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT specialties....one patients are awake and the other they are anesthetized. Have you not had OR and ER rotations?

I think you need to understand that posts like this are like finger nails on a chalkboard (do they even have those anymore?) It's screeching and annoying. Nurses are tired these days with those entering the field with little to NO understanding of the profession itself...for they have entered it for the promise of the yellow brick road paved with gold for the big bucks jobs. Nursing has patients. People are messy and complicated. Nurses care for patients. Period.

Nursing is like every other profession...you need to put in your dues. These days you will be lucky to find an acute care position right out of school and certainly not in California ( as you have mentioned_...I check posters previous posts to best answer their questions...I do my research) where there is a 47% unemployment rate amongst new grads......There is NO nursing shortage.....regardless of popular news articles and schools who promote this propaganda.

Here is a site that talks about job density....the numbers don't lie....Nurses Schools, Salaries, and Job Data

Consider your options carefully....and I would very careful when you graduate about expressing your disdain about bedside nursing and goal to leave the bedside quickly....for you will find many acute care employers reticent to spend money training you. This has become a trend in graduating nurses, and much more common amongst male graduates, making the hiring of new grads a very selective process with many facilities hiring only RN's with one years experience...for they have the promise of staying and not bailing at the first chance for the advanced degrees.

In wish you the best.

Dranger · Nov 2, 2013

People sYinf he or she needs experience first are correct but please spare the holier than thou pick another profession BS. It is well known nurses function well in a non-direct care setting such as management, insurance etc. Bedside nursing isn't everything, and many people rather enjoy their job then burn out.

klone, MSN, RN · Nov 2, 2013

People sYinf he or she needs experience first are correct but please spare the holier than thou pick another profession BS. It is well known nurses function well in a non-direct care setting such as management, insurance etc. Bedside nursing isn't everything, and many people rather enjoy their job then burn out.

I think you missed the point. People aren't saying that nurses don't function well in non-direct patient care settings. But that it's unrealistic to go right into those settings directly from nursing school without doing at least a few years at the bedside. You don't get hired directly into management or insurance without the experienced gleaned at the bedside working with patients.

OCNRN63, RN · Nov 2, 2013

Please list your experience or knowledge of specific nursing specialties that have minimum patient contact (code brown, c-dif, etc), and what specialty provides the best hours? For instance working in a hospital versus a clinic? Thanks.

You could be an MA in a doctor's office. Minimal code browns, and you wouldn't need to invest the time and money it takes to go to nursing school.

Ashley_RN · Nov 2, 2013

Haha! LOL! "The Rapist". Wow you folks really do get creative! It does spell "therapist" backwards.

My apologies OP, when I couldn't read it forwards my brain figured out something else! Haha I literally did not see therapist, too many Law & Order's for this lady I guess... :)