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

AliceTrout · Aug 15, 2015

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.

Yeah well lots of nurses say lots of snotty, inaccurate things about other nurses/units/domains of the profession. Doesn't make those things true. A nurse is a nurse and one of the best things about nursing is the fact is that there is a million and one flavors of nursing...arguably one of the most diverse professions on the planet.

srahamim, ASN, MSN · Aug 17, 2015

I'd like to put in a plug for atypical nursing roles such as legal nurse, chart reviews and Blood Center nursing. In a blood center, you deal with healthy people who want to be there and your job is to be sure they make it out safely! Lots of friendly people who get mad at you if you don't stick them I the arm with a huge (16 gauge) needle!

where else can you find such a happy nursing job?

MarieG · Aug 17, 2015

I am a home health nurse and since i work for an agency, i get replacement in clinics. I do pumps, gastric feedings, stomatologie, blood cultures, wounds dressings. My husband is a nurse in hospital setting. Not much he does do that i don't. Home care is more and more about hospital care at home. Patients are discharged early. The only things i dont do are blood transfusions and immediate post op care with narcotics. Obviously i don't do telemetry but at clinics i do.

Keeping up to date is tough. I was not working for more then 3 years fresh out of school. I read read and read. I ask my hubby questions and when he tells me stuff about work i practice my judgement. I take courses to keep up to date. Im still taking university classes in all kinds of care settings. Now im doing an evaluation certificate where we learn to more profoundly assess to be able to eficiently care for patients if we were working in regions where no hospitals are available. So assessments needs to be done more in depth because of protocols that are in place instead of doctors. I love my job. And although i dream of working in maternity, the hospital settings in quebec are just too much. The stress on nurses is not for me. And i definately am a nurse!! Home care nurses need to know a lot of stuff from different specialty floors. Cancer, medication, digestive problems, diabetes, heart problems, wound care. We get asked so many questions. I have my books in my car with me.

2k15NurseExtern4u, BSN, RN · Aug 17, 2015

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Students don't do clinicals in dialysis centers, insurance companies, home health, schools, clinics or LTC's. They are pretty much taught that only REAL nurses work in hospitals. Sad but true.

I had clinical rotations just this past year at a dialysis clinic, AND a high school. I really enjoyed my dialysis rotation, but I was confused as to why they even had us there because only LVNs were manning the patients and im a BSN student. I learned that BSN-RNs often have a manager role in those out patient settings and u thought that was great! Flexible hours, good pay, nights off. Would be pretty nice to go into once i have a family or just get tired of the hospital setting.

CharmantUn · Aug 17, 2015

As a new nurse, working in a step-down unit, can I tell you how relieved I am when the peds nurse from my son's pediatrician's office calls me back? I am so grateful for her wealth of knowledge and willingness to work for less money in an out-patient setting. She's gotten me to come in to the office when I didn't realize he needed it (impetigo) and called in Rx to keep him out of the office for other stuff (conjunctivitis). It certainly helps relieve the worry I occasionally experience as a working mom sending my toddler to daycare.

OCNRN63, RN · Aug 17, 2015

I worked in an outpatient oncology nurse, giving chemo, blood, and other products to cancer patients. Heck yeah I was a nurse when I worked there!

Nurses work in all sorts of settings, not just the hospital. Anyone who says you're not a nurse unless you work acute care is just flat stupid.

Tbyerly · Aug 17, 2015

I've heard this by many different employers. I work in S. FL. And graduated in 2011 and worked in Wound Care/Hyperbarics, before becoming an RN and after. After working in outpatient Wound Care for 3 yrs as an RN I decided I wanted to do "floor nursing". I was turned down more times then I can count. I applied to MED/SURG, Tele, Ortho days, nights weekends whatever. Time after time I heard the same response, "oh you don't have floor experience?" Finally, over a year later I was hired onto a PCU/Tele unit as a "new grad"!!! I've been there now for just over a year. I enjoy it but the stress level is not comparable. I'm thankful I was given the opportunity and am taking advantage of any training they offer.

allnurses Guide · Jan 27, 2016

Just left acute care to do patient education with a bariatrics clinic. Best thing I ever did for myself and I feel like more of a nurse now than I did before. Everything I am doing now centers around the patient, building a relationship with them and helping them get healthy. Documentation is minimal. Running around like a waitress and a personal servant is nonexistant. I did my time and I am glad it is OVER. Never. again. Biggest motivation ever to finish my MSN.....in hopes of never having to go back to bedside nursing. I loved caring for patients, but am borderline bitter about all the crap one has to wade through in hopes of being about to do even a little of that. I have PTSD dreams now about working in the hospital.

That being said, most of the outpatients jobs that pay near what an acute care nurse makes requires acute care experience and/or an advanced degree. I make more than I did as a floor nurse doing this position. It helped that I had worked for them before I became a nurse and that they came knocking asking me to consider coming back, that I am more than halfway done with my MSN and that I have four years of acute care experience.

needlesmcgeeRN, ASN, RN · Jan 27, 2016

I survived nursing school, passed NCLEX, and have a current nursing license. I am definitely a "real nurse".

SarahMaria, MSN, RN · Jan 27, 2016

I worked in psychiatry for 13 years prior to becoming a nurse, and currently work in psychiatry as a nurse. (Total is about 16 years.)

I have never wanted to work and never will work in a medical / surgical unit or acute care unit. Those types of nursing just don't interest me, just as psych may not interest some of you.

To say that only those nurses in acute care are "real" is quite insulting. All aspects of nursing have challenges and misperceptions. None is better or harder or easier than another. The various specialties are just different. Respect each other!

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Jan 28, 2016

I don't think NURSES say it, but how many threads have you read here along the lines of "OMG, no hospital will hire me without any experience, I'm a new grad! How am I going to get my dream job of L&D without the experience that no one will give me?" Posters will point out that there are jobs for RN's outside of hospitals and you can almost hear the groans.
Students don't do clinicals in dialysis centers, insurance companies, home health, schools, clinics or LTC's. They are pretty much taught that only REAL nurses work in hospitals. Sad but true.

I don't blame the new grads for wanting to work in a hospital; inpatient experience opens a lot of doors. Enough has been written about the hazards of LTC for new grads. Most out-of-hospital jobs want nurses with acute care experience.

whichone'spink, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2016

Ugh, if only outpatient jobs didn't pay obscenely low rates, I would work in outpatient. Acute care is overrated in so many ways.