A hospital nurse vs. an office nurse?

[emptyboxcars]

I am still in school and have only been exposed to the hospital setting for clinicals. However, I'm curious to hear how a nurse would compare the two environments. There are some obvious differences, but I'd love to hear from someone who has actually worked in both settings.

[SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS]

A few years ago I transferred from a med-surg unit to a family medicine clinic within the same hospital system. It's been great and I love it, but I wouldn't give up the experience of inpatient, either. Some differences- telephone triage, where you have to elicit the truth from a person you can't see vs being able to just pull back the covers and see what is going on- assessment is very different. Having to know more about the different insurances and what they will cover for supplies in the home, vs just being able to go to the supply room and grab whatever you need. Having many many people you interact with in a day as your patient in some capacity, vs three, four, maybe five as inpatients. Honestly I think we get much more respect in ambulatory care. I spent many hours doing personal care in the hospital, cleaning beds, giving baths, that kind of thing- people regard our RN's in the clinic more as the knowledgeable professionals that we are, able to do complicated teaching and care coordination, and our patients remember us better- there are many times I worked night shifts, got people back from surgery, or helped them stabilize in an acute illness- working very closely with them- and then they would not remember me at all. Our patients in the clinic are dealing with chronic illnesses, and they remember and appreciate us. It can be difficult and stressful at times, but I find ambulatory nursing much more gratifying. I hope that helps answer your question.