Are you really not a "real nurse" unless you work in acute care?

[tenderfootjoe]

I am an RN in a peds clinic, and it seems nurses who work in outpatient settings are not looked at as "real nurses" by their acute care RN counterparts. Is there a future in outpatient nursing?

Also, what are some ways I can "stay current" with my nursing skills as much as possible while working outpatient? I may want to work outpatient my whole career. However, I do want to stay up to date/marketable just in case I one day decide to move into the acute care arena.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

This hierarchy of nurses never ends. First, LPN vs RN. Then, it is Diploma vs ADN vs BSN. Then acute care vs non-acute/primary care. Then it is med-surg nurses versus ICU nurses, ICU nurses vs ED nurses...it is exhausting.

A nurse is someone with an RN or LPN license. We need nurses in outpatient facilities just as much as acute care ones. We need nurses with a variety of experiences and backgrounds.

[nylpn78]

I'm wondering the same. I'm pretty frustrated with my first job in nursing being a telephonic triage nurse in a peds office. I'm on the floor twice a month administering vaccines. I'm worried of losing my skills!

[ajmclean]

You are not a real nurse unless you've worked in M*A*S*H* 4077.

Signed,

DR. Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce, CAPT, MC, USA

[St. George]

Thank you for your comment. You are 100% correct and I apologize for what I wrote.

[St. George]

I am so grateful for your comment. The last year I worked as a RN was in 1999. By then the staffing was so poor and the patients so severely ill that it was impossible to do a good job unless you worked so hard you were exhausted at the end of the shift and had no energy to do anything when you got home. When the funding changed so that this was the case every RN I worked with that didn't have to work in Nursing left the field!

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

I meant what I said. There does seem to be a hierarchy of nurses within nursing, with critical-care RNs at the very top of the chain. I am not talking about the hierarchy of different nursing positions and responsibilities (CNA, LPN, RN...) but within the realm of licensed nursing professionals in regards to specialties and settings.

I see it all the time as a med-surg nurse from nurses in higher acuity settings.

[Libby1987]

Princess Bride, that's what I thought you meant.

In my opinion, who ever is happy in their work wins. Not that it's a contest, to the contrary, no one could ever make me feel anything negative about what I do, how can they when I love it?

And how even more absurd if they're not loving their job. That is so sad, to feel superior, if anyone actually is, if unhappy. But then who would feel superior if they are happy themselves?

[VANurse2010]

I meant what I said. There does seem to be a hierarchy of nurses within nursing, with critical-care RNs at the very top of the chain. I am not talking about the hierarchy of different nursing positions and responsibilities (CNA, LPN, RN...) but within the realm of licensed nursing professionals in regards to specialties and settings.

I see it all the time as a med-surg nurse from nurses in higher acuity settings.

there's "hierarchy" even within critical care. RNs in hardcore trauma or surgical ICUs often look down on MICU and other ICUs with less invasive interventions.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

I am referring to people who impose a hierarchy. I realize that all nurses are equal, but some people (even other nurses) feel the need to impose a social hierarchy within the nursing profession. Hence why we see threads such as this one. There have even been other threads calling Med-Surg nurses the "trailer trash" of nursing and threads suggesting that critical care nurses should get paid more than their non-critical care nurses, as if what they do is more important.

[klone, MSN, RN]

It's not a REAL hierarchy. It's a PERCEIVED hierarchy, perpetuated by those specialty nurses who think they're "better than." It may not exist at every facility, but it does exist.

[cocoa_puff]

When I eventually have a ton of nursing experience, I would like to work in a clinic, outpatient, GI lab, or ambulatory surgery full time (something 8-4 or 9-5), and continue to work PRN in the hospital (some good old nights, weekends, and holidays :))

[Julie53]

To paraphrase Dr. Suess, " A nurse is a nurse, no matter where they work."