Job satisfaction among different departments

[patient_advocate_sb]

Greetings all. I wanted to reach out and see what kinds of ideas you folks have in regards to your nursing specialty and any other nursing specialty you may have worked in at one time and your satisfaction related to that department.

I have been an RN for 6 years. I started out on telemetry, after which I transferred to the emergency department for 3 years, and have recently been working on an observation unit (the goal of the department is for patients to be discharged within 24 hours). Since working in this department, I have noticed myself lacking the job satisfaction I once lacked, and have come to the conclusion that floor nursing is not for me.

I have recently come across a few job opportunities which have piqued my interest. I've been talking to a recruiter about an employee health nurse job for a corporate company. I would be working in an employee health clinic serving primary care duties. It would be a 0730-1630 gig, no weekends, no holidays...

On the other hand, I've been talking to another recruiter about a telephonic case manager position. Once again, daytime schedule, no weekends, no holidays, work from home.

I would love to hear what some of you have to say about your job satisfaction with your overall work environment current and past, and what you think contributed to your job satisfaction. I would also love to hear anyones story in regards to working as a corporate employee health nurse or a telephonic case manager.

Thank you all for your time, and hope to see some replies.

[Munch]

As I have said many times on here before my first job which was a med/surg floor job in a very small community hospital was very unsatisfying. I was a new grad and knew I wanted to work in a hospital(my friend worked LTC and could have gotten me a job if I wanted but LTC is something I know wasn't for me) and this was the only place that would hire me. I absolutely hated my job and would hope when I got to work that the hospital had burned down overnight. It looked like a crackhouse, the equipment was archaic, staff morale was low, management was atrocious..I could go on and on. Its no surprise that it closed down a few years ago.

After I "served my time" there I was able to get an oncology floor nursing job which was the complete polar opposite of my first job. I loved my patients and left work everyday incredibly satisfied. I went on a medical leave to have surgery and never returned. It was too difficult working with cancer patients as I lost my dad and other family members and close friends to the disease.

Now I work neuro/med-surg at an innercity teaching hospital and I love this job too. The commute leaves a lot to be desired(hospital is in Manhattan and I live in the suburbs) but its worth it. If you have a job you love you never work a day in your life which is how I feel with my current job.

[patient_advocate_sb]

Hi Munch. Thank you for your reply. I feel that part of the issue on this department has to do with some of the things you mentioned. The turnover rate is very high. The unit is supposed to be an overnight observation unit, but the patients that get brought over from the ed belong on an inpatient unit meant for higher acuity patients. Also, the fast turnover for these patients makes the job feel so task oriented. You're basically doing these patient's admissions and med list and passing them their home meds. It makes you feel like a placeholder and like youre not truly making any difference. The emergency department was much more satisfying; patients come in critical and you are able to see a major difference in their condition secondary to the care you and your team provide.

Have you heard anything from any of your colleagues in regards to corporate employee health nursing or telephonic case management?

[SaltySarcasticSally, LPN, RN]

I started off as an LPN before my RN and mainly worked in occupational health/corporate health. I loved it!

I would say the only thing I missed was doing nursing skills because other than vaccinations, blood draws, vitals, wound care, etc., you do not do many hands on skills in occ health. But I loved have the time with my patients to sit down and really help them. I also enjoyed the administrative side of it, keeping track of employee logs for safety regulations, managing work restrictions, and depending on how your office is set up, a bit of case management as well for work related injuries. Also, occ health is a super specialized field, once you have experience and the certifications, you will always have a job because your hard to find. Plus, your generally paid better than the typical office nursing job.

I am like you and do not like in-patient nursing. I am actually switching to the ER in the next few weeks from a tele floor. I want to go back to occ. health one day but it's important to have ER experience like you have, esp. in a factory setting, because your the person they come to for emergencies.

I think you would be quite happy in occ health! I do not know anything about telephonic nursing so I am not sure how it would compare. GL!