Bridge to Public Health

[CurlyRN, BSN, RN]

Morning all from sunny Minnesota,

I am finishing a BSN completion program with a graduation date of May 2009 and found that I loved Public Health. I have worked at a large teaching univeristy since 2001 in the acute care setting and really feel that I am not on the right path. I recently came across an opening at another hospital for an infection control nurse, on the admin side and applied.

Would this role be a nice transition to PH? I want my DPN in Public Health.

[ICRN2008, BSN, RN]

It would be very difficult to work as an infection control nurse without getting a little bit of floor experience first. If you don't know what it's like "out in the trenches", then it is going to be very difficult to make reasonable, practical recommendations for changes in practice. Believe me, when I was a medical technologist (working in the lab), I thought that I knew all about nursing. I had all these great ideas about what nurses "should be doing" with regards to lab draws, infection control, etc. It wasn't until I got out onto the floor, given an assignment of four very sick kids, that I realized how incredibly hard it is just to keep your head above water most days. Your first priority is not necessarily to monitor your handwashing technique. When you are drawing stat labs because your patient's going bad, you might forget to make up your labels ahead of time so that you can label the specimens right at the patient's bedside.

Working as a public health nurse in the community would give you much more of a flavor for what most county and city departments do on a daily basis. Infection control nursing is a whole different animal, and success in this arena depends on a good understanding of hospital-acquired infections. These are much different than the types of infections that tend to spread in the community, and the epidemiology looks very different as well.

[CurlyRN, BSN, RN]

I was not clear in my original post. I have worked at a large teaching hospital since 2001 and on the floor in a float pool for four years. I have been in the trenches with crazy patients and feel even more prepared for a different direction.

[ICRN2008, BSN, RN]

I apologize that I thought that you were a new grad- a BSN completion program is for nurses with ADN degrees, right? You have spent even longer on the floor than I have, so I am sure that you have a good idea of what it is like. In that case, I highly recommend infection control- it's very different but I love it so far.