If not bedside, where do you work?

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm looking into alternatives to bedside nursing. I'm in too much pain to be able to do anything but my job at this point, so I definitely need something less physical. I don't want to live at my chiropractors and I refuse to get pain meds.

I have an ADN, plenty of (adult, especially geriatric) clinical experience, very strong office, writing, and teaching skills. I do not want to be a manager, nor do I think I would like to be on salary.

I am willing to learn but have zero desire to go back to school.

Any suggestions?

Angie, I'm a disease manager working for an insurance company. We work with chronic diseases (16) including some you've never heard of. We are not Ask-a-Nurse, we actually call the members every 3 months and assess them. It's all over the phone, there is no hands on or walking. The training is pretty intensive but it's good pay, comparable to bedside nursing here. It's a salaried position with no paid overtime but if you work 10/12 hour shifts you get a shift diff. It is VERY different working in the corporate world rather than health care per se, but it's a good job for me at this time in my life. I'm licensed in all the lower 48 states and will never be able to commit any crimes because at least half the states in the Union already have my fingerprints! You can work from home at this job, and this has been one of the major perks. It has helped a lot for me as I'm currently about 7 months pregnant and am not having to kill myself out on the floor. You can PM me if you have further questions.

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Specializes in Ambulatory | Management | Informatics.

I'm a clinic nurse. I work for a busy HMO-clinic-based ENT practice. Each doctor has a nurse and we're responsible for their clinic/patients. We answer their voicemail, do post op calls, run the clinic when the doctor is in, do basic things like pull nose packing, remove sutures/staples/drains, triage phone calls for appts. I love it.

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Specializes in Case Management.

I work for a large insurance company owned by a very large university health system in my city. I do Utilization management which entails talking to hospital URs about pt's in acute care at their facilities. The pay is good. It is steady daylight, we have weekends and holildays off. I sit in a cubicle in the middle of the city and pay $8 a day to park. That plus the commute into and out of the city every day are the down side. But you can't beat the hours. My salary is comparable to the nurses in our hospitals. I have done this type of job for about 16 years and I know this one is the place where I will stay until I retire. It has a generous pension plan fully paid by the company. That is hard to beat, and the reason I will stay here.

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Ten years ago my diabetes became harder and harder to manage with bedside nursing, so I went into Quality Management. I am responsible for hospital wide performance improvement including Core Measures and coordinate the activities for continuous survey readiness (JCAHO) at a 134 bed hospital. Fortunately, I have a BSN degree which has opened the door for job opportunities away from the bedside.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Wow, thanks for all of your responses! I will be PM'ing some of you for details, but tonight I have to work, so I need to get back into bed.

Someone mentioned going to the doc about my s/s, but to me, it'd be pointless. I don't have anything that's treatable, unless you count expensive orthotics not covered by my insurance and pain meds, which I cannot take as they put me to sleep.

A visit to my chiropractor is on my Christmas to-do list.

Meantime, I spent a few hours beefing up my resume and getting together a good cover letter and updating my references. Those insurance case manager jobs sound like they're right up my alley, but I'm certainly willing to try other areas, so please keep 'em coming!

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Please don't write off those expensive orthotics...

Someone has given you great advice to help you deal with foot pain.

WHY aren't you taking said advice?????

You instruct diabetic patients in insulin, diet etc....you need orthotics to help with your musculoskeletal problem!

Orthotics have made a huge difference, no longer dealing with planter fasciitis. the $400.00 cost allowed me to continue WORKING along with pain relief without meds many days.

Please take care of YOU so you'll be able to continue carring for others.

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Specializes in floor to ICU.

Personally, I loved public health. The bene's were great but the pay was not. I did disease investigations and we dispensed federally funded vaccine to providers who, in turn, gave me monthly reports to tend to. We also organized immunization clincis. I was an LVN but my job title back then was "Public Health Tech". Currently, I am a LVN in a hospital and hoping to transition to RN beginning in May. I will consider returning to public health after I get my RN.

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Although I work part-time in bedside nursing (three shifts per week), my full time job and love is medical writing and editing.

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This is a great thread!! What is Parish Nursing?? I am interested in this!

Thanks!!

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