733 Posts
These are the types of people who say that unless you become an acute care nurse in med-surg, you are not a "real" nurse. They probably also say that we all have to live life the same way. This is totally untrue. Working in a smaller hospital gives you a different experience, that's all.
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Is this a critical access hospital? Many nurses in these types of hospitals actually practice more independently than those in huge teaching hospitals. They frequently do not have 24 hour physician presence so guess who runs the codes until the on-call gets there? Or manages the trauma that just shows up at the door or the unexpected laboring patient who's crowning? One of my friends who worked in one in Texas had hair-raising tales about her shifts there including beating a rattlesnake, that had slithered in one of the doors, to death with a ball at that they kept just for that purpose.
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Small hospital means you make it work with fewer resources. At the big university center I am a bit spoiled with my IV team, ICU transport team, residents in the unit at all times, 24hr hospital pharmacy(my old workplace locked up the pharmacy and went home at 10pm). If I call out sick, no worry, the flex team will send a nurse to take my assignment.
Very small hospitals will have you managing more situations independently. You will be a real nurse.
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Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN
6 Articles; 11,694 Posts
It's no more true than the debates about ICU nursing vs. med/surg nursing, ER nursing vs. floor nursing, acute care vs. ambulatory care nursing. You know what they say about opinions, right?
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt