Hospital Vs Private Practice

[rnnursingstudent]

So I am kinda wanting to poll the "audience" so to speak. I am in nursing school and have expressed interest in after completing schooling I would like to go into private practice. Question why am I getting such negative responses to that expression? I have been told that private practice is where nurses go to retire, that only nurses that can't cut it in a hospital go to private practice and even so far as to say that say I must be lazy. I want to work in private practice because I like the setting I have been in private practice for years off and on and I absolutely love it. Me personally I think hospital setting is basically the healthcare version of "corporate america." I don't have anything against hospitals, I have even considered working in one but my passion is private practice. So what is everyone else's thoughts on the matter?

[roser13, ASN, RN]

I think there's a negative connotation to private practice because, let's face it: No matter how busy the practice, a nurse will never gain the experience, training and education that a few years on a hospital floor will give.

If s new grad goes straight into a clinic or private practice, his or her future prospects will be considerably narrower than a nurse who did the requisite years on the floor. Nursing school is only half (or less) of the education. The other half is gained through experience.

Now, if you are certain that private practice is all that you will ever want to attain as a nurse, then go for it.

[rnnursingstudent]

I guess I need to clarify I have worked in vascular surgery, we were private practice but the nurses still rounded rounded at the hospital and saw all of our patients. We were involved with hospitals but we were our own entity. And I know it sounds petty but I really want my weekends off. I have been working weekends for years and right now I am working double weekends to get through nursing school and still make 40 hours a week and I am tired of it. I can't do the things that I want to do because I am working and I am not talking about going out to bars or anything like that. I used to do a lot of charity work with rodeo associations that I belonged to and I would volunteer at their rodeos and help raise money so they could put them on and now because of my schedule I can't do that anymore rodeos are on the weekends. I kinda have a feeling that if I walk in as a new grad nurse and say I want weekends off in a hospital setting the person hiring me is going to be rolling on the floor laughing. But I learned way more working in private practice than I did in say long term care I know every place is different but I like the variety I get with private practice one day I could be helping in billing the next day I could be assisting in in office procedures