I'm a noob, but please help :)

You will have "bad working conditions" regardless of your LPN or RN title. Facilities don't reserve the "bad working conditions" solely for LPNs. If its bad, its bad for everyone there. "Bad working conditions" are not reserved for hospitals and nursing homes either. They're everywhere!

My friend is an LPN in a cardiology group practice... she hates it. My cousin is an LPN in an OB/GYN group practice... she loves it. Their jobs are essentially the same... but the work environment and atmosphere are polar opposites.

What I'm trying to say is, that no matter which direction you want to take your nursing career, you will encounter "bad working conditions". There's no avoiding them. With experience, you will recognize them faster... and either move on or deal with it.

HTH! GL!

Thanks! I am thinking that I would rather take a job at an OBGYN or other doctors office rather than a hospital. I really enjoy making continuous relationships with patients (I work in a pharmacy right now that is in a doctors office) and being a friendly face that people can rely on.

Working in an office would be great, considering the hours, no weekends etc, but, if I were you, I would check to see how many openings there are in your area. I am in a rural area and office jobs are few and far between. The nurses that work in most of the doc offices around here have been there for years and will be until they retire.

Welcome!! The thing that I see at least in my area is that clinics and Dr's offices require that you have experience before they will hire you. You may find that some nursing enviroments are hostile...however that is not exclusive to nursing, I think there is that potential in any carrer you decide to persue. Good Luck

Here's some food for thought. When browsing the postings on nursing websites and speaking with fellow nurses keep in mind that we all have a tendency to complain more than praise.

Here's an example that might put things into perspective: How many times do you eat at a restaurant and the food/service is good but you never tell the manager or waitstaff. On the other hand if the food/service was bad I'm sure you would speak up.

Having said that, I'm sure there are more positive stories of hospitals and nursing homes that we just don't get to hear. We usually only get to hear the negative.

I am thinking about doing an LPN program and then later possibly doing the LPN-RN program. Anyways, I have heard a lot of bad feedback about nurses on this site and others, but to me it sounds like the "bad working conditions" are working in hospitals or nursing homes. What about nursing in clinics/OBGYN/etc?? I haven't read much about these positions and for me thats what I would be most happy with, I think. Any feedback or advice? Sorry I know I'm totally new at this, but I really want to get a feel for if I should do this or not! Thanks!

I am a RN student right now but I have "heard" (no first hand experience) that it is pretty hard to get a job in a clinic. First, that is what a lot of people want so once they get there they tend to stay, second, they usually want hospital experience before hiring a new grad into a clinic. And finally, many clinics do not use a lot of RN's, I know where I go there are a lot of MA's. So, not that you couldn't find something like that but I wouldn't go into nursing counting on it as being your first choice job.