Throughout the entirety of nursing school, I found myself feeling frustration at the heavy focus on hospital/bedside nursing. From the first day of clinicals to the last and during my time as a patient care tech in the hospital, I genuinely found no enjoyment in med-surg. I toyed with the concept of psych nursing, I found a brief interest in L&D, but none of them felt like they would be a good fit.
I am a very new nurse (as in, I graduated with my ASN this spring/passed the NCLEX a month after). I moved states a few months after graduating and went through the process of transferring my brand-new license here.
Recently, I started working for a community health center (FQHC, not-for-profit) that provides services to the uninsured and lower SES populations, along with a significant portion of Latino and French individuals. There is a dental and prenatal component alongside the family practice aspect (which is what I primarily work within). We give a lot of kids immunizations, do a lot of depo and some STI treatment, and work with providers, pharmacies, and insurance providers. It's a lot of paperwork, a lot of prior auths, and a lot of phone calls.
However: this is the most fulfilled I've felt since beginning nursing school several years ago. I look forward to my job each day. The ability to work on health promotion/maintenance, screening, immunizations, etc. is right up my alley. After a multitude of doubts about becoming a nurse (most of which were influenced by the heavy-handed push towards hospital nursing), I am thrilled to have found something that fits me so well.
I'm not sure what my purpose in posting this is... I guess just wanting to share my thoughts/feelings as a new nurse in an area that doesn't tend to get as much attention. Are there many other community health nurses on this site?