public health or acute care nursing

1. 0 Hey all,
   
   I wanted to see what you all think. Would you all rather work in acute care with higher pay but a lot more stressful, or public health nursing with a bit less of a pay but no weekends, night shifts and all the holidays are off!
   
   Which is more appealing? I feel acute care..there's a lot of competition & stress. I'm confused

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2. 11 Comments

   Comment
3. 
   #1 0

   Sep 16, '10 by casi

   I like working night shift
4. 
   #2 0

   Sep 17, '10 by dedicate

   is night shift less stressful?
5. 
   #3 0

   Sep 17, '10 by ruralgirl08

   I would choose Public Health...money isn't everything, but I guess it depends on how much of a pay cut you can afford, and which area of nursing interests you more. For me personally, I would like the hours of public health better, snf the teaching aspect...but many others may disagree.
6. 
   #4 0

   Sep 17, '10 by dedicate

   public health pays about 40 an hour here while hospitals pay around 50
7. 
   #5 2

   Sep 17, '10 by SingDanceRunLife

   I have no desire to work in a hospital after I get out of school. Ever. I just never have.
   
   I'm much more into the community/public health aspect of nursing, and to be perfectly honest, don't like hospitals, so working in one would seem like a pretty bad plan for me.
8. 
   #6 0

   Sep 17, '10 by neatnurse30

   Public health without a doubt. I work in a hospital and it is very stressful. One of the nurses who worked on our unit went into public nursing and loves it.
9. 
   #7 0

   Sep 17, '10 by General E. Speaking, RN

   I have done both. I do miss Public Health Nursing. Having 12 or 13 paid holidays per year was great. Having every Thanksgiving and Christmas off was superb. (Actually you get Thanksgiving and the day after plus the weekend, Christmas was usually got off early the 23rd, had Christmas eve and Christmas day off).
   
   The pay wasn't so great. No overtime. Instead you get paid time off or overtime paid time off for extra hours worked. I did feel a satisfaction with Public health Nursing. Usually those we helped were very grateful and you knew you were really helping. The work wasn't that physically demanding.
   
   Working acute care now. Holidays are coming up and I am sure I will be working Christmas this year. I do like the overtime but it is exhausting work at times.
   
   I guess it depends on your situation and what your priorities are.
10. 
    #8 0

    Sep 17, '10 by Hospice Nurse LPN

    There isn't enough money to pay me to work in a hospital. I love my hospice job and plan to stay there.
11. 
    #9 0

    Sep 17, '10 by citylights89

    Glad to see others like me. I'm still in school, but I don't want to work in a hospital either. I mean, I know it's where you are supposed to get all your good experience and fine tune your critical thinking skills, but I just feel that's its not for me. Maybe if I can last through a year for experience and leave? I don't know, it just seems like it would remind me of clinicals too much.
12. 
    #10 0

    Feb 5, '12 by Stephanie4574

    I would much rather work in public health nursing.
13. 
    #11 0

    Feb 5, '12 by Wave Watcher, BSN, RN

    I am a School Nurse. Totally rocks! Love my kiddos! No weekends, no holidays, no summers, no going into work when it's snowing. I wouldn't trade it for anything!
    
    

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