Hospital vs. Office Endo

[ladybop]

Hey all, I've been combing threads all day and thanks to the contributers who've answered questions I won't list here. All the information has led to a new question: Is endoscopy nursing vastly different in a hospital setting vs. an office or clinic?

I've worked "a year and change" in a large hospital on a med/surg floor (mostly GI, ha!) and a position in Endo is open. I'm interested in applying to transfer and the info I've picked up here seems encouraging.

ps-what do you think the odds are I get to spend some time downstairs somewhere in the application, and hopefully interview process?

[CGRNLea]

There is a huge difference between endoscopy nursing in the hospital and in an endoscopy center. It is best to start in the hospital environment to gain experience. A freestanding endoscopy center should be looking for experienced GI nurses because if an emergency happens, you want someone with experience in handling those types of situations.

[kagarciaRN, BSN]

The big difference is at a hospital setting you will be doing inpatients and outpatients and will most likely have take night call. I find that at a clinic the day goes much smoother because new cases will most likely not be added on.

[PACNWNURSING]

You will also find the salaries less at Endo Centers

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Salaries for endo nurses in both offices and ASCs in my area are the same as the hospitals. Actually, most work both. Big difference is that in my ambulatory setting, we don't have patients who are morbidly obese, have a laundry list of co-morbid conditions, or really any risk factors that would require them to have procedures in the hospital. Ambulatory means just that (ok, sometimes, rarely, there's a wheelchair involved).

[milliemm35]

MDs grade their patients Level 1 through 4 depending on the co-morbidities and risk. Generally Level 1 and 2 are seen in free-standing ambulatory centers. These are relatively healthy people with no or 1-2 co-morbidities. They are considered stable enough for the ambulatory center. Levels 3-4 are high-risk patients with multiple co-morbidities. Most free standing ambulances do not have vents or the type of supplemental equipment that the hospital endo suites carry (which are always prepped for an emergency surgery, vents, cpap/bipap, intubation anesthesia vs. MAC). One of the major differences I noticed was how quickly hospital patients could desat to like 40% and the anesthesiologist didn't even flinch, whereas in the outpatient facility it's a huge event because it happens so rarely. In the outpatient we almost never saw any bleeders, it was mostly screening colonoscopy, GERD, abdominal pain, whereas in the hospital bleeders were very common. Also the amount of patients seen in the hospital and the recovery rate is very different in the ambulatory. Prepare to see 40-60 patients a day in the ambulatory vs 10-20 in the hospital ( these numbers obviously vary depending on where you are). Recovery takes 30-40 min in the ambulatory vs. min of 1 hour in the hospital