Street nursing / Public Health

Nurses General Nursing

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Well it's been a terrible week at work, and I am contemplating jumping ship (whether or not I will follow through on this threat, remains to be seen).

I was browsing through job postings in my city and came across a few in public health. The one for street nursing caught my eye. Now even though I've been working in inpatient psychogetriatrics, this is the kind of nursing that has piqued my interest from the start. It involves working on the street with IV drug users, sex-trade workers and the homeless. This is right up my line. The approach used is the much malligned 'harm reduction approach' which has drawn so much criticism for it's needle exchange practices.

What I want to know is are there any nurses out there who have worked in this area? If so, can you tell me about your experiences and whether you'd recommend it.

I don't know anything about it, unfortunately, but I just wanted to say that it sounds really cool! :)

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

It sounds dangerous to me. Perhaps a free clinic or walk in clinic, but I really think you need someone to watch your back. Working for the health department, when we'd go into the bad areas we always went in pairs.

I agree P_RN. This is why I'm asking for more information on what the job entails. It seems that we would be working out of a van, in groups. I want to be certain that I will be safe before accepting the job. I do have some self-defence training, and I know my way around in the dark.

I work public health and we do home visits alone but this a small rural community. Just be sure that you have a way to get out of what ever situation you might encounter

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