Hospital vs. Office nursing?

MoopleRN · Aug 20, 2008

You don't sound "on the fence" to me! You sound pretty gung-ho about the office thang. I've always worked in a hospital/LTC setting so I don't have any pros/cons for you. Good luck with whatever you decide!

jadu1106 · Aug 20, 2008

hey there merdalrn~

i am not a nurse yet, and have worked in the same hospital for 8 years...but if i could move to a office or clinic setting, i would do so in a heartbeat. first, your right the time is very different, you would work 8-5 or or 9-5 or like you said you could do 4 10-hr days and have 3 day weekends. second, no weekends, and no holidays, and that to me is a big pro, since people always seem to be struggling about the holiday schedule (some holidays overstaffed, while others are understaffed)...and for you it seems commute and gas would be a great positive. the pay for your situation seems to be same, so why not move? it would seem like the floor you are on would be so much more stressful that the peds office. you can stay prn like you stated and then after working in the office for some time, if you still want to do peds in the hospital setting, then make the change (as this time you will have the experience they are asking for)....who knows maybe after working in the office, you will find that you enjoy it more!!!

lalagrace · Aug 20, 2008

I just switched a few weeks ago from the hospital to a MD office. For me the slighter smaller per hour is more than ok vs the hours. No nights, no holidays no weekends is SWEET!

As far as the work goes... I have not found myself to be too bored. I am the only RN in a 2 provider office. I not only check in pts, and do all the lab stuff, but I manage lab followup paperwork, do phone triage, assist with procedures, and do my own "nurse intake" type of appointments,order and stock back room supplies, not to mention going to meetings for our practice management group and redoing our policy and proceudre manual!

As long as you want things to do, you will find things to do in an office, and if you are assisting more than 1 MD I think you'll find you run alot. You have to be their eyes and ears alot when they are tightly scheduled, and let them have a heads up when something does not seem right. As long as you have good communication I think you'll enjoy office nursing.

Good luck either way!

Crystal2dish · Aug 20, 2008

hey all!
currently i work as an rn on a 44 bed adult med/surg/tele/oncology floor at a busy community hospital. i've been there for about 8 mos. prior to that i was doing private duty peds, and loved it, but there were some safety issues.
now that i'm in the hospital, i really like it, but i miss peds like crazy. i've looked for other hospital peds jobs, but with no luck. everyone wants more peds experience than i have.
i recently applied for and interviewed with a busy peds office closer to my house. i really liked the people, and the office was well maintained. but i'm having some doubts...
i know there is more money to be made in the hospital setting, but the office job would provide me the exact schedule i want ( 4 10hr days vs 5 8hr evenings that i do now), the pay is equal to what i would make if i was on days at the hospital, and my commute (and gas!) would be cut in half. my husband thinks i'll hate the office because i'll be bored, but i'm not so sure. i wouldn't leave the hospital all together, i'd stay per diem and work a day or 2 a week for extra cash (which i've been trying to get a per diem job but my hospital schedule is so messed up it's been impossible).
so... tell me the pros and cons of office vs. hospital nursing.... i'm just very on the fence about this!

number one reason to change is because you know you love peds.

everything else is either a bonus or an incidental. period.

office versus hospital: regular, predictable hours with weekends and holidays off. regular breaks. a desk. patients usually are not as ill as ones in the hospital. your own computer. vacations. your own phone line. more time and energy for home & husband. able to make more plans and carry them through. you start to realize you can have a real life...

bored? you will always be as busy and interested as you need to be. maybe you will be the one nurse who has the energy, vision, enthusiasm (because you love peds), and interests to pro actively bring changes or new ways of organizing or doing to the office setting. for a start. you can be a role model. a mentor. a safe pair of arms. the nurse patients ask for when they need an injection because it doesn't hurt as much. the list is long.

and if you try the office setting and it really, truly does not work out for you, the worst case scenario would be a new set of experiences in peds and new personal/professional references to add to your resume.

how could you possibly go wrong? you love peds!

:dncgbby:

jnrsmommy · Aug 20, 2008

I know that you have already interviewed, but is there any way that you could shadow someone there for a day?

catlover5 · Aug 20, 2008

MerdalRN, I am having a maybe "similar" struggle....tell me what you think.......I am 37, an LPN since February; I worked for a few months as a med/surg float at the hospital prn evenings (disliked floating greatly!) I took a job on a psych unit at another facility(one of my interests) prn evenings. At the hospital, prn meant you made your own schedule and for me it was 3-4 evenings a week. When I went to the psych unit, the schedule was made out for 6 weeks and I was scheduled 5-6 evenings a week! I only saw my kids when I put them on the bus in the mornings.....

so I took a 12hr nights job at a LTC facility full-time w/benefits (Ashamed to say I only lasted that 12hr shift after what I saw...)

So, I took a part-time 4 evenings-a-week opening at a LTC facility that some friends/family worked at....once again ASHAMED to say I only lasted on 8hr shift after seeing and hearing such atrocities, LTC without a doubt is not for me.

NOW, I work in an indepedent/assisted living facility day shift full-time and the ONLY thing I do is paperwork, basically secretarial work the residents (all female). I do work weekends and holidays.

I don't feel AT ALL like a nurse. Should I go back into the hospital? Should I go into an office?? I don't really care about the pay, I just want to feel like I went to school for a reason and that I'm not pursuing my ASN for nothing..........

For you, take the office job because you don't know until you try it. Give yourself a short-term goal of a few months and then re-evaluate your thoughts then.

Maybe I should practice what I preach??

Good Luck!

catlover5

BSN75 · Aug 21, 2008

Hi MerdalRN. No offense, but your husband is crazy:coollook:...office nursing is never boring! Everyone always thinks that all we do all day is take blood pressures, but that is so not the case. Especially in a pedi office! You will be giving immunizations, Taking vitals, initial assessments, making appointments, helping with procedures, doing referrals, phone triage (the phone will be ringing OFF THE HOOK!) All that being said, I wouldn't work anywhere else. I would never go back to the hospital stress and bad hours. Hope you make the right decision!:redbeathe

Angie

scribblerpnp · Aug 21, 2008

I agree, office nursing is NEVER boring. We get to see healthy, happy kids for well child visits AND I have had some kids come into the office in serious resp distress where we had to call 911 for immediate transport to PICU in the mean time praying they didn't crump.

One of the best things I like about working in an office is becoming close to the famillies and watching the patients go from babies, to kids, to teenagers to (haven't been doing this long enough, but look forward) being parents of their own babies. You really get to build a strong relationship with families. And for me there is a bigger opportunity for education about health maintenance, which often in the hospital, there just isn't the time.

The major downside is if you don't like a family, they don't go away until the child is 18, but at least you only deal with them in 15 minute increments instead of 8-12 hours.

If this job is as great as you say pay and gas wise, and you truely LOVE peds, RUN TO IT!